The science and practice of logistics is often defined as getting the right stuff, in the right quantity, to the right place at the right time. For those who are preparedness-minded, logistics takes on additional nuances. Unlike those in business and industry, where orders for goods drives the logistics process, Preppers are preparing for threats that have no pre-determined date, have many unknown impacts including time to recovery (if ever), and spatial impact. Whereas a car manufacturer, who has an order for 100 cars knows they need 400 tires (not including the little donut spare). Preppers have no idea how much of a given item or commodity they may need. Do we need 20 pounds of rice or 2,000 pounds of rice?
The answer is: it depends. It depends upon several variables that we really have no way of knowing before the incident happens. To deal with the “unknown”, we should plan for the worst-case scenario, and then some. That is, we should plan for nuclear war versus just planning for a severe thunderstorm that might only impact us for a few days. The thought process is, if you are prepared to survive nuclear war, and its aftermath, then you will also be prepared for a 3-day power outage caused a severe thunderstorm and everything in between. During the Cold War, the US government used this thought process for planning but now emergency managers are encouraged to plan for the “most likely” scenario. That is a great plan, until a disaster that is more complex and requires more resources than your “most likely” scenario happens. This is a very dangerous planning thought process to use. It would be like a football coach training and practicing his team to play against only the worst team in the league, not the best team.
Good Logistics starts with great planning
A good logistics base starts with great plans. Good plans are realistic and include all threats including those that are highly unlikely such as nuclear war, EMP, or CME. Planning should be as in-depth as possible. It is often said that military planners play checkers and logicians play chess. One of my favorite tools for helping to demonstrate/teach disaster logistics was the old adage of ancient origin entitled “For the want of a nail”. That old, simple adage shows how important, something as simple as one horseshoe nail, is to the security of a nation. We, as Preppers, should be looking for our “horseshoe nails”. That is, what little obscure items will jeopardize our survival?
Having taught disaster planning I can tell you that THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS PUTTING PEN TO PAPER. The value of developing a plan is in the thought process not the final plan itself. Your plan should include what you will do, when to do it and how you will do it. Once you get those answers down on paper you can ask the big questions. First, do I/we have the “stuff” to implement our plan. If not, then what do I/we need in order to implement our plan? Many people “plan” but never consider if they have what they logistically need to carry out their plans.
In-Depth Logistics Planning Process
Planning for logistics should follow this type of thought process. Since many disasters will cause prolonged power outages we need alternative sources of power. You pick a generator, and a small solar power system to fill your needs. What do we need to keep each system in operation? For the generator it will be fuel, oil, sparkplug, air filter, fuel filter, a carburetor rebuild kit, and an extra pull cord.
Now, for each one of those items ask yourself how they might fail? For fuel, it may have ethanol in it and it could go stale. What do we need to prevent our fuel from going stale and ethanol from damaging our fuel lines? Answers could be to buy and store non-ethanol fuel, or fuel treatments specifically to prevent damage to engines and fuel lines by ethanol fuel. You could buy a fuel stabilizer and set up a rotation system to prevent stale gas. You could also buy extra fuel line in case your fuel does cause damage.
Again ask yourself: “What issue or concerns do we have with these solutions?” Perhaps your rotation system uses a 250 gallon fuel tank to store your gas, are you are going to be able to use that gas before it goes bad? Perhaps you decide to use 5-gallon gas cans to store your fuel to better rotate the fuel. Again what can go wrong and what are the issues? Storing 250 gallons of gas has some dangers that need to be addressed. Just keep asking yourself questions about your solutions. This process is sort of like the “5 whys” method for finding the root cause of a problem. In other words, you are looking for potential “points of failure”.
The more complex of a system, the more points of failure. The more points of failure the more likely your system will fail. Think of a Ford Model A versus any Model Year 2024 vehicle. The Ford Model A was a very simple model, no power steering, no disc brakes, no emission controls, no radio, no computers, and so on. So for “survival” purposes we should be looking for the equivalent of “Models A’s” versus a highly complex modern model. Including your family or group in the process of looking for points of failure may produce better outcomes than just doing it by yourself. Do not let the questions and issues trick you into thinking that everything is doomed to fail. The goal of this thought process is to find the “best possible” way of doing things. Everything has risks but we can identify and mitigate the impacts, in we are trying to accomplish.
Storage Space
Being prepared requires space. Five-gallon buckets, 55-gallon drums, and ammunition cans take up a lot of space. When we bought our bug out location (BOL), we had a large pole barn built. The problem was I did not adequately think about my storage needs. The pole barn is useful but not as useful as it would have been if I took a few extra minutes to think it through better. Specifically, I did not layout my shelf space and estimate the number of totes and footlockers that I could put on those shelves. I thought, “this is a huge barn, I will have enough space”.
If you are looking to buy a new Prepper Paradise or build a new building on your current property, know what type of shelves you are going to use or build. Consider all the current and possible future pieces of equipment that you may store inside. Will the shelves fit, what size tote will they fit and what is the weight capacity of the shelf? I bought several shelving units that had particleboard shelves included with the unit. I had two issues with the particle board. They were moisture sponges and two when they did get wet they grew mold. These shelving units were not in a damp dark basement but in our pole barn with cement floor. It was just the moisture from the humidity in the air that was causing these issues. I have since replaced all the particleboard with plywood that was protected by a polyurethane coating. One other suggestion regarding shelving is to not place your items in the storage area until your shelves are built or assembled.
Pegboard
Footlockers and totes are great storage containers if you are filling them with one item or building kits in them. But they are not great containers for small items that you only keep a few of and use frequently. For those items, I use pegboard. I have laid out my pegboard by categories. One section is for woodworking tools such as draw shaves, draw knives, hand drills, another for automotive and engine repair items. I keep like items together as well. So in my automotive/engine repair section all my spark plugs are in one area as well as all my fuel filters and air filters. When I buy things like replacement spark plugs and air filters I mark the box/package with what piece of equipment they go to.
The great thing about pegboard is I can quickly see what I’m looking for and get it without having to open a tote and rummage through it, then put all the other stuff back. Pegboard supports a lot of weight too. One of my sections supports a large assortment of hinges, braces, barrel bolts, hasps, and other metal hardware. There are lots of different “hooks” that can be used on your pegboard as well. There are also pegboard accessories that can be used such as drawer units, sma shelves, bins, screwdriver holders, and others.
An Inventory System
A good logistics system is built upon a good inventory system. It does no good if you cannot find what you are looking for or you take an hour to find it. My inventory system consists of the following. Each shelving unit is numbered and then each shelf is lettered. I number the shelving unit starting from the left. So the first shelf on the first shelving unit is 1A, the second shelf is 1B. The containers on the selves are designated by what is inside and a number. So my first container of kitchen wares/supplies is labeled “Kitchen Tote 1”. The second tote is “Kitchen Tote 2”. For miscellaneous items that do not fit into a particular category I label the tote “Sundries”. I have made up inventory sheets that include the name of the tote, where it is located, such as “Garage loft, Shelf 4C”, a general description of the item, Like “mess kit”, quantity, and notes. If the item has a model number I normally put it in the notes section. I try to use the military nomenclature system when describing items in the description section. For example, if a tote has different gloves inside I would write it as “Gloves, chemical size Medium” or “Gloves, wool, size large.” This allows you or someone in your family or group to quickly scroll down looking for the word “gloves” as the first word.
My inventory sheets are placed in a three-ring binder and organized by building, location inside the building and the shelf location. I like to type up my inventories so no one has to have a PhD in hieroglyphics to read my writing. I always leave extra spaces in case I have to add additional items to a tote. Not everything is stored in a tote on a shelf. For those items, I also have a “hanging” inventory that lists items hanging off a shelf or from a beam or a “floor” inventory.
(To be concluded tomorrow, in Part 2.)