Id hate to say it...but I think I would on day 1...while the getting is good and the chaos hasn't yet hit. I would discreetly steal (stores only) or even **** away several grand on two platinum cards with the intent of never paying them. Id say that they got taken during the chaos if the financial system remained intact down the road. If the world is sitting there drooling and I saw the early signs well buddy I am on it. Man hate my self for it but its the truth!

I would finish my bob list for me and my lady. Food and necessity items. No TVs or toys, or anything frivolous just what is going to help us and maybe others make it.

After this I would buggen in like a mofo! the BOB would be if we had to cut and run.

 

It depends on how severe the situation is and how sure you can be that things are not going to go back to normal in a hurry.

But for me, as soon as it is evident that it has hit the fan, i would want to get supplies immediately. Purchase if possible but loot if necessary.
Number 1 thing is fuel, fill up as many jerry cans as i can get in the F150.
Then Ammo, then food and supplies.

 

I hate to say it. Im sure someone will come along and say its terrible, you should have been more prepared, that your just adding to the problem, etc. But I think you have a valid point and valid question. My guess is that the majority of folks nation wide would loot what ever they could. History always repeats itself. Myself? I would try to resist, but loot only what you absolutely need. My main concern is my family, so Im thinking canned goods and water.

Hey.. its my 100th post!

 

Well.. its survival not being nice and following the rules.. I would loot if I had to but I wouldn't go around smashing and grabing everything I can...

 

So you will practice looting and theft.

Your parents must be proud.

 

Congrats Farmer lol....I think everyone has a great plan but once it comes to the moment then I think everyone is gonna realize all the loose ends they have.

Just like the once great Mike Tyson said..."everyone goes into the ring with a plan until they get punched in the face."

Well I know my parents are proud but know one can be 100% self sufficient. Atleast not on this college kids budget or economy, and I go out of my way to prepare.

Wait till someone steals your stuff, what then jtrider? Oh wait Microsoft nevermind.

 

I live in a county of about 5,000 people. To follow your methods, I would be stealing from someone I know. Once that was discovered in the community, I would be viewed with distrust for the rest of my life. However long or short that may be. I noticed that bartering, trading or consolidating forces were not in the fore front of options for you. You went straight to looting. My suspicions are that if you lack the skills to fend for yourself in the first stages of trouble, you also lack the skills to survive whatever folks have in place to defend against looters. I suppose stealing is a skill. So is defending your property. I live up a one lane dirt road. Anyone makes it up this hollow with a force big enough drive us out will have our stuff. Simple as that, I guess. They might surprise us, but I doubt they could hold this area long.

The Microsoft shoe doesn't fit our feet here. We're rural people. We have livestock, gardens and fruit trees. We're not in a target rich area, so I don't see anyone bombing our valley. So we're dug in. I don't claim any great intelligence about prepping or anything, but even a goofy squirrel has enough sense to store some nuts. I suspect if one of those squirrel's decided to lay up and just raid from the others what he needed come winter, the other squirrels might put a kink in his plans. Nature has a way of dealing with things it seems.

When it comes to the safety of my family, anything is possible. Stealing may be all that is available at some point for all of us. But I can't support anyone who has stealing as their primary means of survival. I think it has a lot to do with what I've seen, what people do to get by in a war torn world. When it is down to eating, shelter, and staying together. Watching a trail of refugees has made me think about what they left, and what lies ahead for them. It's caused me to put some effort into trying to provide for these kids I love in case something happens here. I might fail, but I'd like to try to come out of a crisis together and with a little bit of dignity left. I'd like to think that there is more that separates us from the rats and coyotes than our thumbs.

 

I don't see myself looting at all. I would be more apt to figure out ways to survive rather than looting. One of the things I've been pushing since I came to this forum is to think ahead of trouble and outside of the box. In this pushing mode of mine, I have urged people to get books about edible wild plants that are in the areas where they live. I have a couple of such books for myself and my family right now on hand. That way I can have a source of food that others will be overlooking as they walk right past it. Then, if need be, I would see myself getting out of Dodge as a secondary option too. One way or another I don't see myself looting at all.

 

Good points...thanks for keeping it productive.....I gotta few books myself....Im trying to fallow your same plan. I hope Ill be ready when it happens.

 

Is there a difference in Looting and say.. borrowing needed items from bugged out or the dead homes..that is the question.

 

I think it would take quite a while for me to get to that level of 'looting'. It would also depend on the type of SHTF scenario that happened. If there is only you and on ones coming back, then the more the merrier.

 

Looting? No. Scavenging? Yes. I know that may bring up the whole "whats the difference" question so I will explain what I mean when I say that.
First off: Looting is aggressive and/or overt in nature. Scavenging is passive and/or covert in nature.
For me the difference is this. Looters are people who actively go out, break into a store or whatever, and take what they want in the immediate aftermath of a SHTF event.
Scavengers are people who wait for the turmoil and panic to die down and then go out and find the things that they can use that other people have overlooked. I would not scavenge from a place unless I had a pretty good idea that it had been abandoned for some time which would be one to three months minimum, probably more like three to six months. Might I miss out on some "choice" items? Sure. But those items would have done me no good anyway if I was killed by fellow looters or some business or home owner that you didn't realize was there.
One of the reasons I prep is so that I don't have to loot. I scavenge so that I can replace supplies that I have used up.
And no I didn't invest early on Microsoft. I have just been at this for 25+ years. I was fortunate to have my eyes opened early in life so every since then I have bought a little here and a little there until I have what I feel is a good set-up. Is it the most hi-tech or extensive one? Nope. But I believe that it will get me and mine through at least a year, two if necessary.

 

Looting? No. Scavenging? Yes. I know that may bring up the whole "whats the difference" question so I will explain what I mean when I say that.
First off: Looting is aggressive and/or overt in nature. Scavenging is passive and/or covert in nature.
For me the difference is this. Looters are people who actively go out, break into a store or whatever, and take what they want in the immediate aftermath of a SHTF event.
Scavengers are people who wait for the turmoil and panic to die down and then go out and find the things that they can use that other people have overlooked. I would not scavenge from a place unless I had a pretty good idea that it had been abandoned for some time which would be one to three months minimum, probably more like three to six months....

Ah, you beat me to it! Looting someone's property/supplies/goods is vastly different than picking through abandoned stuff looking for something useful.
It's like that old saying we used to repeat over & over:"Hey, if you die we're splitting your $#!+!!!"

 

I wouldn't be looting very soon because with my luck, while i was out looting, someone would loot my house.....

 

There is no way for a person to know when all law is suspended and salvage of unowned or unclaimed property will begin.

If it is a situation like Katrina....NEVER would be my answer. If the disaster were nationwide like a nuclear war or an outbreak of some terrible plague that has offed most of the nation but I and afew others survive? it could be am matter of days or even hours.

I hate to use the term situational ethics but that is basically what will apply for most people.

 

The only place that I would think of looting would be my neighbor's house...they have moved to Georgia, but they still have stuff left behind...if the SHTF bad enough, I will be over there before anybody else manages. If it hits the fan bad enough, they won't be back. Otherwise, I have enough in stores and seeds that I shouldn't have to do it anywhere else.

 

Ok to simplify this let's assume this is the big one. The America we knew is no more...to mAny wars no more money food is to expensive due to resources and states are beginig to collapse. some parts of the country are showing hostility towards each over resourrces and are taking sides. The fed is in pockets and states are scrambling their assets

 

The way i see it, is I am far more prepared than the average person, i can easily go 3 months within my fence, so by the time I needed to "loot" it would really be scavenging.

The primary reason I prep is for short term emergencies anyway.

After the 3 months are up, well, i'll cross that bridge when I get there.

 

I strongly believe in the golden rule; treat others as you'd like to be treated.

I'm certainly going to be upset if, after tshtf, someone comes and tries to steal my stuff. Since that stuff is my livelihood, I'll try to protect it. I'd expect the same in return.

It's illogical to me to try to steal something from someone when I might be able to approach it from the perspective of 'He's got something I want, maybe I've got something that he wants' and make a partnership by bartering goods and services and helping us both survive.

If I just steal all his stuff and he leaves or dies -- his skill and his ability to generate further resources that I might need goes with him.

 

If by looting you mean taking things that aren't claimed by anyone else such as items found in an abandoned building, then probably a week. But if someone claim's it by any means or it obviously belongs to them, then I wont even consider taking it.

 

after shooting the looters and takin their loot, I will have looted what the looters looted....does that make sense?

 

The main problem with looting is that it's an EXTREMELY high risk endeavour. There will be many people shooting looters on sight, and deciding to loot could well mean an early demise. It's rewards probably wouldn't be worth the risk. Even in a situation where it seems as if nobody's around, there very well could be someone covering the area with a scoped hunting rifle. Someone who's prime objective is to keep people from looting.

 

Provided nothing happened to my house and what's inside it, we are adequately supplied to survive for more than a year without restocking. Hopefully in that amount of time, a barter system of sorts will emerge. I am also stocking up on books about primitive skills to help rebuild in the aftermath. I don't see the need to go looting unless a life threatening incident occurs and we don't have the medical supplies on hand to deal with it. I didn't vote on your poll because none of the options fit me. We can survive one day, one week and one month easily as long as there aren't armed roving hoards. In the case of armed thug gangs, I think that we would need to band up with some of the neighbors to provide a neighborhood security system.

 

If society has collapsed and there is nobody around the old saying is always true locks keep honest people out. so if is free to grab you bet i am going to take that bag of rice on the table (no point in taking TV since there wont be anything new on for a good long time).

If it will help me to survive i will take it. But i will not take it by force. I will only take when the trail magic says so.

 

Not going to say I would never loot, but this is why I prep. I don't want to expose myself to danger looting if its not nessasary. I don't even plan leaving the property for several months if TSHTF in a bad way.

So I chose other.

 

I didn't vote because it depends on where I am and what's going on. It would also depend on whether something is needed or not. I think in all reality people will loot to make sure they aren't missing out on anything that someone else has, period. It's going to be hurray for me and pi$$ on everyone else at first. Later, people will loot out of necessity.

 

This is for a collapse in society for what ever reason.

So you will practice looting and theft.

Your parents must be proud.

Ok he's not talking about facebook being shut down and the masses freaking out. Collapse of society would take a massive event. Just 1 hurricane or earthquake wouldn't cause this at least in the US. Katrina was a big deal BUT it was fairly localized. And help was only 3 days out. Now look at Chile a smaller area, earthquake devastated it.

The fact of the matter is for whatever reason a big enough event for the majority of the country to be involved there will be death. Even if you are very well prepared it could be anyone, including a mass of people here. Now I HIGHLY doubt the OP is talking about armed robbery. Fact of the matter is there will be many things out there that people don't need any more because they will no longer be here.

Morals have their place, but if it comes down to taking something someone left behind, rather in fleeing or death I have no issues taking it.


On another note, these shoot on sight replies, how many of you are willing to take a life? May think you are but I guarantee that will change for some when the time arises. I have seen many Marines freeze when it comes to taking a life and their "trained" to kill. Self defense I doubt many will hesitate, but just someone approaching your property... I doubt many will shoot on sight. I have never hesitated in combat but I highly doubt I would shoot someone just for approaching my property, a mob of people though, different story.

 

Well, I think if you go back and take a look at the original post in this thread, it has been changed. Entirely. To sum up the original post, it basically said that as a poor student, the OP had made no provisions for survival, and stated looting would be his first and only plan of action. Not a verbatim quote, but a summary of what was said. Once that was met with some opposition, it looks like the game play rules were changed. It doesn't change my position. Failure to take responsible action while you can does not excuse looting and depriving others.
I thank you for your service. Try to remember there are those here who have also served. And carried from that service an idea of what is right for them. Try to respect that.

 

Is it looting if the stuff has been abandoned?

 

No, under common law, abandoned property has no owner.

 

looters will be shot no exceptions