The State of Preparedness

Business has been rather slow in recent months ... not only for Safecastle, but for most other preparedness-related outfits as well.

The logical explanation is that there was such a huge surge late last year and early this year in readiness buying around the country, (triggered by the Hurricane Katrina aftermath) that we are in the corresponding trough that almost always follows a reactionary spike like that.

And hey, all of us DO seem to be a bit drained of our sense of urgency anymore to prepare for this, that, and the other, after so many loud wake-up calls in recent years.

Nonetheless, in total, my educated guess is that right now, the American population is as well prepared as it has been for decades. Perhaps 10% of American households have done some substantial preparedness work in the last year or two ... so that those folks can at least pull through a few days of major difficulties without having to crash through the plate glass at the padlocked Piggly Wiggly for water and Twinkies.

Ten percent! Not much more than a sliver out of the big pie, but really, it's progress over the days when "survivalists" were being uniformly ridiculed and/or skewered in the media. Today, the tide HAS turned and we're seeing preppers and practical folks taking heroic roles in TV series (Jericho), and every week there are cable shows if not major network news programs that are outlining how easy it can be to survive disaster with just a little common sense (Survivorman, Bird Flu news programs, etc.). Not to mention a resurgence in the print media of similar fictional titles and non-fiction articles presenting readiness in a mostly positive light. The mass mind-meld is in full blossom, so fear not, the preparedness trend will continue for quite some time.

All in all, my view is that we're in a lull right now. It's a good time to be buying if you need preps, as the demand is down for the moment. Reason--emotionally, we as a population have needed to pause and have a look at the scenery before we have to react to the next spate of the unexpected and horrifying.

Bottom line ... bad stuff happens, but at least some of us will be ready when it does.

Get Ready, Seriously ... www.safecastleroyal.com