The Reflector

When things such as this happen, why don't places like Wal-Mart and Lowe's order triple the amount of supplies of all NECESSARY emergency supplies? I live in Laurel, MS and have not been able to find any bottled water for the past 3 days and have a 2 month old at home. Finding can food around here is also not happening, I stood in line for 20 minutes at 1:00 this morning waiting on potted meat and vienna sausages. I think its great that people are trying to get prepared this time but there just simply isn't enough supplies to go around.

1. How are stores supposed to know exactly how many of each type of supply to order. For example, it would be useless to order tons of extra generators if the majority of the surrounding population already owned them.
2. Where would you propose they get these supplies? Local warehouses can only hold so much at one time, and people from other regions need their canned veggies just as much as people along the Gulf Coast.
3. If, by some chance, triple the amount of necessary supplies were to arrive, where would they be kept until they could be rotated onto the shelves?

Hurricane season begins roughly the same time every year - it shouldn't be a huge surprise when one begins threatening the Gulf. The government issues reminders to prepare early for a reason. From July to October, make sure you have more canned goods and bottled water than you immediately need and don't let your car get too low on fuel - this is common sense, not insensitivity.