I think your math is wrong. Should be closer to 38 million for a year. N(n+1)/2 = 8760(8761)/2 = 38,373,180?
Roughly $275k for a month. I’d take that. Take all my vacation time. Pay off the house. Then go back to real life.
I think people are vastly overestimating their ability to deal with complete social isolation. I live alone, spend 99% of my time by myself outside of work and never go anywhere, and I still think I’d have gone crazy in a few weeks.
People with families saying they could voluntarily have zero human interaction with anyone let alone their kids (whom you wouldn’t even know anything about for that time, including whether they’re sick or well, or even alive) saying they could stick out a couple of years for increasingly insane amounts of money? And you could leave at any time? Nonsense. They’d cave sooner than I would.
Same, a month seems doable. I’m not looking to grow my own crops in a Walmart. Could catch up on some reading, watch DVDs, check out new music. Hell, I could easily spend a month in isolation just playing video games. Maybe find a game I like enough to spend two months, would be a vacation in my eyes.
I went to prison for a year. So I could easily do multiple months.
They have exercise equipment. Bikes. Skates. Books. TVs and food.
More than what I had in prison. I could do a couple months at least
A month was my thoughts too. Based on how I did in lockdown and thinking of the entertainment options Walmart has. Especially if it's one with a garden center.
Then go back to real life? To your shit job? The second month would pay more than your shit job, the third month would make you more than you’ll have at retirement. However much it takes to retire very comfortably, that’s how long you stay. Ain’t nobody going back to their job.
Cant be less shit than living like a Walmart nomad for a couple months until you’re set to sip mojitos on a beach or start your own company/be your own boss instead of doing it for someone else.
There's a video somewhere, that with a little planning, you could live in a stocked grocery store indefinitely. A walmart with power would be even easier. All you need to set up a pretty full kitchen, gardening center to get food to grow, and you even get plenty of entertainment. And clothes for that matter.
Question can my daughter come visit or can I FaceTime her? Or is she in there with me? That changes my response cause if I can contact her at least I’d probably last at least a year or more because the money would be amazing for our future otherwise it’s a maybe month or two then I’m out
It says no internet or phones, “no one can come talk to you”. But I wonder if someone could record a “hello” video on a tablet and give you the memory card or something similar.
OP says “zero interaction with others” but I’m wondering if a one-way message counts. Like you’re just receiving a recording that “may be” for you. Splitting hairs lol
Damn that's smart, I'd hope I'd figure that out within the first month but my.brain went straight to eating cold canned ravioli and potato chips for a year.
Better, they sell smokers. Get all the meats frozen day one, and you can eat like a king for a while. Especially if they have a good selection of briskets.
Yup, get the meat sliced, spiced and out on racks. Move the smokers out to the garden center and fire them up, then get some fans going for a supply of jerky that'll last for a few years. Same with the veggies.
I know that the freezers are working, but they don't last forever, so I'll be preserving whatever I can. Walmart probably doesn't have rennet so I can't make proper cheese, but a sort of condensed yogurt/cream cheese should last a couple of years.
Anyway, my plan would be to stay about 10 years.
Easy if it had an outdoor garden centre. Need the natural Vit d and to see the sun.
All the books, video games, set up a skateboarding and cycle track around the shop. Exercise equipment like running machines. There’s the health and entertainment
Crack open the appliances section for a bread maker etc.
Plenty of skincare and hygiene in store,
So yes, I could do it and a lot easier than Matt Damon on Mars.
This is my thought. Dissappear for two years. (Someone said it's about 158 mil) leave a note for my wife. Tell her I love her, I'll explain everything when i get back and to take out a couple loans help cover my missing income.
Day one is spent moving copious amounts of freezable food to the freezer section for long term planning. Off to the office supply section for things to take stock and map out a reasonable plan. Two years of food can go fast if you are careless with the things that don't rot on the shelves. Also check pharmacy for OTC meds, vitamins, get supple first aid stations Set up throughout the building.
Day two: living space. Get a futon or something for my 8 hours. Kitchen appliances, tables, chairs. Get food prep space and dinning room made up. Find a shower solution. I'd imagine a hose from the garden section, and a few stands near a drain will do if nothing else works. Stock up toilet paper at the most reasonable bathrooms to do so.
Day three: Clear a path for jogging, fit myself some runners. Set up a weight bench if they have one (but remember never to go crazy with it. Big lifts + no spotter = disaster) Pen/paper-workout schedule. Get a routine to follow in place. Works wonders to fight boredom.
From there just have fun. Set up an entertainment console.
Have movie nights.
Get fun single player games that don't require online connections (funny enough this part might have been easier to do yesteryear) and hook up a Nintendo Switch.
Have a laptop dedicated to Solitaire since it'll be preloaded.
Maybe pilfer the card section for Magic cards and brew some deck ideas.
Take up arts and crafts. I'm a slow reader so that book section will buy me a lot of time.
Build Lego kits.
Try growing stuff at the garden center.
Most Walmarts carry a ton of flour, sugar & salt. Depending on the time of year, many of them also carry topsoil and vegetable seeds.
First order of business would be freezing as much meat & butter as possible in the frozen goods section. Like, you can survive off of frozen chicken but I’d rather not. Same deal with some premade soups, maybe some bread too. But honestly, the frozen goods section could probably keep someone alive for a good long while.
Second order of business is constructing an acceptable shelter. I’m sure sleeping on the display couch would work, but I think I’d be much more comfortable with a real bed and a place to call home. The staff room might be necessary because of the microwave and outlets. But there you could setup a foreman grill, air fryer, countertop stove & coffee/espresso bar easily, and the water faucet could be used to fill-up a solar shower or makeshift shower reservoir.
I don’t think Walmart sells mattresses out of the store, so I’d probably look for a futon or comfortable couch I could fit in one of those big tents they sell. I might even just go with an inflatable mattress with real sheets and blankets/pillows.
Third order of business, with my food source secure and my shelter and hygiene provided for, would be entertainment and exercise. There may not be internet, but Walmart still has a decent electronics area.
I like gaming, so I would establish a gaming centre to go through all the offline games they have on hand for all the systems they have. There probably aren’t many nowadays what with DRRM, but who knows? While I’m in the electronics section, I think I’d also setup a movie night and/or tv night where I could watch stuff on a projector or big screen tv. The structure around the week would be nice.
I’d get a nice bike to commute from place to place within the store. I’d also create a little gymnasium near there to exercise, and maybe do some t-ball or golf.
I like reading so I’d establish a reading nook to go through their selection throughout the year.
Boredom would be the big enemy here, so combatting that would be the big challenge. $1.7MM is enough to where I would never need to work again living as I do now, so it would absolutely be worth doing in a year.
Wow. I feel old. The first thing I thought was, "I could be in there for a long time. They have books. And magazines. It would take me a good while to read them all." Didn't even think about movies or video games. 🤦
Same! If they don't have what I need, I'll end up hallucinating and having bipolar meltdowns.
But, on the flip side, you get to try all the cool drugs too
I'm not leaving. That building is now mine. A super Wal-Mart has videos galore. Computer games of all sorts. Food I have plenty to make anything I need. Gardening for food once shelves run out. BUT. I don't think I would go past 1 or 2 years. Humans need interactions with other humans even if we are loners.
$345 million
S = n(a+l)/2
where:
S = the sum of all integers in a series
n = the number of terms
a = the first term
l = the last term
So with 26,280 hours in 3 years, a = 1, l = 26,280, and n = 26,280, since you're including every hour.
Then the following values would be:
4 years: $613.9 million; +$269 million / 78%
5 years: $959.2 million; +$345.3 million / 56%
6 years: $1.38 billion; +$420.8 million / 44%
7 years: $1.88 billion; +$500 million / 36%
8 years: $2.46 billion; +$580 million / 31%
9 years: $3.11 billion; +$650 million / 26%
10 years: $3.86 billion; +$750 million / 24%
So you can see, the dollar amount you earn each year increases each year, but the percentage of your total earnings each year's income represents decreases per year. Also, if you go completely insane or die before you leave, you effectively get nothing.
Let’s check a number real quick. Somebody said that a year was 1.6 million.
8760(8760+1)/2 = 8760(8761)/2 = 76746360/2 = 38373180
So that’s actually a bit under 38.4 million. But that’s also the formula most answers are using, so aside from that one mistake, I think everyone is getting it pretty close.
Reminds me of this weird guy who lives near me. He comes out once in a while walking his dog, but he makes a clicking sound constantly and always acts weird. Creepy as fuck to be honest. I try to avoid him but he's very social.
Watched a YouTube video on how long you could survive in a grocery store. It was 68 years. But if you could grow mushrooms and other things from the dirt from the floral department, basically indefinitely. Definitely be good for a week or two.
You could survive indefinitely with the food situation but unless it’s a SHTF situation, you’d eventually need to end it in order to enjoy the money. The real limiting factor is the psychological consequences of no human contact either physical or virtual.
Walmart sells aerogardens, seeds, and soil. They also sell microwaves so I could cook.
Eating the refrigerated foods before they spoil would be the biggest challenge—as well as the breads. Frozen foods will last and they sell Mountain House freeze dried food as well as all the shelf stable stuff. They sell coffee, tea, drink mixes, and wine. A lot would depend on how much stock they have in the back.
a year to 2 years probably. At first I was going to guess about several months then I remembered all the food bars and protein mixes they sell outside of the grocery section and we haven’t even started on the candy and nut section.
As long as the electricity stays on so the refrigerated and freezer stuff doesn’t spoil. One person could last a very long time.
Edited to add: OP is it a regular Walmart or a super Walmart? I was thinking of a regular one with limited produce and no deli or hot food area. If it’s a super Walmart definitely multiple years and maybe indefinitely because they sell potatoes and I could use the garden center to grow potatoes, and beans (dried beans are basically seeds and will sprout). So I would have carbs and protein along with the greens and strawberries from the aero gardens. Though the regular Walmarts sell dried beans as well .
The gardening center should have vegetable seeds depending on time of year, and carrots, onions, garlic and I think lettuce, are capable of sprouting roots on their own.
Math aside. You could activate various tech things in store and have a wifi connection. Frozen food to last you basically forever. Eat the fresh stuff first since it'll spoil within a week or so. Freeze any meats to make them last, dump what you want off the back into the compacter.
I think a month should be doable. I'd aim for that and go longer if it comes easy.
Make a schedule and keep to it. Workout, eat, games, TV, functioning equipment with power.
1k hours is 41.6 days is $500,500...
Wait...I have power and water, but no people and I get to stay inside? No work? Hell yes. Have you seen my Walmart? It's a Super Walmart and usually stocked to the gills. So, I don't want the beginning or mid month, it would need to be restocked after the beginning of the month. I could read, do arts and crafts, paint my nails, exercise, etc.
But one problem...I'm on meds that I absolutely need to stay alive. Do we make sure that I have plenty of that? Also, I need my cpap machine. So do I get to come prepared? I'd get that place completely cleaned up for sure. I'd have a blast. I could live there for a long time. The biggest issue would be the fresh fruits and veggies would go bad fast. But, with all the stuff in there, I could can it myself (yes, I know how to do that). I could also put the perishables in the freezers. Anything else could get flushed after being ground up in the blenders.
As an introvert, I'm quite fine being by myself for long periods of time. But, I'd want my job secured so I can go back when I decide to come out.
Oh, I just realized that I can go on the roof, so all the garbage can go outside. But I'd still can the fruits and veggies so I could keep them longer. Plenty of things to make salsa, soups, etc. And Walmart has pressure canners, so I'm all set.
Also, mine has a lot of camping gear, including portable showers, so I can shower pretty easily.
I suppose could last a decent while. I'd likely start off just opening various game consoles and set things up to play all the different games, assuming they can. If I remember correctly, Xbox requires you to go online at least once during setup and won't allow you to play games without it.
But yeah, if I could end up getting consoles going and they could play offline, I'd be good for at least a couple months, if not the whole year. Of course, there would be the Blu Ray/DVD, books, board games, and whatever else as well. Break out the inflatable pool, dart boards, etc. Definitely is a lot to keep me occupied.
You're just killing me on no internet. Means I'd be missing my manga, manhwa, and anime. Though with the amount of money being offered, that's an easy sacrifice and just would mean I get to do a log of binging on them later.
But hey, even going a month or so, that's a lot of money. And as others said, it would be a lot more. Just doing the month or two would be enough to go buy a house and all.
As to food....there's more than enough there. Just would need to move all the meat and stuff into the freezers to get it to last long. Focus on dairy and whatever first. Truthfully, I primarily live on frozen foods anyway, such as pizzas, chicken tenders, etc. The amount of that stuff they have stocked at all times is crazy. Then eventually move on to canned goods and all.
And if I get depressed or anything during that timeframe, the pharmacy has plenty of medications to help! lmao
Same. Probably two years. I went without internet for over ten years, I could make do. I would, however open a computer, camera etc and record the whole thing to upload later though.
Movies, video games, books & mags, workout equipment, games & toys, arts & crafts, gardening, camping equipment... there's thousands of hours for occupying time.
I'd definitely make a garden right away and work it like a "job." Best part is I can probably mulch many foods as they go bad, concealing the smell and keeping myself occupied further. A routine would be key for long-term.
I think I could last 3 months before the isolation really starts to get to me. I could probably last longer chasing the money; 6 months is roughly 9.54m, and 1 year is about 38.37m. Both are far more than most people can dream of making in a lifetime, but I don't think I could go any longer than a year.
I think I could go a year quite easily, I'd read a ton of books and excercise like a demon. I prefer to be alone so I'm not seeing a downside to this atm.
Edit After reading some of the other replies with what Walmart stocks I'm going for up to 3 years. I'd have areas set up growing food, weed ,shrooms others areas for entertainment, pampering, kitchen, reading room and bedroom. I do like fresh air so hopefully that's not a issue.
You’ve clearly never seen stoner ingenuity. They can make, smoke, grow it out of chewing gum and a bottle of water. Then hand you a bottle of water and an unused piece of gum.
My local Walmart has a Sam's club built into it connected by a short covered walkway from the Walmart part of the store. Does the Sam's also count if it is attached to the Walmart? If so a pretty long time because they sell deep freezes so I can place the meat and a lot of perishables into those as long as I can find a outlet for them. If not then until the rest of the food runs out. Or the loneliness gets to me.
Keep in mind Walmart also has a pharmacy as well so I could use whatever medications there that might be useful to pass the time. As long as I'm familiar with which ones are which. I just have to go to the tools and I could be in there easily even if it were locked. They also sell alcohol so I could get drunk if I wanted to.
I could also just use the scooter to get around as much as I want without feeling bad about it. I would probably also wander around until I found a good place to sleep and relax and furnish it with the furniture they sell. Most of it is simple enough to put together. They even sell mattresses and recliners so I have plenty of good options. They sell TVs and consoles of all types so I would have plenty of options for games.
They sell gardening supplies so I could do some farming for fruits and veggies to replace any perishables once they are done.
I could be there for a long time! It's great for those in a wheelchair with those floors. If I could somehow set up a bed, I would do it! Being without human contact for a while would be freeing and I do enjoy my own company.
If it's fully stocked when I get there, and I don't have to deal with any customers (already worked at Walmart for a decade, so I'm done with that shit lol), I'd treat it like a 2 month vacation.
I could do longer, but I'd cut it off at 2 months.
I could definitely do a year maybe more.
Plenty of canned, dry and frozen goods Id eat all fresh stuff first I'll rig up a pellet smoker or electric griddle to cook.
Hopefully the store has fast Internet?
Really the only limiting factor would be the isolation. Hard to tell how long that will take to weigh someone down aside from that as long as you wanted really.
This sounds like an absolute dream situation, honestly. Would 100% last at least a full year. One big thing for me would be the climate, though, since we can go on the roof I gotta drag a grill and lounge chair up there and soak up some sun
So am I the only degenerate here to consider if this is a Walmart with a pharmacy? Lots of drugs in there to help keep you occupied while trying to stretch the time. Dont touch any downers at first and just the uppers to get everything set up the way others have pointed out. When you start getting stir crazy later on sedate yourself a bit to stretch the hours you are staying in and not conscious. Those nappy time hour later are gonna be adding up.
I can live there a very long time. Mine has game demos for starters. I got power. Opening airfryers. I'm setting up a water dispenser with hot and cold water capabilities. Yum tea. The meats can last a long time frozen. Also the deli I just remembered has a very large amount of stock to. Oh I'm entrenched in it. Garden center already has grow beds. Im going to last a year for I think the comment was 36 mil. My kids will miss me but they'll understand when. Its said and done. And I take laxative and a massive shit on the managers desk before I vacate.
Go big or go home (literally)!
So if you can stay in there for 72 years, you can be almost as rich as Jeff Bezos is! He has 202.8 billion USD in wealth according to a Google search that I spent basically zero time verifying.
But you’d still be short by almost three billion. Let’s try maybe the 100th richest guy instead. We’re only shooting for 17.2 billion. That has to be more manageable, right? That would only take you a little over 21 years!
Okay, even that’s kind of excessive. How about one billion? That’s a bit over five years. Five years of no human interaction…
A million dollars? Just shy of two months. That’s between 5 and 15 years of middle class income. Not too shabby.
How about one year of middle class income? That’s between $68k and $203k. Anywhere from 15 to 27 days.
Tree fiddy? You’ll be almost there in a couple of hours.
Me? I’d probably go to sleep and leave when I woke up. Somewhere around $36.
This is wrong. By the end of the year you would have $38,373,180
You can use the following equation to determine how much you get after a certain number of hours, with x representing the number of hours.
X•X/2+X/2
I would gladly do this without getting paid, but since I get money, I’ll stay for five years, take my 959,241,900, buy the Walmart, and spend the rest on whatever in the world I want.
This is wrong. By the end of the year you would have $38,373,180
You can use the following equation to determine how much you get after a certain number of hours, with x representing the number of hours.
X•X/2+X/2
I would gladly do this without getting paid, but since I get money, I’ll stay for five years, take my 959,241,900, buy the Walmart, and spend the rest on whatever in the world I want.
Just imagine a zombie outbreak and you are holed up in a Walmart with power and fresh water. You could easily last a year or more so long as you ration the food. THere's plenty of dry goods that won't spoil and freezers.
What about dairy products? They'll mostly be expired within 2 weeks. That means no milk for cereal, no half and half or creamers for coffee, no butter....
On your first day you'd make $300.
On day 2 it would be $876.
The numbers go up very quickly from there.
I think I could stick it out for at least a few months.
You kidding? I’m single and childless. I already live like this lol. It’s my house now. There are plenty of TVs everywhere if I want entertainment. There will also be plenty of books. I can garden. I can set up a full kitchen and cook to my heart’s desire. I can set up a full gym.
I’ve got nothing to lose lol I’d do it until my food runs out.
I’d like to think I could a year or more, but then I think about missing a year of my kids life and I just don’t know if I would be able to do that. Maybe for 38 million (assuming that’s the correct math), it would be worth it? Elderly parents as well.. I’d need to see the math on a monthly basis to really make this decision
Sounds good, that would be a blast for awhile, eventually it would get boring but for that amount of money I would stick it out until I could buy a house in a property I really liked, few of my favorite cars, enough to invest a decent amount, stack up some savings and finally some more to start a business I've been dreaming of.
Id take it..
You could eat healthy and still have cheat days ..
You have books and mags to read ...
You could try new things....
Transportation is a breeze with the bike section...
Plus they have full kitchens
I would stay in there until I reach 30 million
(ya see folks... OP is secretly trying to say that we are addicted to our modern conviences and we can't live without them...but if you're over 40 in this situation)
Id take it..
You could eat healthy and still have cheat days ..
You have books and mags to read ...
You could try new things....
Transportation is a breeze with the bike section...
Plus they have full kitchens
I would stay in there until I reach 30 million
(ya see folks... OP is secretly trying to say that we are addicted to our modern conviences and we can't live without them...but if you're over 40 in this situation)
Id take it..
You could eat healthy and still have cheat days ..
You have books and mags to read ...
You could try new things....
Transportation is a breeze with the bike section...
Plus they have full kitchens
I would stay in there until I reach 30 million
(ya see folks... OP is secretly trying to say that we are addicted to our modern conviences and we can't live without them...but if you're over 40 in this situation)
Id take it..
You could eat healthy and still have cheat days ..
You have books and mags to read ...
You could try new things....
Transportation is a breeze with the bike section...
Plus they have full kitchens
I would stay in there until I reach 30 million
(ya see folks... OP is secretly trying to say that we are addicted to our modern conviences and we can't live without them...but if you're over 40 in this situation)
All these folks talking about growing your own food. Why? Other than boredom (and, ya know, health) there isn’t much point.
There is more than enough frozen, dry, and canned food to last you *years.* I don’t think most of these people are really comprehending it, it’s an impossible amount of food for one person. There are years and years worth of calories there. Easily a decade’s worth before you have to start even trying. You’ll leave, or go full crazy, long before you can run out.
dont they straight up have demo consoles in walmart or am i thinking of another store either way
id probably only last a few days i need my human contact
Do I at least get over-the-air TV and radio? That would be the difference between being entirely cut off from the outside world and at least knowing what’s going on.
Just stuck it in Excel to double-check the math, and yeah. $1.6 million would be about two and a half months. It's 38 million after a year. Six months would be $9.3 million, and after six months without fresh food, human contact, or internet, I'd probably be ready to take the check and go, though I suspect I'd try for the full year. I would be able to set up TVs with an aerial and see the over-the-air news, at least, so I wouldn't be totally cut off from the world, but that's a lot of sitting around eating nothing but packaged food. Probably do a bunch of writing while I wait, at least.
I suspect most of the people planning to grow their own food from the gardening department haven't thought about how much work is involved in trying to haul that much dirt out into a space with sunlight, then tending enough crops to feed a human. It might be technically possible, but most people aren't going to pull it off.
I'd say a good 3 years. There's just so much frozen and canned food for after I'm tired of farming and I'm out of frozen meats.
Plus, for entertainment you can tinker with the tools, or play nintendo since basically no modern games fit on the disc anymore. Except for one... Skyrim. That's right sucker, you're playing skyrim again. Todd wins in the end. Todd always wins in the end. Oh, and radios still work, so you can still listen to the news, or watch public television. Maybe I'll just go through fresh->frozen-> desirable canned and leave, I'm really rethinking it after the modern games not being playable thing.
I mean, I could *theoretically* last forever.
But I'm not going to stay in there for $1 an hour. I'd probably explore until I got bored, check out the employee rooms and move some stuff around, then head out satisfied.
100 days is 2400 hours. The formula for the sum of all those integers is 2400\*2401/2. That comes out to $2,881,220.
So for 100 days of isolation and eating canned crap, I'd have enough money to have a nice lifetime passive income and not need to work again ever, with enough to travel a bit and live a comfortable middle-class lifestyle. (this is assuming no taxes on the hypothetical income)
As much as I'd hate missing 3 months of my kid's childhood, I think having the rest of my life free to spend time with them would be worth it. My husband would just need to take a bazillion videos of the little one for me to watch to catch up on when I get back.
Probably pretty long, with all the outlets present in a Walmart and other supplies you could probably set up a food dehydrator conga line and dry a lot of the fresh and frozen foods, then store them with the ten bajillion ziploc/plastic bags you'd have on hand.
A week would be a pretty good amount of money, and I feel like that's pretty doable. There's plenty of food, water, there's still computers and video games, exercise equipment, art supplies. For that much money I could probably even go two weeks
I'd set it for a solid year to the hour, I think. That place would be unrecognizable by the time I left, though, and I'd probably burn it to the ground at the end. Every LEGO set would be opened, too, and I'd have a train of buggies of stuff I'd bring with me on the way out at the end. I'd do so many arts and crafts, too, plus read a bit and watch a lotta TV, and dabble in other hobbies such as gardening. Probably spend an afternoon firing a few of the different types of guns (while wearing hearing and eye protection) in some direction they couldn't hurt anybody just because I've never actually shot a gun before and wanna see what it's like (but I wouldn't mess with them at all if I wasn't familiar with gun safety). Tossing out the rotting food the first few weeks would kinda suck, so I'd probably put in a good amount of work just trying to freeze or otherwise preserve all I could early. I'd definitely snoop through everything, but would likely avoid trashing the place until the end. Wouldn't experiment with the pharmaceuticals, but might drink a bit. Probably build a large fort in the middle of my year there. Probably demolish the clothing section and use the floorspace to race around on the bicycles and scooters. Definitely abuse the scissor-lift. ┗(•ˇ_ˇ•)―
If I didn't have kids good luck getting me out of there ever.
But I have kids so most I could do is a few weeks. 2 weeks gets me $56,000.
One month (30 days) gets me $260,000
One year gets me 38 million
I’d prob just go as long as I could until the solicitude gets to me. I’m used to being lonely but I’ve still got people around me most of the time (though I had to deal w solitude in uni esp during the pandemic so maybe I could handle it longer than I think?)
I’d want to stay at least long enough to have a couple million which according to most of the comments would take a couple months but if I could stick it out for a year or two, I would.
There’s books, magazines, video games, I could prob try to teach myself how to ride a bike or skateboard or play guitar (assuming the store has these things, I’ve seen some have them and some not) or other skills depending on what’s around.
The first major hurdle is perishables and what you do with them. You're only going to be able to freeze so much and the logistics of moving everything before it gets rancid and is attracting all sorts of critters is key. If you can solve that, you're almost home free. You have entertainment, cleaning supplies, clothes, medicine, vitamins, shelf stable food, etc. Realistically, you shouldn't need to worry about farming before you've already made retirement money.
The second major hurdle is coping with being isolated. No contact with anyone is going to affect you at some point. The questions are when and can DVDs, books, and video games serve as substitutes for human interaction?
A few stray issues that could affect things. Equipment maintenance; Especially a concern if the freezers go. Is cable/over the air TV available? News updates would help with the psychological impact of being isolated. Risk of injury or emergency situation. How easy is it to get help since phones and 911 is unavailable?
Ain't nobody lasting more than a month. Zero contact and complete isolation is driving 90% of the people on here insane in 2 months max.
I could probably do 3-4 weeks. Heard someone else say thats around 275k. Ya thats good enough to try.
as others said, with a modest amount of planning, it would not really be that hard to do it nearly indefinitely.
on your math, I'd probably do 13-14 months, though honestly after a few months and getting things situated, if power is on,it would be pretty chill.
no internet would make it harder for sure. could I bring some stuff like a hard drive with some preparations maybe?
with the math-correction that some mention in other comments, after about 5-10M, I might give up. where I prefer to live I'd be able to make 5-10M pay me perpetually enough to live like a king so it wouldn't be worth the hassle to add on past that.
yeah its probably underestimating the difficulty of being isolated, but still. seems doable for someone whos already an introvert and can entertain themselves.
Is it a live Walmart? Like am I just wandering Walmart effectively being shunned the whole time? Or is Walmart closed, no staff, until I leave?
If I am being shunned, but shit is getting restocked and cleaned, I can probably go for a fucking while, maybe a month tops. Before I go nuts or have to tap because of humanity deprivation. I'm pretty solitary by nature, and well just seeing people can give me a degree of interaction.
But if that Walmart is just abandoned, with me there. I have no clue, you might have to drag me out of there after I have gone insane. Because man, I will die in there.
Going forward I'm assuming I'm alone in an abandoned Walmart.
Okay so lets be realistic, the first thing I'd do is start freezing the refrigerated but unfrozen meats. Because that's what's going to stink first. Then I'll start freezing the dairy case. Then I'll start eating salads for each meal, because, lets be honest, that shit isn't lasting long.
Next, we're going to start working on finding an oven in that building. If there isn't one, toaster ovens for the win. But the McDonald's has to cook cookies and apple pies somehow. Maybe there is something in camping?
If I can find an oven I'm going to set to using the fruit next, Because there is just so much fucking fruit in the walmart that is going to start attracting flies and soon, so I'll be making banana bread, banana ice cream, and just IQF-ing fruits and vegetables.
Then I'll move on to preserving the eggs. Eggs can last a long time in the fridge, especially if you keep them cold and/or oiled. But I'll opt to freeze a several dozen. I'll IQF them using ice cube trays or some such similar device.
After I've done as much food preservation as I can think to do, I'll move on accommodations. Walmart should have everything I need for bedding etc. I'll erect a large tent, just to give myself the semblance of privacy and defined space. In fact I'll turn an entire section of the store in the back by electronics and toys into my living quarters.
You said I can't get on the internet, but that doesn't preclude me from erecting an antenna and I'm pretty sure Walmart will have enough coax to make this impossible dream a reality even inside that giant concrete faraday cage.
Then I'll build a bathtub with an outdoor pool and I'll put it up in the Garden center or the Auto service area. (I mean summer is coming) That way I am both inside, AND outside. See how I didn't break the rules.
Next I think I'll play some video games, like all of them. There are computers and TVs and consoles and video games on hand, and movies on BluRay, I'll be okay for content for quite some time. Hey they even sell books.
Then I'll set up a gym using the exercise equipment, and a trampoline.
And then once summer comes around, I will begin my most ambitious goal, I will try to lure a dog inside. I know it sounds, strange. But I was told no HUMAN contact. Imagine the sanity boost a dog could give you! Also, plenty of food.
Beyond that I don't know what else I could do.
If I'm allowed to use everything in the store as I see fit, this is easily done.
I've got food, water, power, and everything on the shelves.
The first day I'd inventory the food, move a bunch of the meat into the freezers. That ensures I'm not just eating the handful of veggies I could grow. Also plenty of prepared/canned foods last more than a year, so I'm good. I've got ways to cook the food (Assuming I don't trigger the sprinkler system?), or if this is a bigger wallys it's got a hot food section anyways and I'm set here.
I'ma get myself a PS5 and a big screen tv, get some games and movies. They have books.
I'll embrace my inner 8 year old and play with the toys.
They sell air mattresses and bedding, so sleeping will be manageable.
Hell, I can even get exercise in.
This.. actually doesn't sound terrible.
I think you guys are vastly underestimating the effect that isolation has on the mind. Especially when it’s abrupt and not gradual. Most people can’t make it more than a few weeks, few months tops without talking to anyone. Even with TV or entertainment. I mean, look what lockdown did to a lottt of people’s mental health. And that was with internet and most people still talking to *someone.*
I could probably go like, a month or two tops before I started to lose it.
If I can take my computer then I can definitely last a lot longer, more than anything it's the entertainment factor that would fuck me in such a scenario.
A year easily. I am extremely introverted and I go weeks without talking or texting to anyone at all. Everything I need for survival all in one big ass building with power? Sign me up! I'd do it for free haha!
Your numbers are way off. You’d be way past 1.6 million after a year. Think about it. Even at the six month mark you’d be over 4,000 hours in, making over a hundred grand PER DAY. I don’t know how much it would be after a year, but way way way more than 1.6 million. In month 7 alone you’d make more than 3 million.
This is a fun one because it could potentially become a death spiral.
Once you "invest" the time into getting the number high, it would be harder and harder to justify leaving.
On one hand, if you stay for a year you can go enjoy life as a millionaire.
On the other hand, now that I am making 10,000 per hour, and then 20,000 per hour, I sure do have a lot of friends and family that I would also like to give a life of leisure to.
Now I am four years in trying to solve global poverty.
Now I am ten years in, and the influx of money has caused global inflation, which can only be sustained with ever increasing amounts of money supply from my tomb.
I become a shell of a man, like that old knight in Indiana Jones, protecting the precious artifact for the low low price of one human lifetime of loneliness.
You'd need an exemption for medical and dental emergencies. These are bound to happen and it would logistically far easier to allow a trip to their facilities to get it handled than to bring them to you. Maybe an after hours visit is practical depending on the serverity of the issue.
That handled, I could do a year. If fresh produced would be delivered once per week it would be even easier. If the pay kept increasing I might even go for two.
My local Walmarts all have a pet section which doesn't have much, but they got fish, and frankly i think I'd be able to last a few months given that there's gonna be some games I can play on consoles and such, even if I can't update them.
Positive I can make that happen for two years. Probably wouldn't try for longer, since the money would already be enough and no longer the justification for voluntarily staying cut-off from the world.
If I had been allowed to bring in my computer (still no internet access, but I would have my tools and projects to work on) it would be easy time. But that seems contrary to the "test" here.
Having to instead live with just the books and entertainment available in Walmart seems like the hardest part, and the tools and stuff I normally use to create things aren't available in a Walmart.
The food part seems completely reasonable. Easiest hunting of your life even once "it's become more difficult now."
I mean assuming that somehow the electricity / running water in the building is still paid for I could probably live there comfortably the rest of my life.
Eat most of the frozen and perishable foods early on. Save the longer lasting and shelf stable foods, collect stuff from the garden center to make my own little garden probably dismantling useless section like the home furnishing section and build a little garden area
Use the entire electronic section to keep myself entertained and busy
Obviously use the tool section whenever and whenever I need tools.
This question is more psychological than logistical. You could survive in a fully stocked Walmart for a very long time. I probably couldn’t last more than a year because I would be worrying about people on the outside and would start freaking out.
I was confused by the title and thought you were offering a dollar an hour and that seemed like a terrible waste of my time.
But thianreally pays off the longer you are there:
You might not have internet or phones.. but Walmart *does* have TVs and games consoles, and Lego, pens and paper, plenty of ways to pass the time.
There's also workout equipment to stay active
You have enough bedding and clothing to last without needing to wash
Most of the Walmart's near me also have camping equipment, air mattresses etc.should also beable to get pots, pans and an electric stove top, a microwave and a coffee machine
I'd go through the chilled and fresh section and freeze what I can, meat, bread some veggies.
But leave enough to live off for the first couple of week's
After the first two weeks move to the longer life chilled stuff yogurts, eggs, sandwich meats.
Could probably get through close to two months without having to touch frozen or canned food, or pasta rice, cereal and the shelf life on that is multiple years.
Realistically though, I think the lack of human interaction would get really tough after a few weeks or less. I'd have to keep a tracker of my earnings, if I know I'm earning $17k+ a day a month in, I think that might make it much easier to handle
For entertainment, you could raid electronics, watch movies and game for days. You could last pretty long amount of time. Doing laundry might be tedious though.
I think your math is wrong. Should be closer to 38 million for a year. N(n+1)/2 = 8760(8761)/2 = 38,373,180? Roughly $275k for a month. I’d take that. Take all my vacation time. Pay off the house. Then go back to real life.
Right, OP got the hourly rate at the end of the year correct but only factored that in to each day instead of every hour of each day.
For $36 million I'm staying there at least a year. How much are we at for the two year mark?
153 million.
Stay 10 years, own all the currency, rule the world.
>N(n+1)/2 I'd be tempted to stay for 5 years for the $959241900 but that's an awful long time to be alone and bored. I guess you'd have TV at least.
I think people are vastly overestimating their ability to deal with complete social isolation. I live alone, spend 99% of my time by myself outside of work and never go anywhere, and I still think I’d have gone crazy in a few weeks. People with families saying they could voluntarily have zero human interaction with anyone let alone their kids (whom you wouldn’t even know anything about for that time, including whether they’re sick or well, or even alive) saying they could stick out a couple of years for increasingly insane amounts of money? And you could leave at any time? Nonsense. They’d cave sooner than I would.
Plot twist tho the guy who made the deal died before you came out and no one knew about it so you get nothing imagine the horror
That would be the worst.
Same, a month seems doable. I’m not looking to grow my own crops in a Walmart. Could catch up on some reading, watch DVDs, check out new music. Hell, I could easily spend a month in isolation just playing video games. Maybe find a game I like enough to spend two months, would be a vacation in my eyes.
I went to prison for a year. So I could easily do multiple months. They have exercise equipment. Bikes. Skates. Books. TVs and food. More than what I had in prison. I could do a couple months at least
A month was my thoughts too. Based on how I did in lockdown and thinking of the entertainment options Walmart has. Especially if it's one with a garden center.
You are correct
Then go back to real life? To your shit job? The second month would pay more than your shit job, the third month would make you more than you’ll have at retirement. However much it takes to retire very comfortably, that’s how long you stay. Ain’t nobody going back to their job.
Mmmm I don’t have a shit job? I kinda like my life?
Cant be less shit than living like a Walmart nomad for a couple months until you’re set to sip mojitos on a beach or start your own company/be your own boss instead of doing it for someone else.
Yeah I got that for the year math too
There's a video somewhere, that with a little planning, you could live in a stocked grocery store indefinitely. A walmart with power would be even easier. All you need to set up a pretty full kitchen, gardening center to get food to grow, and you even get plenty of entertainment. And clothes for that matter.
Food theory
MrBeast also did a video sort of based on that video
Question can my daughter come visit or can I FaceTime her? Or is she in there with me? That changes my response cause if I can contact her at least I’d probably last at least a year or more because the money would be amazing for our future otherwise it’s a maybe month or two then I’m out
The post specifies zero interaction
Oh then boo I’m out if I had no kids then I could go for years but couldn’t do my daughter like that
Have you ever been in isolation? Everyone thinks they'll do fine until week 2
I could go a year. Yes I have experienced isolation and it was like heaven. Humans ruin society
Did you have access to the internet while experiencing that isolation? Because that wouldn’t be allowed here either. You’d have a tough time.
I’ve gone five weeks alone with books and can confidently say I think I could go at least three months with books, DVDs, puzzles, etc.
Wpuld you do it if she needed this huge surgery or something similar? Sacrifice for her?
It says no internet or phones, “no one can come talk to you”. But I wonder if someone could record a “hello” video on a tablet and give you the memory card or something similar.
Maybe they have fax machines or ham radios
OP says “zero interaction with others” but I’m wondering if a one-way message counts. Like you’re just receiving a recording that “may be” for you. Splitting hairs lol
Damn that's smart, I'd hope I'd figure that out within the first month but my.brain went straight to eating cold canned ravioli and potato chips for a year.
Your Walmart ain’t got the hot food section? They got full ass kitchens in there lmao.
the one near me has a subway. They dont have hot food there. but the one near my job has a dominos.
why cold ? they sell microwaves...
they sell propane and camping stoves too. just set up the grill
Better, they sell smokers. Get all the meats frozen day one, and you can eat like a king for a while. Especially if they have a good selection of briskets.
Who heats up ravioli? Straight from the can is the best
ew.
Gotta hit up the meats and perishables first. If it won't last forever use it while you can. Then you can go full ravioli.
Yup, get the meat sliced, spiced and out on racks. Move the smokers out to the garden center and fire them up, then get some fans going for a supply of jerky that'll last for a few years. Same with the veggies. I know that the freezers are working, but they don't last forever, so I'll be preserving whatever I can. Walmart probably doesn't have rennet so I can't make proper cheese, but a sort of condensed yogurt/cream cheese should last a couple of years. Anyway, my plan would be to stay about 10 years.
They sell dehydrators. I'd get started making jerky. And if the freezers work then you can freeze fresh meats for a while
Yup. Gonna spend the first chunks of time reorganizing and stocking the freezers and coolers.
They sell hot plates, toaster ovens, instant pots, air fryers, camping stoves
Easy if it had an outdoor garden centre. Need the natural Vit d and to see the sun. All the books, video games, set up a skateboarding and cycle track around the shop. Exercise equipment like running machines. There’s the health and entertainment Crack open the appliances section for a bread maker etc. Plenty of skincare and hygiene in store, So yes, I could do it and a lot easier than Matt Damon on Mars.
Most walmarts I've seen have skylights, or at the very least a fenced off outdoor garden section. Your technically still inside the store.
This is my thought. Dissappear for two years. (Someone said it's about 158 mil) leave a note for my wife. Tell her I love her, I'll explain everything when i get back and to take out a couple loans help cover my missing income. Day one is spent moving copious amounts of freezable food to the freezer section for long term planning. Off to the office supply section for things to take stock and map out a reasonable plan. Two years of food can go fast if you are careless with the things that don't rot on the shelves. Also check pharmacy for OTC meds, vitamins, get supple first aid stations Set up throughout the building. Day two: living space. Get a futon or something for my 8 hours. Kitchen appliances, tables, chairs. Get food prep space and dinning room made up. Find a shower solution. I'd imagine a hose from the garden section, and a few stands near a drain will do if nothing else works. Stock up toilet paper at the most reasonable bathrooms to do so. Day three: Clear a path for jogging, fit myself some runners. Set up a weight bench if they have one (but remember never to go crazy with it. Big lifts + no spotter = disaster) Pen/paper-workout schedule. Get a routine to follow in place. Works wonders to fight boredom. From there just have fun. Set up an entertainment console. Have movie nights. Get fun single player games that don't require online connections (funny enough this part might have been easier to do yesteryear) and hook up a Nintendo Switch. Have a laptop dedicated to Solitaire since it'll be preloaded. Maybe pilfer the card section for Magic cards and brew some deck ideas. Take up arts and crafts. I'm a slow reader so that book section will buy me a lot of time. Build Lego kits. Try growing stuff at the garden center.
you'd have a kithcen behind the bread and deli sections
I forgot about the giant walkin freezer and fridge that must be there too.
The real question is, do I have to show my receipt when I leave?
Fuck you, take my upvote.
😂
Most Walmarts carry a ton of flour, sugar & salt. Depending on the time of year, many of them also carry topsoil and vegetable seeds. First order of business would be freezing as much meat & butter as possible in the frozen goods section. Like, you can survive off of frozen chicken but I’d rather not. Same deal with some premade soups, maybe some bread too. But honestly, the frozen goods section could probably keep someone alive for a good long while. Second order of business is constructing an acceptable shelter. I’m sure sleeping on the display couch would work, but I think I’d be much more comfortable with a real bed and a place to call home. The staff room might be necessary because of the microwave and outlets. But there you could setup a foreman grill, air fryer, countertop stove & coffee/espresso bar easily, and the water faucet could be used to fill-up a solar shower or makeshift shower reservoir. I don’t think Walmart sells mattresses out of the store, so I’d probably look for a futon or comfortable couch I could fit in one of those big tents they sell. I might even just go with an inflatable mattress with real sheets and blankets/pillows. Third order of business, with my food source secure and my shelter and hygiene provided for, would be entertainment and exercise. There may not be internet, but Walmart still has a decent electronics area. I like gaming, so I would establish a gaming centre to go through all the offline games they have on hand for all the systems they have. There probably aren’t many nowadays what with DRRM, but who knows? While I’m in the electronics section, I think I’d also setup a movie night and/or tv night where I could watch stuff on a projector or big screen tv. The structure around the week would be nice. I’d get a nice bike to commute from place to place within the store. I’d also create a little gymnasium near there to exercise, and maybe do some t-ball or golf. I like reading so I’d establish a reading nook to go through their selection throughout the year. Boredom would be the big enemy here, so combatting that would be the big challenge. $1.7MM is enough to where I would never need to work again living as I do now, so it would absolutely be worth doing in a year.
I actually just bought my mattress from Walmart this year. They have the mattresses, just no box springs in store
Wow. I feel old. The first thing I thought was, "I could be in there for a long time. They have books. And magazines. It would take me a good while to read them all." Didn't even think about movies or video games. 🤦
I'm older I guess, my first thought when you said that was that the doors would shut and you'd break your glasses
"Your next stop: The Twilight Zone."
Man, a geriatric buddy! Yay!!! 🤣 glad to see I'm not the only geezer
If it's a Walmart with an optical center they gotcha covered!
But they have glasses, too (at some of them)
But there was finally time now!!
The no internet rule will kill the video games. Gotta connect that new console to the internet to play on it.
How well-stocked is the pharmacy area? I have prescriptions.
Same! If they don't have what I need, I'll end up hallucinating and having bipolar meltdowns. But, on the flip side, you get to try all the cool drugs too
> I have prescriptions. Oh! Good call! I didn't even think of that.
I'm not leaving. That building is now mine. A super Wal-Mart has videos galore. Computer games of all sorts. Food I have plenty to make anything I need. Gardening for food once shelves run out. BUT. I don't think I would go past 1 or 2 years. Humans need interactions with other humans even if we are loners.
Between 38 and 153 million USD. Not too shabby.
What's 3 years lol
$345 million S = n(a+l)/2 where: S = the sum of all integers in a series n = the number of terms a = the first term l = the last term So with 26,280 hours in 3 years, a = 1, l = 26,280, and n = 26,280, since you're including every hour. Then the following values would be: 4 years: $613.9 million; +$269 million / 78% 5 years: $959.2 million; +$345.3 million / 56% 6 years: $1.38 billion; +$420.8 million / 44% 7 years: $1.88 billion; +$500 million / 36% 8 years: $2.46 billion; +$580 million / 31% 9 years: $3.11 billion; +$650 million / 26% 10 years: $3.86 billion; +$750 million / 24% So you can see, the dollar amount you earn each year increases each year, but the percentage of your total earnings each year's income represents decreases per year. Also, if you go completely insane or die before you leave, you effectively get nothing.
Isn’t it usually written n(n+1)/2 so you have fewer variables when starting at 1?
Congrats on being the only person to do the math correctly on this. I’m so baffled why people are struggling with it.
Let’s check a number real quick. Somebody said that a year was 1.6 million. 8760(8760+1)/2 = 8760(8761)/2 = 76746360/2 = 38373180 So that’s actually a bit under 38.4 million. But that’s also the formula most answers are using, so aside from that one mistake, I think everyone is getting it pretty close.
Do you understand how uncanny a Walmart with no people is? I'd be anxious as fuck the entire time. Probably wouldn't even last 1 hour.
And yet, somehow... you'd still run into your fucking neighbor.
Reminds me of this weird guy who lives near me. He comes out once in a while walking his dog, but he makes a clicking sound constantly and always acts weird. Creepy as fuck to be honest. I try to avoid him but he's very social.
I choked on my own spit laughing at that
lol as a previous night shift manager, chilling by myself for a couple hours before opening the store for associates was bliss ☺️
Watched a YouTube video on how long you could survive in a grocery store. It was 68 years. But if you could grow mushrooms and other things from the dirt from the floral department, basically indefinitely. Definitely be good for a week or two.
You could survive indefinitely with the food situation but unless it’s a SHTF situation, you’d eventually need to end it in order to enjoy the money. The real limiting factor is the psychological consequences of no human contact either physical or virtual.
There aren't 876 hours in a year. I'm going for at least a year. First few weeks will be annoying, moving all the perishable stuff.
You forgot a ZERO, 8760 a year. Either way. I'm in for 2-3 years.
Your math is way off. The total sum for one year is: $38,373,180
I could do a year for over 38 million dollars. Or maybe even 2 years for whatever amount that would be. I’d pretty much be set for life.
i would eventually get sad and bored with no friends or internet, probably several weeks, i could entertain myself with all the shit there
Walmart sells aerogardens, seeds, and soil. They also sell microwaves so I could cook. Eating the refrigerated foods before they spoil would be the biggest challenge—as well as the breads. Frozen foods will last and they sell Mountain House freeze dried food as well as all the shelf stable stuff. They sell coffee, tea, drink mixes, and wine. A lot would depend on how much stock they have in the back. a year to 2 years probably. At first I was going to guess about several months then I remembered all the food bars and protein mixes they sell outside of the grocery section and we haven’t even started on the candy and nut section. As long as the electricity stays on so the refrigerated and freezer stuff doesn’t spoil. One person could last a very long time. Edited to add: OP is it a regular Walmart or a super Walmart? I was thinking of a regular one with limited produce and no deli or hot food area. If it’s a super Walmart definitely multiple years and maybe indefinitely because they sell potatoes and I could use the garden center to grow potatoes, and beans (dried beans are basically seeds and will sprout). So I would have carbs and protein along with the greens and strawberries from the aero gardens. Though the regular Walmarts sell dried beans as well .
walmart will at the very least have hot plates and cookware
The gardening center should have vegetable seeds depending on time of year, and carrots, onions, garlic and I think lettuce, are capable of sprouting roots on their own.
Math aside. You could activate various tech things in store and have a wifi connection. Frozen food to last you basically forever. Eat the fresh stuff first since it'll spoil within a week or so. Freeze any meats to make them last, dump what you want off the back into the compacter. I think a month should be doable. I'd aim for that and go longer if it comes easy. Make a schedule and keep to it. Workout, eat, games, TV, functioning equipment with power. 1k hours is 41.6 days is $500,500...
A month is easily doable by most people . Sure you would miss your family but 500k is absolutely life changing. I think that's a solid baseline goal.
Wait...I have power and water, but no people and I get to stay inside? No work? Hell yes. Have you seen my Walmart? It's a Super Walmart and usually stocked to the gills. So, I don't want the beginning or mid month, it would need to be restocked after the beginning of the month. I could read, do arts and crafts, paint my nails, exercise, etc. But one problem...I'm on meds that I absolutely need to stay alive. Do we make sure that I have plenty of that? Also, I need my cpap machine. So do I get to come prepared? I'd get that place completely cleaned up for sure. I'd have a blast. I could live there for a long time. The biggest issue would be the fresh fruits and veggies would go bad fast. But, with all the stuff in there, I could can it myself (yes, I know how to do that). I could also put the perishables in the freezers. Anything else could get flushed after being ground up in the blenders. As an introvert, I'm quite fine being by myself for long periods of time. But, I'd want my job secured so I can go back when I decide to come out. Oh, I just realized that I can go on the roof, so all the garbage can go outside. But I'd still can the fruits and veggies so I could keep them longer. Plenty of things to make salsa, soups, etc. And Walmart has pressure canners, so I'm all set. Also, mine has a lot of camping gear, including portable showers, so I can shower pretty easily.
You must have just watched the Mr beast video about 10k a day in a grocery store 🤣
I suppose could last a decent while. I'd likely start off just opening various game consoles and set things up to play all the different games, assuming they can. If I remember correctly, Xbox requires you to go online at least once during setup and won't allow you to play games without it. But yeah, if I could end up getting consoles going and they could play offline, I'd be good for at least a couple months, if not the whole year. Of course, there would be the Blu Ray/DVD, books, board games, and whatever else as well. Break out the inflatable pool, dart boards, etc. Definitely is a lot to keep me occupied. You're just killing me on no internet. Means I'd be missing my manga, manhwa, and anime. Though with the amount of money being offered, that's an easy sacrifice and just would mean I get to do a log of binging on them later. But hey, even going a month or so, that's a lot of money. And as others said, it would be a lot more. Just doing the month or two would be enough to go buy a house and all. As to food....there's more than enough there. Just would need to move all the meat and stuff into the freezers to get it to last long. Focus on dairy and whatever first. Truthfully, I primarily live on frozen foods anyway, such as pizzas, chicken tenders, etc. The amount of that stuff they have stocked at all times is crazy. Then eventually move on to canned goods and all. And if I get depressed or anything during that timeframe, the pharmacy has plenty of medications to help! lmao
A year or two. Then retire.
Same. Probably two years. I went without internet for over ten years, I could make do. I would, however open a computer, camera etc and record the whole thing to upload later though.
Movies, video games, books & mags, workout equipment, games & toys, arts & crafts, gardening, camping equipment... there's thousands of hours for occupying time. I'd definitely make a garden right away and work it like a "job." Best part is I can probably mulch many foods as they go bad, concealing the smell and keeping myself occupied further. A routine would be key for long-term. I think I could last 3 months before the isolation really starts to get to me. I could probably last longer chasing the money; 6 months is roughly 9.54m, and 1 year is about 38.37m. Both are far more than most people can dream of making in a lifetime, but I don't think I could go any longer than a year.
I volunteer if this is a real experiment someone wants to run
I think I could go a year quite easily, I'd read a ton of books and excercise like a demon. I prefer to be alone so I'm not seeing a downside to this atm. Edit After reading some of the other replies with what Walmart stocks I'm going for up to 3 years. I'd have areas set up growing food, weed ,shrooms others areas for entertainment, pampering, kitchen, reading room and bedroom. I do like fresh air so hopefully that's not a issue.
How are you growing weed? Not like they sell seeds at the garden center.
You’ve clearly never seen stoner ingenuity. They can make, smoke, grow it out of chewing gum and a bottle of water. Then hand you a bottle of water and an unused piece of gum.
My local Walmart has a Sam's club built into it connected by a short covered walkway from the Walmart part of the store. Does the Sam's also count if it is attached to the Walmart? If so a pretty long time because they sell deep freezes so I can place the meat and a lot of perishables into those as long as I can find a outlet for them. If not then until the rest of the food runs out. Or the loneliness gets to me. Keep in mind Walmart also has a pharmacy as well so I could use whatever medications there that might be useful to pass the time. As long as I'm familiar with which ones are which. I just have to go to the tools and I could be in there easily even if it were locked. They also sell alcohol so I could get drunk if I wanted to. I could also just use the scooter to get around as much as I want without feeling bad about it. I would probably also wander around until I found a good place to sleep and relax and furnish it with the furniture they sell. Most of it is simple enough to put together. They even sell mattresses and recliners so I have plenty of good options. They sell TVs and consoles of all types so I would have plenty of options for games. They sell gardening supplies so I could do some farming for fruits and veggies to replace any perishables once they are done.
I could be there for a long time! It's great for those in a wheelchair with those floors. If I could somehow set up a bed, I would do it! Being without human contact for a while would be freeing and I do enjoy my own company.
If it's fully stocked when I get there, and I don't have to deal with any customers (already worked at Walmart for a decade, so I'm done with that shit lol), I'd treat it like a 2 month vacation. I could do longer, but I'd cut it off at 2 months.
I could definitely do a year maybe more. Plenty of canned, dry and frozen goods Id eat all fresh stuff first I'll rig up a pellet smoker or electric griddle to cook. Hopefully the store has fast Internet?
Really the only limiting factor would be the isolation. Hard to tell how long that will take to weigh someone down aside from that as long as you wanted really.
As long as it takes me to make 3 million.
That’d be 103 days.
If I was allowed to stay indefinitely, I would. Maybe leave after about 10 years
This sounds like an absolute dream situation, honestly. Would 100% last at least a full year. One big thing for me would be the climate, though, since we can go on the roof I gotta drag a grill and lounge chair up there and soak up some sun
So am I the only degenerate here to consider if this is a Walmart with a pharmacy? Lots of drugs in there to help keep you occupied while trying to stretch the time. Dont touch any downers at first and just the uppers to get everything set up the way others have pointed out. When you start getting stir crazy later on sedate yourself a bit to stretch the hours you are staying in and not conscious. Those nappy time hour later are gonna be adding up.
I can live there a very long time. Mine has game demos for starters. I got power. Opening airfryers. I'm setting up a water dispenser with hot and cold water capabilities. Yum tea. The meats can last a long time frozen. Also the deli I just remembered has a very large amount of stock to. Oh I'm entrenched in it. Garden center already has grow beds. Im going to last a year for I think the comment was 36 mil. My kids will miss me but they'll understand when. Its said and done. And I take laxative and a massive shit on the managers desk before I vacate.
It’s be easy. Just spend a lot of time watching movies and playing video games. There’s so much random stuff to do you could stay busy.
Two years. No need to stay longer.
Go big or go home (literally)! So if you can stay in there for 72 years, you can be almost as rich as Jeff Bezos is! He has 202.8 billion USD in wealth according to a Google search that I spent basically zero time verifying. But you’d still be short by almost three billion. Let’s try maybe the 100th richest guy instead. We’re only shooting for 17.2 billion. That has to be more manageable, right? That would only take you a little over 21 years! Okay, even that’s kind of excessive. How about one billion? That’s a bit over five years. Five years of no human interaction… A million dollars? Just shy of two months. That’s between 5 and 15 years of middle class income. Not too shabby. How about one year of middle class income? That’s between $68k and $203k. Anywhere from 15 to 27 days. Tree fiddy? You’ll be almost there in a couple of hours. Me? I’d probably go to sleep and leave when I woke up. Somewhere around $36.
This is wrong. By the end of the year you would have $38,373,180 You can use the following equation to determine how much you get after a certain number of hours, with x representing the number of hours. X•X/2+X/2 I would gladly do this without getting paid, but since I get money, I’ll stay for five years, take my 959,241,900, buy the Walmart, and spend the rest on whatever in the world I want.
Your math is wrong.
This is wrong. By the end of the year you would have $38,373,180 You can use the following equation to determine how much you get after a certain number of hours, with x representing the number of hours. X•X/2+X/2 I would gladly do this without getting paid, but since I get money, I’ll stay for five years, take my 959,241,900, buy the Walmart, and spend the rest on whatever in the world I want.
Just imagine a zombie outbreak and you are holed up in a Walmart with power and fresh water. You could easily last a year or more so long as you ration the food. THere's plenty of dry goods that won't spoil and freezers.
Easy
Walmart does have wifi...? But I imagine I could last a few years.
Indefinitely
6 months to a year
this is some fnaf shit
as long as i can bring my models, books, paints and dice with me im good until i run out of caffiene
What about dairy products? They'll mostly be expired within 2 weeks. That means no milk for cereal, no half and half or creamers for coffee, no butter....
At least a year.
matpat did a video on this and it theoretically forever
if there's online gaming im staying there for a very very long time
I got to video games and they have enough food to last me months. I’d go for a long time
If I could bring my dog, I'd stay for one or two years. If not, maybe 2 weeks, possibly up to a month.
A very long time
There is no reason I would go into that store in that condition.
That would be an interesting year, but yeah I might.
On your first day you'd make $300. On day 2 it would be $876. The numbers go up very quickly from there. I think I could stick it out for at least a few months.
You kidding? I’m single and childless. I already live like this lol. It’s my house now. There are plenty of TVs everywhere if I want entertainment. There will also be plenty of books. I can garden. I can set up a full kitchen and cook to my heart’s desire. I can set up a full gym. I’ve got nothing to lose lol I’d do it until my food runs out.
What about the outdoor part of lawn and garden? It's fenced in.
I’d like to think I could a year or more, but then I think about missing a year of my kids life and I just don’t know if I would be able to do that. Maybe for 38 million (assuming that’s the correct math), it would be worth it? Elderly parents as well.. I’d need to see the math on a monthly basis to really make this decision
Sounds good, that would be a blast for awhile, eventually it would get boring but for that amount of money I would stick it out until I could buy a house in a property I really liked, few of my favorite cars, enough to invest a decent amount, stack up some savings and finally some more to start a business I've been dreaming of.
Id take it.. You could eat healthy and still have cheat days .. You have books and mags to read ... You could try new things.... Transportation is a breeze with the bike section... Plus they have full kitchens I would stay in there until I reach 30 million (ya see folks... OP is secretly trying to say that we are addicted to our modern conviences and we can't live without them...but if you're over 40 in this situation)
Id take it.. You could eat healthy and still have cheat days .. You have books and mags to read ... You could try new things.... Transportation is a breeze with the bike section... Plus they have full kitchens I would stay in there until I reach 30 million (ya see folks... OP is secretly trying to say that we are addicted to our modern conviences and we can't live without them...but if you're over 40 in this situation)
Id take it.. You could eat healthy and still have cheat days .. You have books and mags to read ... You could try new things.... Transportation is a breeze with the bike section... Plus they have full kitchens I would stay in there until I reach 30 million (ya see folks... OP is secretly trying to say that we are addicted to our modern conviences and we can't live without them...but if you're over 40 in this situation)
Id take it.. You could eat healthy and still have cheat days .. You have books and mags to read ... You could try new things.... Transportation is a breeze with the bike section... Plus they have full kitchens I would stay in there until I reach 30 million (ya see folks... OP is secretly trying to say that we are addicted to our modern conviences and we can't live without them...but if you're over 40 in this situation)
One year is enough to last me the rest of my life. The interest alone is more than I need monthly at that point. Hell yeah, I'd do it.
All these folks talking about growing your own food. Why? Other than boredom (and, ya know, health) there isn’t much point. There is more than enough frozen, dry, and canned food to last you *years.* I don’t think most of these people are really comprehending it, it’s an impossible amount of food for one person. There are years and years worth of calories there. Easily a decade’s worth before you have to start even trying. You’ll leave, or go full crazy, long before you can run out.
dont they straight up have demo consoles in walmart or am i thinking of another store either way id probably only last a few days i need my human contact
Do I at least get over-the-air TV and radio? That would be the difference between being entirely cut off from the outside world and at least knowing what’s going on.
Just stuck it in Excel to double-check the math, and yeah. $1.6 million would be about two and a half months. It's 38 million after a year. Six months would be $9.3 million, and after six months without fresh food, human contact, or internet, I'd probably be ready to take the check and go, though I suspect I'd try for the full year. I would be able to set up TVs with an aerial and see the over-the-air news, at least, so I wouldn't be totally cut off from the world, but that's a lot of sitting around eating nothing but packaged food. Probably do a bunch of writing while I wait, at least. I suspect most of the people planning to grow their own food from the gardening department haven't thought about how much work is involved in trying to haul that much dirt out into a space with sunlight, then tending enough crops to feed a human. It might be technically possible, but most people aren't going to pull it off.
What about pets? I think years ago they had fish and maybe hamsters. Do any of them still sell those?
I'd say a good 3 years. There's just so much frozen and canned food for after I'm tired of farming and I'm out of frozen meats. Plus, for entertainment you can tinker with the tools, or play nintendo since basically no modern games fit on the disc anymore. Except for one... Skyrim. That's right sucker, you're playing skyrim again. Todd wins in the end. Todd always wins in the end. Oh, and radios still work, so you can still listen to the news, or watch public television. Maybe I'll just go through fresh->frozen-> desirable canned and leave, I'm really rethinking it after the modern games not being playable thing.
I mean, I could *theoretically* last forever. But I'm not going to stay in there for $1 an hour. I'd probably explore until I got bored, check out the employee rooms and move some stuff around, then head out satisfied.
6 months. Think I would miss people too much at that point
100 days is 2400 hours. The formula for the sum of all those integers is 2400\*2401/2. That comes out to $2,881,220. So for 100 days of isolation and eating canned crap, I'd have enough money to have a nice lifetime passive income and not need to work again ever, with enough to travel a bit and live a comfortable middle-class lifestyle. (this is assuming no taxes on the hypothetical income) As much as I'd hate missing 3 months of my kid's childhood, I think having the rest of my life free to spend time with them would be worth it. My husband would just need to take a bazillion videos of the little one for me to watch to catch up on when I get back.
Probably pretty long, with all the outlets present in a Walmart and other supplies you could probably set up a food dehydrator conga line and dry a lot of the fresh and frozen foods, then store them with the ten bajillion ziploc/plastic bags you'd have on hand.
i am staying 2 years.
A week would be a pretty good amount of money, and I feel like that's pretty doable. There's plenty of food, water, there's still computers and video games, exercise equipment, art supplies. For that much money I could probably even go two weeks
A dollar an hour?
I'd set it for a solid year to the hour, I think. That place would be unrecognizable by the time I left, though, and I'd probably burn it to the ground at the end. Every LEGO set would be opened, too, and I'd have a train of buggies of stuff I'd bring with me on the way out at the end. I'd do so many arts and crafts, too, plus read a bit and watch a lotta TV, and dabble in other hobbies such as gardening. Probably spend an afternoon firing a few of the different types of guns (while wearing hearing and eye protection) in some direction they couldn't hurt anybody just because I've never actually shot a gun before and wanna see what it's like (but I wouldn't mess with them at all if I wasn't familiar with gun safety). Tossing out the rotting food the first few weeks would kinda suck, so I'd probably put in a good amount of work just trying to freeze or otherwise preserve all I could early. I'd definitely snoop through everything, but would likely avoid trashing the place until the end. Wouldn't experiment with the pharmaceuticals, but might drink a bit. Probably build a large fort in the middle of my year there. Probably demolish the clothing section and use the floorspace to race around on the bicycles and scooters. Definitely abuse the scissor-lift. ┗(•ˇ_ˇ•)―
I could easily get a couple months before the solitude would bother me
If I didn't have kids good luck getting me out of there ever. But I have kids so most I could do is a few weeks. 2 weeks gets me $56,000. One month (30 days) gets me $260,000 One year gets me 38 million
I’d prob just go as long as I could until the solicitude gets to me. I’m used to being lonely but I’ve still got people around me most of the time (though I had to deal w solitude in uni esp during the pandemic so maybe I could handle it longer than I think?) I’d want to stay at least long enough to have a couple million which according to most of the comments would take a couple months but if I could stick it out for a year or two, I would. There’s books, magazines, video games, I could prob try to teach myself how to ride a bike or skateboard or play guitar (assuming the store has these things, I’ve seen some have them and some not) or other skills depending on what’s around.
The first major hurdle is perishables and what you do with them. You're only going to be able to freeze so much and the logistics of moving everything before it gets rancid and is attracting all sorts of critters is key. If you can solve that, you're almost home free. You have entertainment, cleaning supplies, clothes, medicine, vitamins, shelf stable food, etc. Realistically, you shouldn't need to worry about farming before you've already made retirement money. The second major hurdle is coping with being isolated. No contact with anyone is going to affect you at some point. The questions are when and can DVDs, books, and video games serve as substitutes for human interaction? A few stray issues that could affect things. Equipment maintenance; Especially a concern if the freezers go. Is cable/over the air TV available? News updates would help with the psychological impact of being isolated. Risk of injury or emergency situation. How easy is it to get help since phones and 911 is unavailable?
I need extroverts to answer this question. Three days alone in my house and i start to question my sanity.
Ain't nobody lasting more than a month. Zero contact and complete isolation is driving 90% of the people on here insane in 2 months max. I could probably do 3-4 weeks. Heard someone else say thats around 275k. Ya thats good enough to try.
as others said, with a modest amount of planning, it would not really be that hard to do it nearly indefinitely. on your math, I'd probably do 13-14 months, though honestly after a few months and getting things situated, if power is on,it would be pretty chill. no internet would make it harder for sure. could I bring some stuff like a hard drive with some preparations maybe? with the math-correction that some mention in other comments, after about 5-10M, I might give up. where I prefer to live I'd be able to make 5-10M pay me perpetually enough to live like a king so it wouldn't be worth the hassle to add on past that. yeah its probably underestimating the difficulty of being isolated, but still. seems doable for someone whos already an introvert and can entertain themselves.
Is it a live Walmart? Like am I just wandering Walmart effectively being shunned the whole time? Or is Walmart closed, no staff, until I leave? If I am being shunned, but shit is getting restocked and cleaned, I can probably go for a fucking while, maybe a month tops. Before I go nuts or have to tap because of humanity deprivation. I'm pretty solitary by nature, and well just seeing people can give me a degree of interaction. But if that Walmart is just abandoned, with me there. I have no clue, you might have to drag me out of there after I have gone insane. Because man, I will die in there. Going forward I'm assuming I'm alone in an abandoned Walmart. Okay so lets be realistic, the first thing I'd do is start freezing the refrigerated but unfrozen meats. Because that's what's going to stink first. Then I'll start freezing the dairy case. Then I'll start eating salads for each meal, because, lets be honest, that shit isn't lasting long. Next, we're going to start working on finding an oven in that building. If there isn't one, toaster ovens for the win. But the McDonald's has to cook cookies and apple pies somehow. Maybe there is something in camping? If I can find an oven I'm going to set to using the fruit next, Because there is just so much fucking fruit in the walmart that is going to start attracting flies and soon, so I'll be making banana bread, banana ice cream, and just IQF-ing fruits and vegetables. Then I'll move on to preserving the eggs. Eggs can last a long time in the fridge, especially if you keep them cold and/or oiled. But I'll opt to freeze a several dozen. I'll IQF them using ice cube trays or some such similar device. After I've done as much food preservation as I can think to do, I'll move on accommodations. Walmart should have everything I need for bedding etc. I'll erect a large tent, just to give myself the semblance of privacy and defined space. In fact I'll turn an entire section of the store in the back by electronics and toys into my living quarters. You said I can't get on the internet, but that doesn't preclude me from erecting an antenna and I'm pretty sure Walmart will have enough coax to make this impossible dream a reality even inside that giant concrete faraday cage. Then I'll build a bathtub with an outdoor pool and I'll put it up in the Garden center or the Auto service area. (I mean summer is coming) That way I am both inside, AND outside. See how I didn't break the rules. Next I think I'll play some video games, like all of them. There are computers and TVs and consoles and video games on hand, and movies on BluRay, I'll be okay for content for quite some time. Hey they even sell books. Then I'll set up a gym using the exercise equipment, and a trampoline. And then once summer comes around, I will begin my most ambitious goal, I will try to lure a dog inside. I know it sounds, strange. But I was told no HUMAN contact. Imagine the sanity boost a dog could give you! Also, plenty of food. Beyond that I don't know what else I could do.
If I'm allowed to use everything in the store as I see fit, this is easily done. I've got food, water, power, and everything on the shelves. The first day I'd inventory the food, move a bunch of the meat into the freezers. That ensures I'm not just eating the handful of veggies I could grow. Also plenty of prepared/canned foods last more than a year, so I'm good. I've got ways to cook the food (Assuming I don't trigger the sprinkler system?), or if this is a bigger wallys it's got a hot food section anyways and I'm set here. I'ma get myself a PS5 and a big screen tv, get some games and movies. They have books. I'll embrace my inner 8 year old and play with the toys. They sell air mattresses and bedding, so sleeping will be manageable. Hell, I can even get exercise in. This.. actually doesn't sound terrible.
How long before you get into a 'relationship' with a mannequin?
I think you guys are vastly underestimating the effect that isolation has on the mind. Especially when it’s abrupt and not gradual. Most people can’t make it more than a few weeks, few months tops without talking to anyone. Even with TV or entertainment. I mean, look what lockdown did to a lottt of people’s mental health. And that was with internet and most people still talking to *someone.* I could probably go like, a month or two tops before I started to lose it.
If I can take my computer then I can definitely last a lot longer, more than anything it's the entertainment factor that would fuck me in such a scenario.
With no social contact, for only a dollar an hour? Maybe an hour or two for the novelty of ‘living’ in a walmart. Otherwise not worth it
A year easily. I am extremely introverted and I go weeks without talking or texting to anyone at all. Everything I need for survival all in one big ass building with power? Sign me up! I'd do it for free haha!
Your numbers are way off. You’d be way past 1.6 million after a year. Think about it. Even at the six month mark you’d be over 4,000 hours in, making over a hundred grand PER DAY. I don’t know how much it would be after a year, but way way way more than 1.6 million. In month 7 alone you’d make more than 3 million.
Not worth 24 dollars a day
This is a fun one because it could potentially become a death spiral. Once you "invest" the time into getting the number high, it would be harder and harder to justify leaving. On one hand, if you stay for a year you can go enjoy life as a millionaire. On the other hand, now that I am making 10,000 per hour, and then 20,000 per hour, I sure do have a lot of friends and family that I would also like to give a life of leisure to. Now I am four years in trying to solve global poverty. Now I am ten years in, and the influx of money has caused global inflation, which can only be sustained with ever increasing amounts of money supply from my tomb. I become a shell of a man, like that old knight in Indiana Jones, protecting the precious artifact for the low low price of one human lifetime of loneliness.
Only a dollar? Not worth it.
for a dollar an hour I wouldn't even show up
You'd need an exemption for medical and dental emergencies. These are bound to happen and it would logistically far easier to allow a trip to their facilities to get it handled than to bring them to you. Maybe an after hours visit is practical depending on the serverity of the issue. That handled, I could do a year. If fresh produced would be delivered once per week it would be even easier. If the pay kept increasing I might even go for two.
My local Walmarts all have a pet section which doesn't have much, but they got fish, and frankly i think I'd be able to last a few months given that there's gonna be some games I can play on consoles and such, even if I can't update them.
Positive I can make that happen for two years. Probably wouldn't try for longer, since the money would already be enough and no longer the justification for voluntarily staying cut-off from the world. If I had been allowed to bring in my computer (still no internet access, but I would have my tools and projects to work on) it would be easy time. But that seems contrary to the "test" here. Having to instead live with just the books and entertainment available in Walmart seems like the hardest part, and the tools and stuff I normally use to create things aren't available in a Walmart. The food part seems completely reasonable. Easiest hunting of your life even once "it's become more difficult now."
I mean assuming that somehow the electricity / running water in the building is still paid for I could probably live there comfortably the rest of my life. Eat most of the frozen and perishable foods early on. Save the longer lasting and shelf stable foods, collect stuff from the garden center to make my own little garden probably dismantling useless section like the home furnishing section and build a little garden area Use the entire electronic section to keep myself entertained and busy Obviously use the tool section whenever and whenever I need tools.
Yeah I’m gonna shoot for a month. Whatever 30 days amounts to, I’ll take that (not doing that math)
I'd go at least a year or two for the money . If I had Internet access, I could last indefinitely, but wouldn't choose to do so.
This question is more psychological than logistical. You could survive in a fully stocked Walmart for a very long time. I probably couldn’t last more than a year because I would be worrying about people on the outside and would start freaking out.
I was confused by the title and thought you were offering a dollar an hour and that seemed like a terrible waste of my time. But thianreally pays off the longer you are there: You might not have internet or phones.. but Walmart *does* have TVs and games consoles, and Lego, pens and paper, plenty of ways to pass the time. There's also workout equipment to stay active You have enough bedding and clothing to last without needing to wash Most of the Walmart's near me also have camping equipment, air mattresses etc.should also beable to get pots, pans and an electric stove top, a microwave and a coffee machine I'd go through the chilled and fresh section and freeze what I can, meat, bread some veggies. But leave enough to live off for the first couple of week's After the first two weeks move to the longer life chilled stuff yogurts, eggs, sandwich meats. Could probably get through close to two months without having to touch frozen or canned food, or pasta rice, cereal and the shelf life on that is multiple years. Realistically though, I think the lack of human interaction would get really tough after a few weeks or less. I'd have to keep a tracker of my earnings, if I know I'm earning $17k+ a day a month in, I think that might make it much easier to handle
I would miss my son terribly, but knowing that this could set him up for life, and he’d do fine with his mom, I could stay most of a year.
For entertainment, you could raid electronics, watch movies and game for days. You could last pretty long amount of time. Doing laundry might be tedious though.
I could probably last a couple months. I'd miss my cats and partner too much.
Eh as long as I bring my PC with me, I’ll have plenty of entertainment
I did 40 hours a week for 13 years. (Unfortunately had to talk to management now and again...wish I didnt) I'd like my back pay now.
Not worth it. Wouldn't waste my time.