I won't even go now, when the risk of being murdered or sold to an organ bank is half that of an apocalypse scenario.

Exactly. I drive truck, and every decent sized city all over the country has grocery DCs. Heck, there's even some out in the middle of nowhere. Plus every major store chain has their own DCs, again, all over the country.

Exactly

Most Walmarts do have tents and sleeping bags.

If I go to a Walmart, its going to be to clean out the propane tanks, don't even have to enter the store.

The ambiguity of your position on "taking over" (i.e. looting) is questionable.

You state there is plenty of stuff to be had (and never mention paying for it) but then say you "disagree with trying to go warlord style" but close with saying other stores might be better targets (targets isn't stated but implied).

The idea of someone on a survival board (and therefore someone is awake enough to make plans for self preservation) making ambiguous comments about what can only be considered looting is irresponsible (if not reprehensible).

How about recommending people go there NOW and PAY for supplies they may need instead of "playing devil's advocate"?

I just saw this post, and re-read your OP....

"You are going to attract MAJOR rats/pests/disease wherever you pile that up, and there will be TONS of it. Think of the rows and rows of frozens, meat, dairy, refrigerated, deli, produce, in-back freezers and cold storage, etc. There is literal tons of it. Anywhere within 1/2 mile of that pile will be a rat infested, disease ridden no-go scenario. "

You do mention biohazards, but it is related to LOOTED ITEMS.

I'm not trying to be combative, but we need to be responsible with our words. Thought exercises are important, but your choice can be intrepreted as you fishing for ways to preserve looted items (under the auspices of the perishable loot becoming a biohazard).

If your premise was actually "how can I / we avoid biohazards created at large stores filled with perishable food" ... then the "thought exercise" would conclude very quickly and succinctly:

Stay way from such places.

ETA: As I don't want to be drawn into an argument of semantics I will not post in this thread again.  I've posted my interpretation, and will leave it there.

I wouldn't want to be in a place big enough to sustain a Walmart.

40% of the food supply in the US goes past Sysco Food warehouses.....those things are huge...

Trust me I know many of them very, very well all around North America.  

question about the survival gathering,  " Try to show up wearing blue jeans and a non distressed white T-shirt and you will be denied entry into the city gates."  Why?  Not arguing, just curious  ... that's practically my summertime daily wear.

We attempt to maintain the semblance of civility in our fantasies, if only for board decorum.

There's crisis and then there's survival. I'd like to think that posters have no intention of resorting to criminality as their first course of action, but society doesn't share that mindset. People loot for politics and similar non crisis events, let alone true emergencies. Most normal people can rationalize doing a lot of things that would be crimes in order to preserve their life or their family's. Some may have just gotten on the fantasy ladder on a higher rung and are entertaining The Road as opposed to LA Riots.

Some would loot because they missed breakfast, others only when starvation was truly iminent. There are no people here who are going to sit and starve to death. We have to be real, you're not here because you are going to accept your situation as inshallah, karma, or otherwise.

I will just throw my $100 bill at the vacant register and push my cart through checkout

The can of worms has been opened.

Speaking to starvation when my Dr got me started with fasting for some of my health problems  I was shocked to discover that I could go for WEEKS without food and not slow much. I did everything the same but didn't have some drive after 10 days or so but still did all that was needed.
Its a great survival skill to know and not panic if there is no food for a few weeks.
I know most people think the will die after a few days and panic those will be the enemy.

The early die off will be from stupidity and mental illness as people run out off medications or take them while fasting etc.

To the OP, no you are correct that there ARE still groups out there who think they'll be able to raid/hold a Walmart type store post-shtf.  There's a fictional SHTF book out from John Chapman called Black Knight Squadron Book 1 where they actually fight over a local walmart and a food distribution center.  Hell, a local patriot groups plan is to have it's members and friends show up at a local mall where they have a retail store at and that will be their hold out... I've heard this plan by multiple people who have belonged and STILL belong to that group.

The other side of the coin are these so called militia/patriot groups pretending to be family oriented preparedness groups who believe they'll set up in some neighborhood and act as private security/light infantry as long as they keep getting supplied by the remaining residents.  I shit you not.  I'm actually more worried about those types playing local B-movie warlord more then the unprepared.  I just don't understand this batch of "preppers" these days, it's either they are either fair weather only raise their heads when there's possible trouble on the horizon, out just to make money off of others or go full flag waving, 'merica Militia save the country BS.  I do miss the old school survivalist groups of yesteryear.

Old school survivalists simply prepared to survive. Now there are are more groups that want to win conflicts.

Any group actually able to take and hold a Wal-Mart would be extremely unlikely to expend the resources to do so.
(because they'd already possess more of what's needed, or have the capabilities/intelligence to obtain things in lower-risk locations).

There are plenty out there who'll have no quelms about raiding for supplies.

You farm folks are going to be forced to stand guard over your herds and flocks to ensure that you don't incur losses from two legged predators

Truck drivers, such as myself, will be targets too.

your chart doesn't factor in the 11 average MPH wind in minnasota. With that level of wind , 10 above becomes 10 BELOW dang quick. your 10 degree building stays 10 degrees unless you have some NICE insulation, which a giant box store likely isn't the best.

In the event of a "grid down" scenario, most Walmarts won't have power. Some will owing to their location in a hurricane zone. But even there, a lot of them normally have semi-trailer based units trucked in from a depot right before the storm. That's with several days notice. For a sudden catastrophy, most Walmarts, Targets, Krogers, grocery stores, sporting goods stores, and most all retail outlets won't have power. Virtually all of those will close because of the inability of their employees to do simple math and make change with people paying cash. Some retail outlets have a few minutes to a few hours of backup power for their registers, then they're done (like the Target near us).

So, there will be some window of opportunity to "beat the crowd" so to speak. Most folks who are at home when the power goes out tend to stay home. The folks that do venture out are mainily lookie-loos that want to see how widespread the power outage is. (OK, I'll admit to having done that one before.) It would be a good idea to take a close look at the retail stores you might want to visit and determine whether they have backup power or not now. I know that the BJs near here does and they can run the registers and gas pumps but no lighting or A/C or heat. There's one grocery store nearby that has a permanently installed diesel generator in back. Target has only minutes of backup power for their registers. Other than those, I'm not sure there are any other ones in my area. Showing up at the places that have backup power and topping off tanks, buying extra fresh food stores and canned goods, and paying cash for them would not likely arouse any suspicion unless you were trying to buy a trailer load of them. Every weekend, I see at least one or two people at BJs who buy 2-3 carts full of stuff that they can barely fit into their SUV. So, again, not likely to cause any eyebrows to be raised.

More than likely, any place that has backup power probably only has 3 days worth of fuel, per .gov recommendations. If fuel can't be delivered, they close up shop. Determining how widespread the power outage might be is going to be problematic for the average person. A few TV and radio stations may have backup power but not much. Even there, the ability to get nation-wide news in the event of a total grid down will be very, very limited because most communications avenues have limited backup power. I wonder/doubt if the .gov would even release information about the entire grid being down to the public to prevent widespread panic. Besides, if the whole country is offline, what can they do given the limied resources they have?

Preparing for a month or more of no outside assistance is probably within reach of most people that have storage space. While I have the space to store stuff, I don't have a well nor do I have a septic system. So, right now I'm dependent on some city resources, at least for sewage disposal. Even then, if I needed to, I could figure out a way to get rid of sewage and trash by transporting it elsewhere (landfill is about 5 miles from here and accepts all manner of waste). Other than that, I've got food and water sufficient for us for a month, longer if we use up our body-worn food stores.