Replies

I went to the bank to do a wire transfer. There was a line outside. I know the branch manager. She directed as many people to the ATM as possible and I got to the front of the line fairly quickly. Only 3 allowed in at a time. They literally had white tape X marked on the floor and someone inside telling people to stand on the first X and wait until the next X - 6 feet away - was clear before moving forward in line.

They were still giving away free coffee though :-) I didn’t want to touch the cups or the dispenser.

FWIW I supply an industry that is essentially closed, in the USA and all export markets. The few states that still have the establishment open have seen 90% decline in traffic. I wholesale through distributors, since their customers are closed or way off the distributors are closed. I have near zero business right now in my main product line, just a little online sales.

I saw this coming in February and began then to adapt to making other products and trying to reach new markets but almost all my staff is on leave, collecting benefits, and I have no idea if or when they will come back. Just kept a core group on full time and 2 people as needed part time. Indeed of the people I’ve spoken to, all of them say the same thing: This is a time to rethink the way they operate going forward. They are not going to rush to rehire everyone on leave. Nobody expects their business to just click back to the way it was in Q4-2019 when this epidemic ends.

Congress did not think this bail out for small businesses through at all. It is unworkable and unwieldy and too risky. And giving out cash to people is fine with me during this period... but if they don’t find a way to protect the small businesses out there, we’re going to continue to have very high unemployment for a long time, and demands on the government to keep doling out cash indefinitely. All IMHO.