The World of Luxury Bomb Shelters (vice.com)

An anonymous reader writes with this Vice profile of Robert Vicino, founder and CEO of survival prep company The Vivos Group. For a prepaid $35,000 entry fee, you may take shelter in one of his luxury bomb shelters when civilization collapses. "Those who make it their business to equip themselves for a civilization-ending mega-disaster—a.k.a. 'preppers'—are sometimes stereotyped as wild-eyed tinfoil hat wearers who live outside of society, but Robert Vicino caters to survivalists whose fears are backed up by money. The San Diego businessman is gunning to be the vanguard of a multibillion-dollar industry. If we're to follow the entrepreneur's logic, the rich don't live on the same scale as ordinary people in today's society—why should that change after the end of the world?"

Comments

Scammers

[gurps_npc]

The idea that you can make it to the shelter is ridiculous. If by some chance we need one, we won't have enough notice to do more than move 50 miles. The only people that could possibly be saved by the these luxury shelters are those that work there.

Honestly, almost all of the people selling this kind of crap are scammers.

You want to really protect yourself? Get into the distribution/warehouse business - so you have a warehouse full of food, water, etc. on hand all the time. Put a shelter under/in your work place.

Re:Scammers

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

You want to really protect yourself? Get into the distribution/warehouse business - so you have a warehouse full of food, water, etc. on hand all the time. Put a shelter under/in your work place.

My plan is to find a Home Depot next to a grocery store and move in there.

Re:Scammers

[Anonymous Coward]

Someone will leak the list of the locations of the luxury shelters. Then when civilization collapses, they will all become targets of starving/desperate have-nots.

Re:Scammers

[TWX]

I have a feeling that organized crime, which already has a lot of hooks into the underlying infrastructure of society that people don't like to think about, will probably be some of the best survivors in these circumstances. First, depending on what aspect they use as their angle, they might already have the warehousing and distribution part under their control. Second, as an entity that is already accustomed to using violence in business, continuing to use violence against others that are inexperienced in using violence to further their ends (ie, those that would seek to raid a warehouse of supplies) would have the upper hand in an engagement. Raiders that forced to be violent for the first time will probably not fare as well as veteran defenders that won't hesitate or won't hesitate as much.

So, it honestly depends on the warehouse owner/manager and the individual connections that the person has.

Re: Scammers

[BurningFeetMan]

Please tell me that this plot is a video game in the making!

Re:Scammers

[Hognoxious]

Getting a job as the receptionist at an asshole ark is preparation.

Take my money!

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

Wait...don't take my money.

"The San Diego businessman is gunning to be the vanguard of a multibillion-dollar industry."

Or he'll bilk lots of people out of tons of money and then retire as the company goes down in flames.

Re:Take my money!

[Deadstick]

"Some other fraud" is the most likely of your list. He'll make a shitload of money selling people something that won't help.

to paraphrase Alice in Dilbert

[iggymanz]

to paraphrase Alice in Dilbert: I don't need to spend the money for a luxury bomb shelter. When civilization ends, I only need guns, burglary tools, and the addresses of luxury bomb shelters