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Letter Re: Disseminating Local News and Information in a Grid-Down Societal Collapse

James:
I haven’t seen much information about this, so I ask you: How do you plan on “Getting the word out”? Once the ink/toner runs out of your printer, what will a survivalist group do? We’ve nearly lost the ability, and knowledge, to operate hand-presses. Moveable type suppliers are long gone, and there’s precious little available on eBay. Certainly not an entire printing press. You might find some blocks of moveable type, but not enough to actually make an entire flyer, book, or other piece of information, such as a book or even a Bible.

And we can’t rely on the Internet running after a crash, right?

So I pose the question to you, Sir. Have you considered this aspect of post-crash survivalism? The printing press, and the ability to print, is a key technology that I don’t think we can afford to lose. – Brian in Austin, Texas

JWR Replies: As I described in my novel “Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse” [1], I advocate acquiring a couple of used manual typewriters and a used hand-crank mimeograph (stencil duplicator) machine [2]. This is tried-and-true 1880s technology. Because they are considered largely obsolete, mimeographs are incredibly cheap (in fact usually free, if you place a “wanted” ad at Craig’s List [3]). Surprisingly, the supplies to operate them [4] are still available.