How much did people actually hoard before Y2K?
—Jeff Waters, a Fairfax, Virginia contractor, spoke for the masses when he was interviewed by the Washington Post for a December 31, 1999 story."I'm 99.9 percent sure nothing is going to happen."
Now, there are always exceptions, and people did do weird stuff ahead of Y2K to try to keep themselves safe. This hardware store in an Amish town did brisk business ahead of the millennial shift because it mostly sold products that didn't require electricity.As he was heading the Y2K Command Center, Koskinen was quick to note that hoarding didn't live up to everyone's worst fears."As a general matter, there are no reports of any changes of any significance in consumer buying habits in either food, pharmaceuticals, or gasoline at this stage,'' Koskinen said to Reuters in a December 31, 1999 story.I have a great deal of faith in the American people. I know they will see through the naysayers and fearmongers who are trying to scare us or make a buck. When you look at everything Americans have dealt with throughout our history, Y2K is nothing. Yes, it poses a challenge. But it pales beside the great challenges Americans have previously faced and the great challenges Americans have conquered.
— Bill Richardson, the former governor of New Mexico and onetime energy secretary, warning the public not to be idiots about storing gasoline in their homes in the days before January 1, 2000. That Richardson had to tell people that hoarding gasoline was a stupid idea that could kill more people than the Y2K bug says a lot about what people were thinking at the time, clearly. Gas is cheap these days, so in case you happen to be looking to store it, this 1997 article from Backwoods Home magazine tells you how to do so properly."If you have half a tank, you're good to go. There's no need to hoard gasoline. Storing it in your house is not a good idea, way more dangerous than any 'millennium bug.'"
The Philosophy of Hoarding for Survival Extends far Beyond Y2K
This phenomenon has gone in and out of fashion over the decades, with figureheads like one-time Libertarian presidential candidate Harry Browne and Backwoods Home magazine, but Y2K was perhaps its peak moment, the first time the movement got true mainstream attention, as well as a place for a community to build around it in the internet.The food on your supermarket shelf does not come from local farmers. It often comes from hundreds or even thousands of miles away. This has created an alarming vulnerability to disruption. Simultaneously, global population is still increasing in a near geometrical progression. At some point that must end, most likely with a sudden and sharp drop in population. The lynchpin is the grid. Without functioning power grids, modern industrial societies will collapse within weeks.
"I have many critics who believe that my scenario is too apocalyptic. You must decide for yourself. This Web site is designed to provide you with relevant evidence to help you make an informed opinion, and then a principled series of decisions."— Gary North, an online doomsayer and economic historian, ahead of Y2K, on his website during the era, which offered an in-depth analysis of why exactly Y2K was likely to take place, what was about to falter, and how you needed to prepare. Penenberg highlighted North in his Forbes piece but emphasized that his take on this issue was blunted by the fact that he had done this before. "If North were the only one predicting economic calamity, it would be easy to dismiss him. But he is not," Penenberg wrote. (As it turned out, it was still easy to dismiss both North and his peers.)
Earlier this month, CNN Money revealed a hilarious fact about failed presidential candidate Rick Santorum: As a way to raise money to pay bills for his belly flop of a 2016 campaign, the campaign sold his email list to the highest bidder, earning $36,968 from the endeavor.