Swiss government ends stockpiling of coffee

[Still Waters 47,012]

The Swiss are nothing if not well-prepared. Theirs is a country with a nuclear bunker for every household, a country that tests its air raid sirens every year, and a country that, although one of the wealthiest in the world, stockpiles thousands of tonnes of goods in case of an emergency - including coffee.

But when the Swiss government proposed ending the stockpiling of coffee earlier this year, the plan was met with fierce resistance.

The drink, low in calories and with little nutritional value, did not belong, the government said, on the "essential to life" list.

But this led to a public outcry. The Swiss are among the world's biggest drinkers of coffee, and many, it seems, do regard it as "essential". Faced with such a public response, the government said it would reconsider.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-50402048

[and then 43,333]

I'm with them on this.  Coffee may not be critical to sustain life but it darned sure gives people a reason to go on with the process, especially in hard times.  It's a better "social lubricant" than alcohol too.  The government is probably cheeky enough to give in but raise taxes to cover the mocha cappuccino  

[freetoroam 40,819]

I need my coffee in the morning,  but I suppose if I were stuck in a bunker not knowing if it was day or night outside,  it really would not matter, I would just sleep all day . . or night. 

[Desertrat56 14,375]

I am not a coffee drinker but in 1998 when I lived in a rural area with a lot of neighbors into conspiracy and hiding from the IRS there was one neighbor who went around insisting that we all stockpile food because of Y2K  (I laughed in her face the first time she brought it up, I know about computers and data)  but she would n't go away so I bought a 50 pound bag of pinto beans and told her I am stockpiling.  I stocked up on toilet paper, toothbrushes, toothpaste and coffee because I didn't think we would need it but just in case, I had something non-perishible that I could use for the next 5 years or I could trade for food if something did happen.  I used up the last of the beans in 2006 and the toothbrushes and toothpaste in 2007.  The coffee I gave to relatives for christmas for a couple of years.

[and then 43,333]

1 hour ago, Desertrat56 said:

I know about computers and data)  but she would n't go away so I bought a 50 pound bag of pinto beans and told her I am stockpiling.

I had just taken a position as an instructor/troubleshooting phone tech with a company that sold and maintained integrated hospital info systems software.  Our big selling point was that it was "Y2K compliant"    That company made a TON of money.  It was a concept that caught fire because of the fear.

I laughed because I, also bought a very large bag of pintos.  I think it was 100lbs.  Mid January it was dropped off at a homeless shelter/kitchen.  I bet those guys got REALLY sick of beans after a few weeks  

[Desertrat56 14,375]

5 minutes ago, and then said:

I had just taken a position as an instructor/troubleshooting phone tech with a company that sold and maintained integrated hospital info systems software.  Our big selling point was that it was "Y2K compliant"    That company made a TON of money.  It was a concept that caught fire because of the fear.

I laughed because I, also bought a very large bag of pintos.  I think it was 100lbs.  Mid January it was dropped off at a homeless shelter/kitchen.  I bet those guys got REALLY sick of beans after a few weeks  

Yeah, I worked for doctors and our operating system did not assume number of digits for dates, it converted dates to a number using dec 21, 1968  as 0 (founding of OS we used) and the OS knew how to convert dates.  We did have to update the accounting software as it used actual dates and only 2 digits for the year.  It was hilarious, the one type of software that could choke was financial.  I remember a lot of banks in the area had to upgrade their whole computer systems, because the OS couldn't handle the new format (too old.  Banks are the last companies to upgrade hardware).