Ever hear of the book, "The Alpha Strategy"?  The Alpha Strategy was written by John A. Pugsley in 1980.  The book advocates buying every non-perishable you will ever need for the rest of your life.

The premise is that inflation will continue to erode your purchasing power, so beat inflation by buying and storing everything you will ever need.  This is very timely even today with food prices rising rapidly.

I believe it is an interesting read that raises some valid points, but I am not sure it accounts for certain points:

• First, how long will you live?  How many razor blades will you really need if you don't know your lifespan?  What if you buy too many or too few?
• Second, what about technological advances?  Do you want to use yesterday's technology if today's is faster, better, cheaper?
• Third, inflation typically (historically) runs two to three percent each year.  The two exceptions to this are college education and medical care.  The thing is, carefully invested funds can usually beat that inflation rate.  Clair Schwan at Frugal Living Freedom  does a good analysis on bulk purchasing of Forever Stamps.
• Finally, there is the issue of storage and insurance-- the carrying costs if you will.  Where are you going to keep this stuff safe from theft, destruction, and spoilage?

I do believe it can work on shorter time frames as opposed to a lifetime time frame.  I think it can work over a six month to two year time frame, but your stockpile needs to be rotated and sometimes, something truly better does come along. 

I believe in stocking up when I see good sales and can leverage those sales further with savvy coupons (see my posts Our Frozen Assets, Basic Food Staples Never Seem to Go on Sale, and Four Key Ways to Make the Most of Sunday Morning Grocery Coupons and Circulars).

Here is the link to the PDF file of this book-- The Alpha Strategy.

Let me know your thoughts . . .