I have been surprised a few times lately in different stores. I did not really take the time to consider it until reading Watchman's post. Many of the stores in this area are no longer stocking their shelves full. I went into a mom and pop pharmacy where I pay my utility bills and was surprised to see more than half empty shelves with just one or two of each type of item neatly standing. That was last month. Then I went into a fairly large pharmacy (they sell the best homemade chocolate candy) up in north hills of the city and it was the same way...that was right before Valentines Day. I have noticed 7/11s and other quickie gas station centers are keeping less stock and the potato chip aisles have grown. There are no new cases of gum or candy behind the one that is open for sale...that type of thing. I do not go into chinamarts so I don't know what if anything is happening there. The local hallmark store used to be a maze of displays and even it is pretty wide open now with the regular card aisles and probably only 1/3 of the other types of displays and offerings.

If folks are counting on that supposed 3 day supply that stores carry...they will be disappointed.

I've also noticed that shipping prices for larger items are factored in. The larger items take up more room in the truck, equaling less profit. Courtesy of my son the trucker. You can notice this in places like China Mart - they are downsizing containers.

Yesterday I went into a Sportsmans Wharehouse store and they had some 55 gallon blue food grade plastic drums/containers with the small opening just like an oil drum. They wanted $60.00 apiece for these and that would leave you to devise a way of retrieving the contents as they did not sell a hand pump that would fit into the opening. Smaller 30 gallon versions were available for $35. each. These prices seem high to me but I understand that the prices on any storage gear is high right now due to the demand. This should give you some perspective and hopefully you can get a deal on those containers mentioned above.

The kid that I bought the food grade 55 gallon barrels from is also selling the IBC Totes. I have tried to attach a photo but I can't seem to! They are each 250 gallons, the same as the oilfield soap containers, but they held caro syrup and honey. He is asking a steep price for these containers and has not yet sold any. His mom has a candy store and gets her supplies in these containers...hence barrels of chocolate fudge and totes full of honey and syrup. I just wanted to pass the word in case anyone lives near a food manufacturing facility or a candy store where these containers seem to be plentiful.

This may be a fern thing...since I distill all water. My need is only to have a place to contain large amounts of water.

I have been thinking of cutting a larger opening in the top of the container to store items that I have already packaged or purchase packaged. I can line our enclosed trailer with these neatly since we will have to pull out of our current location ahead of the rest and do not yet have our permanent destination in hand.

If they contained liquid concentrated soap then I'm pretty sure the plastic would contain remnants of this material and it would leach back into your water or grain or whatever you stored in them. That has been my experience in the past. I have read where if the plastic is not "food grade plastic" then you are not supposed to use the container for potable water or food storage. Plastic kitty litter jugs etc are not to be used. I have thrown away thousands of 5 gallon plastic pails that contained acrylic plaster, real nice thick walled pails because they might leach chemicals back into my grain. You don't want to go and store your survival foodstuffs and then when you need it, discover that your grain or water smells like liquid polmolive.

They contain soap. They use soap to keep the hole clean while they are drilling and they literally toss them in the dumpster when empty.

What was originally contained in these units, liquid or solid soap? I had a chance to get some of these but declined the offer after I discovered that they had originally contained liquid fertilizer and / or herbicide . I was afraid of the plastic leaching it back into whatever I decided to use them for. I got one and used it for water storage to fight fires with but the water started growing green algae when stored in direct sunlight. These are well built units, would like to obtain some new ones that have not yet been contaminated.

If any forum member lives in an area where oil or gas development is taking place, it would be worth your time to visit those locations to pick up excellent water (or whatever) storage containers that the drilling crews simply throw away. These heavy duty plastic containers are square in size, hold 75 gallons, and are permanently enclosed in an aluminum webbed frame on all six sides. It takes a bit of work to clean them out but only requires a long handled mop and a hose. They are perfect for collecting water at downspout locations or just for storage. The access hole is large enough that you could use it to store grains, etc.