“One should not expect others to stockpile for them anyway.
In an emergency, any central stockpile would be instantly depleted by hoarders anyway.
Stockpiling for one’s self and family in time of plenty is preparation, not hoarding.”
Agree on the need to stockpile (and believe me, I do that). However, JIT means that there is no buffer to get things moving again. For example, if there were toilet paper warehouses that could supply the country for a week of normal use (and similar for other items), then we might have a week to distribute that inventory to people that have run out, before the zombies start to walk. Of course some people will try to hoard during that time, but there are ways of deterring that (i.e., long lines, limited quantities, etc.). A week can buy a lot of time - but instead, now, it will be almost instant.
I live in Hurricane country here in Houston. My wife couldn’t figure out why I spent hours with maps trying to figure out how to get out of the city - she said that it’s easy, just take the freeway. I told her 6 lanes of freeways TOTAL (2 West, 2 East, 2 North) wasn’t going to handle it for 5 million people. Likewise, probably 95% of people simply figure that Walmart will be there for them - there will be a HUGE SURPRISE for them.
Did you ever need to use the routes you planned out? Here in the Phoenix area, it’s even worse. We have ONE freeway going north/south, and a lot of it is just two lanes. There’s ONE freeway going east/west and a couple of loops, but that’s it. I don’t want to be here if there’s ever a mass evacuation.