Last Updated on January 28, 2020
Possibly underscoring the seriousness of the outbreak of Coronavirus that is quickly spreading through China, Asia, and beginning to trickle into Western countries, My Patriot Supply told National File that they are seeing the most interest in the company’s history, and that other emergency food supply companies are running out of inventory.
Keith Bansemer, President of My Patriot Supply, told National File that customers are quickly buying their inventory in the largest numbers in the company’s decade long history due to fears of Coronavirus disrupting the global food supply, or causing quarantines in the United States.
“There’s a lot of food storage being sold right now, and we’ve got three large warehouses,” said Bansemer. We’ve created the largest distribution structure to be able to deliver in two days, and since this news broke every day is larger than the day before. Today will be no exception, it’s a snowball effect.”
“We’re still shipping in two days, but we’re being cleared out quickly.”
Bansemer explained that other companies are already taking multiple weeks to send orders due to the large surge in volume sparked by Coronavirus.
“The others, they’re taking a week to ship it, and then it takes longer to deliver it,” said Bansemer. “We’re hearing from customers and others that it’s taking two or three weeks for the food to arrive. And they’re already running out, and saying they can’t ship it because they don’t have it.”
Bansemer explained that during previous world crises they have seen spikes, but that this is the biggest volume the company has ever sold.
“Ebola had a similar run, but this is larger in magnitude,” said Bansemer. “Stuff like hurricanes, earthquakes, and the North Korean missile tests from a few years ago always occur, but this is unprecedented.”
Bansemer also explained that companies who sell to government agencies are likely running out of supplies even quicker, as government contracts during a crisis can wipe out a company’s food supply and leave little for direct purchase by American citizens.
“We don’t work with the government. We get calls to sell to government entities, but our mission is to help Americans,” said Bansemer. “That’s what clears it out, that’s what causes the chaos.”
“The government gets in line and gets their food orders first.”
Bansemer confirmed that since the Coronavirus outbreak, he has been contacted by government entities urging him to become a contractor and sell directly to the government. His company declined the offers.
He also explained that customers are reporting their interest in buying emergency food supplies due to fears of quarantines, as 45 million Chinese in various large cities have already been placed in quarantine zones.
“It’s the phrase, ‘you’re quarantined.’ In a quarantine it’s better to have and not need than need and not have,” said Bansemer.
“In the case of food, they’re thinking ‘I’m stuck at home now,’ or ‘the grocery stores are shut because the city’s on lock down,'” said Bansemer. “People are buying four week, three months of food so they’re ready for survival.”
Bansemer predicts that orders will continue to “snowball” in volume as Coronavirus spreads.
