Tippets by Taps - Issue #127
This week we explore the impact of COVID-19 on WFH (note: regular WFH is NOT the same as COVID-WFH and needs to be dealt with differently), Dollar General and other retailers doing more for older shoppers, America’s convenience stores during COVID-19, Yuval Noah Harari’s thoughts on the implications of Coronavirus on the world, a few things to warm your heart during these difficult times, and more. Enjoy!
COVID-19: The Grand WFH Experiment
As we all adjust to the new ‘After COVID’ normal, those of us lucky enough to be able to work remotely are part of a grand experiment in WFH. However, these times are not truly representative of what distributed work looks like at scale. There is a big difference between working from home under normal circumstances and working from home during a global pandemic. The way we move forward needs to be considerate and deliberate. These are my suggestions for WFH during these uncertain times.
More of this will do us all a lot of good.
Dollar General stores, others set specific hours for older shoppers for their protection
As the country adjusts to the new normal - social distancing, shelter in place, essential stores only - stores around the U.S. and the globe are taking extra steps to help the elderly population who are the most vulnerable to severe or fatal infection from the coronavirus. Dollar General, the fastest growing retail in the US, is one such retailer, adjusting hours and operations to better serve the communities they are in (according to the CEO 75% of Americans live within 5 miles of a DG).
“Dollar General is strongly encouraging that the first hour of operations each day be dedicated solely for the shopping needs of senior customers, who are one of the groups most vulnerable to the COVID-19 coronavirus,” a company statement said. “General wants to provide these at-risk customers with the ability to purchase the items they need and want at the beginning of each day to avoid busier and more crowded shopping periods.”
Other customers will have to plan around this window. Store hours are also closing one hour earlier to protect their employees and allow them to clean and re-stock store shelves.
Target, Safeway, and Walmart are also among those ensuring the most at risk have some extra time before the mayhem of regular store hours.
America's gas stations and convenience stores grapple with an uncertain future
I’ve been reading about the impact of COVID-19 on retail and commerce, particularly those businesses deemed ‘non-essential’. I stumbled in to this article about gas stations and convenience stores that I found fascinating. For much of their history, gas stations and convenience stores have been small, often independent businesses. But the industry is quietly undergoing changes brought about by shifts in technology, consumer tastes, and now COVID-19 keeping people in doors. A few fun facts:
93% of Americans live within a few minutes of a convenience store
One out of three stores in the US is a convenience store
80% of convenience stores are fast stations
More than 60% of convenience stores are independently owned
The economy and life may be reshaped by the coronavirus pandemic
American business practices long have shown the scars of national trauma: Devastating fires spawned major factory regulations. World War II hastened the entrance of women into the workforce. Analysts say the novel coronavirus pandemic could push broad societal shifts, with industry-wide disruption and a new normal for economic change.
The pandemic has been a relentless destroyer of brick-and-mortar businesses as public health officials warn against in-person interactions. But the coronavirus is boosting almost anything that can be done online or with minimal human contact — grocery deliveries, online learning, takeout food, streaming video, even real estate closings done with online notaries.
The result, economists say, is likely to be dramatic losses in local retail and dining options, with millions of jobs disappearing as the biggest and wealthiest companies — especially those that do much of their business online — extend their gains. Telework, online education and streaming video have grown sharply, while movie theaters, schools and traditional workplaces close their doors. Some will never reopen in a world where the shift from real to virtual suddenly has gone into overdrive.
Yuval Noah Harari: the world after coronavirus
Yuval Noah Harari, best selling author of Sapiens, Homo Deus, and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century (you can find my Taps’ Notes here) has spoken a lot about the history of human kind and where we as a society are heading. This article in the FT (note: if the link doesn’t work do a Google search for it to get behind the paywall) is his perspective on how the pandemic will impact us and the choices we have to make today to save ourselves tomorrow.
In this time of crisis, we face two particularly important choices. The first is between totalitarian surveillance and citizen empowerment. The second is between nationalist isolation and global solidarity.
Asking people to choose between privacy and health is, in fact, the very root of the problem. Because this is a false choice. We can and should enjoy both privacy and health. We can choose to protect our health and stop the coronavirus epidemic not by instituting totalitarian surveillance regimes, but rather by empowering citizens.
Instead of building a surveillance regime, it is not too late to rebuild people’s trust in science, in public authorities and in the media. We should definitely make use of new technologies too, but these technologies should empower citizens.
Humanity needs to make a choice. Will we travel down the route of disunity, or will we adopt the path of global solidarity? If we choose disunity, this will not only prolong the crisis, but will probably result in even worse catastrophes in the future. If we choose global solidarity, it will be a victory not only against the coronavirus, but against all future epidemics and crises that might assail humankind in the 21st century.
Something to warm your heart.
I highly encourage you to click the below tweet and watch the whole thread. A terrific complication of videos that will leave your heart full and eyes moist.
With all of us practicing social distancing and being cities/countries apart from our loved ones, I wanted to start a thread with examples of humans joyfully reuniting after long periods apart for us to look forward to.
First, here's a dad surprising his son after a deployment. https://t.co/bgYVQHbtoA
6:53 PM - 21 Mar 2020
Quote I’m thinking about: “Gratitude turns what we have into enough.” – Anonymous