One guy told me he stopped bothering with puncture resistant tires (Gatorskins) and tire liners as the former didn't work too well and the latter really slowed him down. So he just buys tubes by the 100s now since that's how many he needs in a year.

How does anyone get that many flats ? There aren't even goatheads or any nasty thorns in this part of the country ...

I've only had one actual puncture flat ... and I only noticed after the tire had been leaking all night ... the rest have been pinch flats due to either a) underinflation, four counts or b) unable to avoid HUGE pothole, one count. These were with puncture resistant, bead to bead Aramid belted tires. Hell, even on my no-name brand BSO bike the tires were never pinched but only punctured once, and that took overnight for it to drain.