Another Data Point on the National Mood
November 7th, 2011




Leafing through the latest Costco supplement, I came across these two products:

(1) A tub of ARK meals, enough to supply a person with 2,100 calories a day for a month. (15-year shelf life.)

(2) A system with enough food to provide 2 people with 2,000 calories a day for 3 months.

Now maybe Costco has been selling this stuff for years and I just never noticed. But I’m pretty sure that these kinds of items have never appeared in the company’s circular–which is premium space.



  1. Gabriel November 7, 2011 at 2:50 pm

    I’ve been seeing those Costco ads for at least six months, probably a year. I’ll get really worried when they graduate from selling freeze-dried strawberries to offering Kirkland-branded spools of concertina wire and variety packs of several thousand rounds of 9mm and 5.56.

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  3. Galley Friend J.E. November 7, 2011 at 3:24 pm

    They’ve been in stock since 1/20/09.

    The new SKU is the radiation suit with instructions in Farsi.

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  5. Galley Wife November 7, 2011 at 4:40 pm

    We still need the bunk beds.

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  7. Galley Friend J.E. November 7, 2011 at 9:56 pm

    Those would be found at the Leave it to Beaver Costco in Anywhere, USA.

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  9. Brian Faughnan November 8, 2011 at 4:54 pm

    In another – unrelated – measure of the national mood, have you noticed that lay-away has made a comeback? I remember layaway from my childhood. I thought of it as a Lucy and Ricky era thing. But whether because of declining disposable income, or reduced access to credit, or something else, I’ve heard more ads for it than I have in years.

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  11. anu November 28, 2011 at 10:40 pm

    survivalism coming to costco. Hmm…It may be time to stop worrying…contrarian indicator and all. America is going to be back soon…you watch.

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