Couple of weeks ago, I blogged my surprise at buying freeze-dried and dehydrated storage foods at Wal-Mart.
Well, today I went back and bought a couple more #10 cans. This time the shelves (nearly denuded at last visit) were chock full and topped with placards that could be seen several aisles away: “Prepare for Emergency.”
As I was checking out the selection and prices, a man wandered by, looked at the big buckets of rice, concluded he didn’t need that much, and headed off. A few seconds later, a woman’s voice said, “I wish they had these in smaller cans so I could try them.”
I explained, “Oh, they do on their website. The prices aren’t as good as here, but they’re really nice people and the foods are good quality.” Augason Farms should pay me a commission for the sales pitch I gave the lady. Packed in the U.S. Family-owned company. Most items preservative-free. Etc. etc.
As I went on, I realized that the woman was a Wal-Mart employee. So I told her it was uncommon for Wal-Marts outside of Mormon country to carry storage foods and that I’d even written a letter to thank the manager for doing so. She seemed proud that “her” store was pioneering.
At that point I noticed that the rice man had circled around and was listening in. “They’re probably doing some market testing,” he said.
“It must be working, then,” the employee nodded, “The product is really selling.”
The man, who had dismissed rice buckets minutes earlier, picked up a can of butter powder and remarked, “With what they’re doing to the dollar, we’re all going to be needing to eat this sort of stuff soon.”
I swear, I’m constantly surprised at these little encounters that reveal so much interest and awareness among ordinary folk.
If fedgov paranoids want to hunt for anti-government subversives, they don’t need to do it in woodsy militia enclaves, at protests, or among sovereigns or Tea Partiers. Or tattoo parlors, surplus stores, hobby shops, or banks, for that matter.
Just stand in the food aisles at Wal-Mart.
