COVID-19 affecting online community

The Corona paranoia will subside in time, especially once we have the vaccine. But he will have made so much $$$ by then it won't matter.

 

The restrictions put on us by the government are crippling the economy. For rich people and rich politicians it's easy to say, let's extend the lock-down a few months more and keep companies closed. Companies like gyms for example are pretty much left to die.

I know that mostly old people die from this virus. The chance of dying from the virus if you are young is very slim. Most old people also have pensions and don't have to work anymore.

Why not keep the older folks at home and allow adults to make money? How do they expect us to survive without any income? Seems to me that these restrictions are doing more damage (at this point) than the virus. I even heard people are killing themselves over it.

There is also a big chance that the virus will eventually strike again and then what? Another lock-down? Risk even more economic damage?

I heard the argument that there are not enough hospital beds and that's one of the reasons why these restrictions are put into place.

When refugees were taking my country by storm, they build camps and had many beds available (including medical care).
Why can't they do something similar now rather than let the economy go to waste?

If your government can't take proper care of you then you have to take care of yourself (and others as well).
I think situations like this can also bring out the best in us and allow us to come out with really great ideas.

Some industries will die, but others will flourish (like the ones that sell soap and toilet-paper, lol).
All you can do is come up with something that will serve and help people in these troubled times.

I know food delivery companies are making big bucks right now. You just have to find out what you can do to prevent your business from dying.

 

Not true. For example toilet paper makers fall into 3 classes.

1) Those that manufacture for the RETAIL market, like those that stock your local retailer's shelves. They cannot keep up with the demand and will make lots of money until the economy is back on track.

2) Those that manufacture for the INDUSTRIAL market, like those that supply toilet paper for your local gym (closed), food market (open), restaurant (closed), hospital (semi-closed), etc. for use by customers patronizing their facilities. Those manufacturers are LAYING OFF employees because DEMAND has dropped through the floor.

3) Those that manufacture for both the RETAIL and INDUSTRIAL markets, which are combination of the above two classes. Their RETAIL demand is sky-high and their INDUSTRIAL demand is on the rocks.

Class 2 cannot sell RETAIL for several reasons. Their product tends to be larger and won't fit in household dispensers. They do not have the machinery, knowledge, distribution, nor supplies to package for the retail market. Their product is thinner and more utilitarian than retail products. Their product is packaged and sold by the pallet, whereas the retail product is packaged and sold by the roll, dozen rolls, etc. In general class 2 makers are taking the same hit as those businesses shut down by government edict.

Class 3 suppliers currently have very busy retail sales and slow industrial sales, BUT to a LIMITED degree can switch production to whichever side has the most demand. When demand returns for industrial paper, they will simply switch back.

Class 1 suppliers are currently making bank, but when everything is open again (maybe), their sales will drop and return to 'normal' similar to the past when there was no media frenzy of gloom and doom.

In a nutshell that is WHY supermarkets have NO TOILET PAPER for sale. Home use is sky-high and store use is in the tank. The toilet paper manufacturers CANNOT easily switch between the two.

The toilet paper shortage is not affecting me at all. I have been using what I had 'hoarded' over the years. Maybe in another year I will need to buy more, but by then it should be readily available again.

 

I said, lol for a reason. It was a joke . But thank you for the detailed information, always good to learn more about something. My point was that some industries are (still) making bank and some might be forced to leave their current industry for one that is still profitable.

 

This is not an online business, but I like their thinking:



It's in Texas and serves those folks who want a great Margarita made for them but are not feeling like going out. And to think that, as a kid, I used to get excited about the ice cream truck.

 

So, I saw a company offering a Virtual Lunch & Learn for their prospects and clients and it included a GrubHub coupon for each participant so that they could, indeed, have a nice lunch on the company while participating in a Zoom web conference/sales presentation and I liked the idea. We just did our first such Virtual L&L and it was a big success. We put it on for a soon-to-be new client that is in the process of getting a contract through their purchasing system. We positioned it as a "pre-launch lunch" in which we would let the teams meet each other via introductions and chatting while eating lunch. It also included a brief overview of my company as a new vendor to this client. Had a total of 15 people which seemed like a good number for an event like this. They had to sign up two days before and I had an admin send out a GrubHub coupon code to each attendee the day before the event. It went very well and I am in the process or organizing our second such L&L with an existing client that we are trying to grow our business with. Stay tuned for more developments.

 

Your virtual L&L might go better if you gave each of the attendees a VL&L tinfoil hat before the fact.

 

I am not sure, CPC has dropped down really low on social media ads because everyone is literally at home and scrolling through their phones.

 

Much of the corona virus is being relied on online. We will get better results if we expand our business online.

 

A few day jobs ago, I had Smith & Wesson as a corporate client. A year or two after that, I had Mossberg (shotguns) as a client. I was reading about how gun sales are through the roof, right now, because of the unrest, defund police tactics, etc. The coronavirus alone also increased gun sales (not exactly sure why) but not as crazy as it is right now. Sure wish I still had them as clients. They likely have more extra money than they know what to do with, right now.