SELCO - Real life experience from Balkan Conflict

[Laager]

I'm wondering whether a simple solution to the generator problem would be to post a price list. Allow people to hook up, but charge them a mildly painful amount. If you're feeling more kind than greedy, then underneath all your prices post the cost of a comparable generator, the cost of a few 5-gallon cans, and the current cost of gasoline. If you can measure the output of your generator to each outlet, then you can see if they're trying to get around your price list (by having one guy plug in an extension cord, then having eight guys plug in their fridges or something) and cut them off.

Well, the way I see it (and I could very well be wrong, but I would rather be wrong and alive, than right and robbed blind or worse) is if someone knows you have something of value (and now you have more, because you have been charging people to hook up), it just makes you a better target. Eventually enough people will get together to take what you have....sort of like if you are trading cheap whiskey, a certain group of people will eventually start to wonder what kind of stuff are you keeping for yourself? Especially if you give stuff away.........someone always wants more and believes you have it or are holding back on them. Then they start with the it is not "fair", which imho means just because you were smart enough to stock up and they were not, they expect you to give it all to them.

imho, you want to blend in, not stand out as having something worth trying to take. Desperate people will do things (or try to do things) that they would not normally think of doing, the people that do bad things normally will not hesitate to do even worse things.

And yes, there were organized groops of gangs, 10-15 people, sometimes even 50, but also there were normal peple like you and me, fathers, granddads, decent folks, who robed and killed, there was not too much good and bad guys, most of us was gray, ready for everything.

[bigmattdaddywack]

subbed

[Crazy Wolf]

I'm wondering whether a simple solution to the generator problem would be to post a price list. Allow people to hook up, but charge them a mildly painful amount. If you're feeling more kind than greedy, then underneath all your prices post the cost of a comparable generator, the cost of a few 5-gallon cans, and the current cost of gasoline. If you can measure the output of your generator to each outlet, then you can see if they're trying to get around your price list (by having one guy plug in an extension cord, then having eight guys plug in their fridges or something) and cut them off.

Well, the way I see it (and I could very well be wrong, but I would rather be wrong and alive, than right and robbed blind or worse) is if someone knows you have something of value (and now you have more, because you have been charging people to hook up), it just makes you a better target. Eventually enough people will get together to take what you have....sort of like if you are trading cheap whiskey, a certain group of people will eventually start to wonder what kind of stuff are you keeping for yourself? Especially if you give stuff away.........someone always wants more and believes you have it or are holding back on them. Then they start with the it is not "fair", which imho means just because you were smart enough to stock up and they were not, they expect you to give it all to them.

imho, you want to blend in, not stand out as having something worth trying to take. Desperate people will do things (or try to do things) that they would not normally think of doing, the people that do bad things normally will not hesitate to do even worse things.

And yes, there were organized groops of gangs, 10-15 people, sometimes even 50, but also there were normal peple like you and me, fathers, granddads, decent folks, who robed and killed, there was not too much good and bad guys, most of us was gray, ready for everything.

I was going off the assumption that people have/will find out. It's best to keep such things private, but the truth (or gasoline fumes, or electric lights) can be discovered quicker than you might want it to be. If you have a price list, then it gives some semblance of normalcy to your activity, and people like feeling like things are normal, rational, and reasonable. Something that strips power from people can make them feel desperate and willing to do very abnormal things in order to restore it. By offering them power for a price, you're essentially stepping up as an alternate power company, and what's more regular than a electric bill? By organizing a "regular business", you also increase the likelihood of people selling you their gasoline or other fuels, which means your personal stores can last for longer. I'm pretty sure everyone on this forum is posting from a capitalist society, so we (and our neighbors) are familiar with the concept of the guy who owns the capital (in this case, the generator) getting a cut of their efforts (the fuel from their cars, the cash from their wallets). Sure, people might say it's not fair, but you weren't just *given* the generator, you had to work for it, and maybe someday they can have a generator too, if they're willing to plan ahead for the next time something happens.

Areas with a strong organized crime presence are less likely for this to work out terribly well, unless you're able to give a cut to them while still being able to survive normally and continue on as the generator operator/possessor. But, for the initial crisis, outside of those areas (and before new groups can be established) this should work ok, at least as long as it takes your initial gasoline to go bad.

Granted, there will almost always be someone saying that it isn't "fair",

[LastBoyScout]

The original artical seems to be gone.

Does anyone have a link to it or a copy to post.

LastBoyScout

[flsgear]

LBS if you go to www.shtfschool.com and go from oldest post to newest, you can basically read 99.99999% of the stuff that he said which was in that original article that he wrote.

[LastBoyScout]

Thanks

I was going to try that.

I had read the article and wanted to share it with some others.

LastBoyScout

[Florida_Tony]

It looks like the cost is now $29 on shtfschool.com. Still worth it?