We've discussed many aspects of "prepping" over the years in these pages. Some topics come up repeatedly. One of them is financial preparedness: establishing an emergency fund, getting out of debt, paying cash rather than going into more debt, and so on. Part of that advice has always been to have a certain amount of money available in cash, without needing to go to a bank to get it. If communications systems go down, you won't be able to verify balances, pay by credit card, etc. Better have some cash on hand to take care of essentials for a few days.
It’s not just that people couldn’t place mobile orders for coffee at Starbucks or ask Alexa for the weather. Hospitals said crucial communications services weren’t working, and teachers couldn’t access their planned lessons for the day. Chime, a mobile banking service, was down, too, leaving people without access to their money. Ring and Blink cameras, along with most smart home devices, stopped working.
. . .
One expert already estimated the total impact of the disruption will be in the billions of dollars.
“It creates a very large single point of failure that then impacts operations at warehouses, deliveries, people being able to sell their goods and services on websites,” Jacob Bourne, an analyst at eMarketer, told CNN.
. . .
The Doughertys ... stopped for lunch at Cattleman’s Roadhouse, where the manager offered to pay for their meal because the restaurant was unable to process cards.
“He said, ‘This is no fault of yours, and you’re already eating. I don’t guess you all have cash?’” Debi Dougherty said. “And we both looked at each other, and I’m like, ‘Not enough to cover this meal.’”
. . .
Dia Giordano was spending her Monday trying to untangle the mess that the outage made for her three businesses: an Italian restaurant, eight mental health clinics and a couple of rental properties.
DoorDash was “blowing up” her phone starting at 2 a.m., warning that the online ordering system, which is run through Toast, was down.
“What that means is one-third of my business is gone for the day,” she told CNN. “At least with the publicity (of the outage), people might be understanding, but I’m still getting messages asking if we’re open, because the website is just gone. It’s just not there.”
Toast, when reached Monday, declined comment.
At Giordano’s mental health clinics, her practitioners and administrative staff members were unable to validate clients’ insurance information because the online clearinghouse for that information wasn’t working.
And on top of that, Venmo was down, meaning she couldn’t receive the rental payments she normally would.
There's more at the link.
I've spoken to several friends and acquaintances who found they were unable to buy their normal purchases because credit card services were down. Others had a little cash available, but not enough for everything they needed, and so had to make rapid decisions over what to buy, and what to do without. In one case where little children were involved, disposable diapers and baby food took priority, meaning the car didn't get filled with gas and the family had to make do with less for supper.
I always carry at least $100 in my wallet, and sometimes more, and I've asked my wife to do the same. If we'd been out and about when the Internet outage hit on Monday, we'd have had enough to get home again, including gasoline, food, etc. However, I think a lot of people would not have been so fortunate. (Remember, too, to carry smaller bills. Offering a $100 note to a small business might bring the answer that they don't have enough change to break it, so it's either give them the extra, or do without whatever you wanted to buy there. My wallet usually contains a mix of $20 and $50 bills for that reason.)
It's also worth remembering that Monday's outage was resolved within a day. If it had gone on for a week, there are businesses that would literally have gone bankrupt through being unable to process payments from customers or to suppliers. If it had lasted a month, the permanent damage to the US economy would undoubtedly have run into at least hundreds of billions of dollars, if not the low trillions. It might have put many people out on the street, for that matter. For example, how many companies could keep their staff on the payroll when they have no money coming in to pay them? How many rental agreements contain clauses allowing the landlord to evict tenants for non-payment of rent, particularly if they're already a few weeks, or a month or two, behind in their payments? Landlords (particularly the corporate variety) aren't renowned for their loving-kindness and humanitarian instincts.
I've always tried to keep at least one months' routine expenditure in cash on hand (i.e. available immediately, not in the bank), so that I could pay our essential bills if the banking system went down. After Monday, and looking at the potential for greater disruption from terrorism, economic sabotage, etc., I'm seriously thinking it might be a good idea to increase that to two months' worth. I can't afford that at the moment, but it's a worthwhile target, I think.
(Also, from a personal perspective, I'm currently undergoing rehab after my surgery last month, and preparing for a bigger operation next year. What if I couldn't pay for those sessions, or for the medications I need? I definitely need a medical cash reserve, over and above a general-purpose one!)
Monday's Internet outage should be a useful reminder to all of us. Emergencies arrive on their own schedule, not ours, and they usually don't provide much (if any) warning. If we're not ready when they happen, we're not ready. Period. It helps to be as prepared as practically possible, to survive the interruption(s) to routine that they bring with them, and come out the other side as intact as possible.
Peter
24 comments:
Yep, and when the planned blackouts start, the lemmings will march in to thier cages
Yes. And figure if (when ?) a widespread evacuation from a hurricane or similar happens, that gasoline and motel room bills may grow several times the norm or weekend rates stay in place for duration. Price gouging is illegal, but will still happen and you either pay up or go without the needed material.
But...but... they told us that moving everything to "the cloud" would make things more reliable and secure... Seriously though, I'm not sure it was really as severe as some of the news reports are trying to make it sound. I haven't talked to any real people (no offence to you online folks who may or may not actually be a dog) who were even aware of it while it was happening.
The only disruption we experienced was our Blink camera system not working, which we rely on when away from home to alert us to unscheduled visitors and possible night time visitors. Therefore, for us Blink is going to be replaced with a hardwired system that can alert via Wi-Fi/cell/land line and backed up by a monitoring agency.
Thanks for the reminder, Peter!
Yeah, when I see people at a WaWa charging a cup of coffee ya just got to wonder what they are going to do in a long(more then a couple of days) term storm in the "cloud".
Long time IT guy here. The business I work for was impacted but fortunately not for highly critical systems. We could still log in, get email, the phone system worked (not chat) and our primary online app we use in our business stayed up. But ancillary systems that were down forced us to change some work flows and do other things to get by for the day. I personally am not a fan of relying fully on cloud computing. We keep domain and data servers and desktop systems inhouse but most of the web platforms are online. It's just the way things have gotten over the years.
For my personal stuff I trust as little as possible to the cloud and keep as much in-home as possible. I know I can't escape it 100%, but I do follow the saw that if it's in the cloud it's on someone else's system and I do not have full control of it. I know most people don't have the means or desire to do at home what they can just sign up for and do online. Sure, I could have a house fire and lose it but I have backups in a safe box at the bank and a couple spare systems in a storage unit. I could have a power outage and be down. Those are usually short lived and the generator can help supply power for periods where I need something. I also have critical stuff (some medical records, important documents, etc) printed and kept in notebooks in a good fire safe.
No matter what you do there is some risk of losing access to it. I prefer that risk to lie in my hands as much as possible, not in someone else's.
As mentioned about when the planned blackouts start, I may be inconvenienced, but not completely down and out. :)
The only coffee I will buy is Waffle House or in New England Duncan. I keep a french press, water heater, and coffee in my rear door side pocket on the truck.
I add 2 or 3 hundred any time I get down to $100 but dad used to keep 1 to 3 thousand. I always tip in cash, usually 20 to 25%. The wife lifts 20 to fifty dollars out of my wallet every week or two. Part of my morning ritual is to see if I still have the same amount of money I came home with yesterday.
At least three local to us businesses had problems, including inability to pay bills and access funding.
I usually card almost everything, no matter how small.
Because it doesn't cost me anything and I don't have to break the $20's and #50;s in my wallet.
Oh, and I have a breakdown of everything I bought (thanks .gov)
As a little OT for your car questions lately, I ran across this that might give you another way of getting a decent vehicle.
https://www.newsweek.com/car-repossessions-approaching-record-high-as-delinquency-rates-soar-10908518
My lady and I were talking about this the other day. We're not exactly spring chickens but we've also switched to using credit cards for almost, well, everything.
We noticed the general change around Covid when there were strong social pressures to avoid contact as much as possible; that meant, among other things, moving away from cash.
For us, personally, we also use cards that provide between 2% and 6% of the amount charged as cash back. It's not much, but it's something, and the percentage back is just as great on a bottle of soda as on a cart full of groceries. (And yes, we know, the prices are higher in the first place to make up for credit card fees charged to the merchants.)
… There was an outage?
Interestingly, I never even noticed the outage. I only found out about it by reading about it later. Party because I don't have any "smart" devices. I don't really understand people who will spend their own money to buy and install devices to enable third parties to track and record every aspect of their lives...but to each his own. I got lucky and didn't need to buy or order anything while the outage was occurring, so I didn't even know about it until later.
With that said, I do try to keep some cash in my wallet. I usually pull $200 from an ATM to top off whenever I get down around or just below $100 so at any given point I've typically got between $100 and $300 in my wallet.
Also, I never let the gas tank get below half. I've been doing that so long when the needle starts approaching the half-way mark, I start to get a little anxious as if I'm afraid I'm going to run out. My truck is our emergency escape vehicle so I want to have at least a couple hundred miles of range for emergencies at all times. Plus, even if it's not a "bug out" situation, it ensures I've got enough gas to last a few days at all times.
But I digress...my concern with the cash is that, now days, almost all the businesses are dependent on the internet to function as well. How many gas stations, stores, etc, will even be able to accept your cash if the "system" is down? Most won't. Some restaurants and small businesses may be willing and able, but most chains and franchises will be down.
Definitely keep cash on hand, but also have at least a few days supply of essential needs at all times as well because that cash does nothing for you if no one accepts it. Obviously more is better, but even a few days worth might just be crucial.
Price gouging is illegal... unless you're in "Big Medicine..." My wife has rehuamtiod Arthritis. She just had to pay her Rheumatoid Arthritis specialist $25.00 for him to sign a jury duty excuse due to the pain she's in.
Sheesh, I've been carrying at least $500 on me since I was 19. still carry that much but I look like an almost homeless ex-vet who would kill and gut you if you bothered him. Been able to jump on some good deals because I had the cash on me. Learned it from the Boy Scouts, Be Prepared, so $500 and a condom in the wallet. Never used the condom as I married my true love early. Wifey doesn't know about the $500 as I take my wallet with me everywhere.
Spin
I saw some problems with the internet, but it was intermittent.
I always carry cash - I may start putting some more cash aside in the future, as it is possible that services may not be available for some weeks. For me, it's a minor inconvenience, for some, it's a catastrophe.
If the EBT cards aren't available for even a couple of days, there will be riots and looting in the big cities. Smaller towns should be able to handle the disruption.
My home security is provided by Simply Safe. The system has battery backup, and runs separately from our home wifi. I didn't think to check it during the outage.
Went through a major, several day, power outage in my area a number of years ago. At the time my biggest problem was getting gas for my car. Very few gas stations were open and all only took cash. I usually keep a fair amount of cash in my pocket now though I put most of my purchases on a credit card which is paid off completely every month. I wish I could convince my wife to carry cash, though with her its as much a psychological quirk as poor planning. For some reason she would rather get pocket money from me than keep her own stash.
Even if you can put 50-dollars away in your sock drawer. It doesn't have to be a ton of money, but as many have stated, and I can attest to the uselessness of credit in a power outtage. I lived through the North East Blackout and bought several things at my 7-11. Guys with gold cards were awfully pissed at me as I walked away w/ my milk, bread, and beer.
WARNING!
While its obvious you wont be able to fill the tank on the car with a CC, recent local experience shows they cant even take cash when "the system" is down. IE. they dont know how to use cash registers without internet.
. . . There was an outage Monday?
Broke this up in two posts as it was too long
It's funny, I feel most of the time like the quintessential boy scout even though the closest I came being in the scouts was signing up in the 5th grade? Never made it to the first meeting. Baa Baa Black Sheep came on during the scout meeting times.
Several things seem to speak to me here. One comment by the IT professional, resonated with me as that is my profession also. I have been really resistant to letting my customers use cloud services because of this exact issue. Azure cloud is notorious for going down and AWS though better is still failure prone here and there. I have a payroll company I have supported since they had a novel server and 4 workstations 28ish years ago. I was talking with the owner yesterday and hadn't even been aware their was a outage. Multiple people have tried to talk him into contract to move a lot of his stuff to the cloud and I have always resisted and he has listened to me. He does have his own server room with 13 or 14 servers and another 20 virtual servers, that handle his operation. We have averaged maybe 4 to 6 hours of downtime a year for one thing or another including internet outages. Power outage, No problem, big diesel generator that can handle whole building with a 14 second fail over time. If he was on Azure he would have had at least 2 weeks of downtime since 2020. AWS maybe 3 or 4 days of downtime. As it is call it an aggregate of a days downtime in 1 to 3 hour increments over 5 years. You can not trust in other businesses to provide for your critical infrastructure. He services almost 2000 clients spread across the nation. They get really ornery if there are service outages.
too long again
We try and keep a cash reserve at home for emergencies. Mostly we call it our car fund. We pull excess cash out or anytime we get cash from someone or sell something we put it in that fund to buy our next car. We try to make car payments to it since we won't finance a car. If we can't purchase it outright we don't buy it. So it's a bit of a multi purpose reserve.
Food... this is something that drives me crazy... I have in laws that would start starving in 3 days of they couldn't go to the grocery store. When we have visited I would just plan on a shopping trip for essentials including spices and sometimes even pots pans and utensils. Even with no emergencies I sometimes wonder how they have survived. A tremendous number of people live day to day with the available food in their houses. My mother who raised us grew up as a farm girl. We were poor as church mice as a single parent household with 3 children. It doesn't cost much to by rice, potatoes, beans etc.. with a little meat here and there as flavoring. :) She made sure we always had at least a months worth of the basics on hand with the stuff that filled in around that a weekly grocery trip. I have to admit im a bit compulsive and might exceed that by a magnitude or so. We could live off of the freezers and fridge for at least a month and yes I can keep them cold for that month off a propane generator. (we live in hurricane territory and make sure we are prepared for a few weeks without power) The dry foods that are in the house pantry are good for another couple months of survival. Again, it's pretty easy to just pick up cases of canned food, beans, corn, soups etc.. at really good deals a couple times a years when on sale here and there. Rice is really cheap at the bigbox stores in 25 and 50lb bags.. even today at twice the cost of regular rice you can buy a 50lb bag of jasmine rice for under 40 dollars. For us that is 3 months of rice. So just over 13 dollars a month for a bulk starch. For normal rice call it 7 dollars a month. For those that are rice cooking challenged a decent rice cooker is under 40 dollars nowadays and a 80 dollar modern pressure cooker has a rice setting as well as being able to pressure cook soups etc.. if you look around there are used kitchen appliance for cheap. I just bought an old bread maker for 6 dollars yesterday at a Habitat store and a nice used GE washing machine for 275 (which i don't think was a particularly great deal but needs must.. old one was leaking.) they had a pressure cooker for 40ish.. which i though was outrageous... I spend about 80 for a brand new one with about 11 cooking functions. Same price range for air fryers. sigh im wandering here.
last of series
carrying cash and gas...
We purchase everything with credit cards and then pay them off. since the prices are what they are the average 5% back where we purchase the bulk of our spending makes a difference. Sam's credit card 5% back on gas 2% on purchases in store. 3% eating out. (this one isn't important to us as we don't eat out enough for it to impact anything.) Amazon CC 5% back on all purchases on amazon. ( I hate amazon but they make it so easy to do business with them and I can call up a recite for something I purchased 20 years ago in less than a minute of searching.)
This sort of purchasing has left us with no need to carry cash and I have regretted that multiple times. I try to keep a 100 dollars on me and when im going somewhere outside our county I will typically put a few hundred dollars as an emergency get home fund in the luggage. Problem is that I forget the money is there and might find it years later tucked in that pocket. sigh..
Gas is an issue.. where we live we have to fill up ever 4 to 5 trips away from the house. 80 mile round trip basically. We try to always have a minimum of a 1/4 tank when filling up. I purchased a aluminum truck box a few years ago with a 90 gallon tank integrated. The box part of it has oil and other consumables in it for the vehicles. We fill it every couple years with fresh gas. Just prior to that we run all the old gas through the vehicles to empty the tank out. Stabil additive is your friend to keep the gas good. We also have a 30 gallon rolling tank that we can put in the back of the truck to fill the bigger tank in three trips when needed (you don't want to know what a pain it is to fill it with 5 gallon fuel cans). Next time around I think I will spend extra and get ethanol free gas as that will extend the shelf life of it. In daily life having 120 gallons of gas at your own pumping station in the yard comes in handy. Lawnmower, tillers etc... and the 5 or 6 times a year you forget to fill up on the way home and the car is on empty when you get home, being able to pump some gas to get you to the gas station or even just filling the tank is great. Down side is that even with 120 gallons, all that will do is provide gas for the cars for 6 fills which is about 1900 miles of aggregate driving in our vehicles, maybe. so about 3 weeks of normal daily driving.
If you want to be prepared even minimally for non standard conditions, whether cloud down, hurricane, societal upsets, or any things else, it is a long and complex list of things you need to prepare for and seems overwhelming. Actually it is overwhelming. It is doable though. Start with food, then power, then transportation, then first aid stuff, then household consumables etc...
make lists then just start buying what you need when you see a good sale and you have a little extra money. Buy stuff used. I got a 1000 plus dollar truck box with fuel tank for 200 dollars I think. Generators off season you can gets a 3 or 4 thousand watt dual fuel generator for 300 dollars. Always get dual fuel... and never use gas until its an emergency. generator run on propane will never have carb issues. Also having 5 to 10 20lb propane tanks around gives you propane for the generator, heating the house, grills for cooking etc.. We use it for the stove top in the house, generators, grills and heating in the winter when it gets real cold. I can still fill a 20lb tank for 10 dollars where I live. 3 tanks will heat our house in freezing weather for most of a month. 30 dollar heating bill. We also have a wood burning stove that we don't use much anymore because I physically don't have the ability to haul and deal with the firewood anymore.. However with the glass door it is nice a few times a month to crank it up and see the fire and feel the radiated heat. Comfiest heat ever.
sigh this is a topic/topics that deserve a couple books.. but stopping here.
I learned this lesson as a young man. Prior to marriage, I actually controlled my money. No really. At the time we got a paycheck and a check for travel expenses, really just a tax dodge, but anyway.
I would cash the expense check every other week. Send the rest to my mother who would deposit it for me.
Come october or so when the season was over I would head back south and not work again until Easter. Traveled a lot, and would head to my mother's when funds got low. Usually arriving broke, stopping at the bank with my passbook.
Got there one time to find the small, one location bank had had a fire and were closed for at least 3 weeks. This was before debit cards and I despised any type of credit even as a youth.
So I spent 3 weeks broke. Swore that would never happen again.
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