Coronavirus impact

[Jchunn28]

7 hours ago, Chard said:

I'm getting concerned about spoilage and the expense of restocking. 

it seems like this new environment will last for quite some time so when we're finally allowed back in all the product will be out of date and need to be disposed of. 

It's going to take several weeks to catch up.

We were able to go by most of our “non-essential” customers before they closed and pulled all the product out of the snack machines and have been using it to stock our “essential business” customers. 

[AngryChris]

I'm currently down about 40% but I am guessing it could be closer to 60% by the end of next week depending on who lays who off.  I'm remaining optimistic for a quick recovery not to 100% of expected sales figures but at least 75-80% of expected sales by the 2nd week of April.  It's hard to deal with this but I'll do whatever I have to do.  As long as I can even stay at 80%, I should be able to coast by for some time.

[Chard]

10 hours ago, putrevus said:

Are we hurting ourselves (health wise) by servicing these accounts which are open , this is not going away anytime soon.Unless people are forced to stay away from everything this is not going to stop.

 

The worst is yet to come.

I think you're absolutely right about that.  I've decided to wear a surgical mask and gloves to all locations.  I'm not willing to get sick.  I'm getting some crazy looks, but it worth it to me.  In a couple of weeks I think we'll see just how bad this virus is.

[putrevus]

9 hours ago, Chard said:

I think you're absolutely right about that.  I've decided to wear a surgical mask and gloves to all locations.  I'm not willing to get sick.  I'm getting some crazy looks, but it worth it to me.  In a couple of weeks I think we'll see just how bad this virus is.

You are spot on please do wear masks and gloves.We are doing the same.Health is the most important thing.We have told all our locations to expect delays and we are not servicing some accounts at all.Only accounts which are authorized to open are being serviced.

 

I am appalled by some of the stories we are reading about how Amazon is handling their workers.

 

 

[Southeast Treats]

Looks now like I will be down about 60-65% for this week.  Yes, I expect a lot of stales on the back end. Should be able to struggle thru April, but then.....  As far as should we be working, I think we already do our jobs with minimum contact and it's important to support our accounts that are still operating if they want our service.  Nothing wrong with wearing masks and gloves while servicing, if you can find them right now.  And clean, clean, clean.... warehouse and trucks too!

[ABCVending]

Washington State issued the Stay Home order on Monday - but that only affected about 25% of existing accounts - most of the rest are declaring "essential business" status.

The retirement homes locked vendors out couple weeks ago.

Had a couple of cases of the pocket sized purell hand sanitizers (not hoarding, had long before COVID19 was even a thing) - put those in a snack machine in one of the hotel accounts and they sold out (for $.75 ea - not gouging, think they cost $.35-$.40 ea) -  in about 1 hr (two full spirals) and can't get anymore and keep getting notes about re-stocking.

Since this is a side-hustle for me and I don't want to get sick or get anyone sick, I am only going to re-stock if/when accounts call to request it.  Go in gloved up (mask if there are a lot of people around) and wipe the machines down with Clorox wipes, re-stock and get the hell out.

Don't consider my business essential but will service machines at essential accounts if they request.

 

ABC

[CapitalCityVendingLLC]

We are off about 60-70%, and I think the worst is yet to come.  Whether we like it or not, I think this is going to last (in certain ways) far longer than some of us realize.  

We have been locked out of a handful of our accounts.  This coming week, we are going to try and get into some of our schools to get the product out as school's are closed through May.  This is all a guessing game, but I'd bet that schools won't return until next school year (at least in my part of the country (S.C.)).

There are only a handful of things you/we/us can do in the short term, but let this prepare you for the future.  Try and keep debt off of your company when you can.  Try and keep a couple of months of expenses/payroll in the bank account.  I completely agree with what lacanteen said.  Don't let any one single account be more than 10% of your total business.  Don't let a single segment be more than ~30% of your total business.  These are ideals that we can't change overnight but are great goals to have.  Diversify accordingly over the coming years if you can.

This is going to hurt my business pretty hard, but our company is very fortunate to be 100% debt free and we have a decent amount of money in the bank to hopefully carry us past this.  Like Warren Buffett said "Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked".  

[orsd]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianthompson1/2020/03/29/getting-cash-for-your-small-business-through-the-cares-act/#24ea7e1c43a0

You can get loans, plus 10k in grant money.

In addition, some money may be forgiven if you spend it on payroll and keep your employees on.

Its through the SBA, and it's pretty generous. I encourage everyone to to some research.

[tblake05]

On ‎3‎/‎27‎/‎2020 at 8:38 AM, putrevus said:

 

I am appalled by some of the stories we are reading about how Amazon is handling their workers.

 

 

 

How is that?  Just curious as I haven't read anything- though not a huge fan of amazon anyway.

[TKK]

Since we dropped 95% sales, we had about 30,000 snacks in our warehouse i started selling them on craigslist for about double our cost. Today i sold $800 so its gonna keep us a bit busy. Good thing is federal finance and our mortgage let us forbear our accounts so i dont have to do those huge payments nor pay fees or interest

[lacanteen]

Had our first hospital completely shut down vending. I don't think they will be the last. If we can make it to the end of April there might be an upturn. If you have product about to go out of date or just out of date donate it to a food pantry or shelter. Must be shelf stable snacks and food, non-perishable. At least get a tax break. 

[Snickers]

Our hospital has not shut down vending yet but they may as well-it is not performing nowhere near what it was. 
 

[fhamann]

My sales were down 1/3 three weeks ago, 1/2 two weeks ago, and 3/4 last week.  I am in the land of the free, California....

[AngryChris]

I'm somewhere around 50% right now and it's been pretty stable.  One of my friends told me that one of the largest vendors in my region is down to about 50% as well.  Trust me, I don't like being down this much but I at least feel somewhat better knowing I am not the only one suffering and not doing as bad as others.  I'm really sharing this because I am hoping it will give some other people some hope in knowing that EVERYONE is suffering and it's not a matter of poor choices as a business owner or anything like that.  There's also word out there that people are getting denied unemployment and all kinds of unemployment and loan systems are constantly crashing... in other words, being self-employed and still having some kind of income coming in may be a lot better than the people that are laid off and expecting unemployment checks to come rolling in. 

Stay strong people.  If you survive this, there will likely be a lot of opportunity out there to expand.

[lacanteen]

A slight uptick this week. Shrimp processors are back to work.

[putrevus]

On 4/14/2020 at 4:30 PM, lacanteen said:

A slight uptick this week. Shrimp processors are back to work.

God forbid if people who are servicing the machines get this dreaded virus.Does Canteen has anything in place to protect them and their families.

What about other people who are not as big as canteen.We are seeing amazon workers getting sick but not getting anything from Amazon while Mr.Bezos is raking in billions.

 

 

[lacanteen]

12 minutes ago, putrevus said:

God forbid if people who are servicing the machines get this dreaded virus.Does Canteen has anything in place to protect them and their families.

What about other people who are not as big as canteen.We are seeing amazon workers getting sick but not getting anything from Amazon while Mr.Bezos is raking in billions.

 

 

When the lock downs started all of our employees 60 years old and older were told to stay home for 2 weeks (paid). Some managers are able to work from home, others have situations where it's not advisable for them to be out so they are still home (paid). 

Remember, we are an independent franchise, not a Canteen Corp operation. We also have some extended family leave pay available for other situations. Some hourly workers are short a few hours per week, we try to minimize short pay. I have seen no change in my hours worked other than Fridays we are closed but I still monitor service messages and usually come into town in the afternoon with my machine keys (in my Mustang) in case an emergency arises. 

So far no employees have been diagnosed positive for the virus, and we have testing procedures in place and operating procedures in place in case it does happen. I realize that many smaller operations could not carry this kind of burden and I hope that some of you were able to get the SBA "loan/grant" program funds. This is another reason your business needs a rainy day fund

We have sanitation procedures for all instances, be it vending, office, route truck, OCS, and micromarkets. Every employee has the necessary PPE and cleaning supplies and required steps for every instance. If anyone is interested in the printed sanitation material, email me and I will try to share.

gbruss<at>mmsalescompany<dot>com

(type in the correct punctuation above)

[putrevus]

6 minutes ago, lacanteen said:

When the lock downs started all of our employees 60 years old and older were told to stay home for 2 weeks (paid). Some managers are able to work from home, others have situations where it's not advisable for them to be out so they are still home (paid). 

Remember, we are an independent franchise, not a Canteen Corp operation. We also have some extended family leave pay available for other situations. Some hourly workers are short a few hours per week, we try to minimize short pay. I have seen no change in my hours worked other than Fridays we are closed but I still monitor service messages and usually come into town in the afternoon with my machine keys (in my Mustang) in case an emergency arises. 

So far no employees have been diagnosed positive for the virus, and we have testing procedures in place and operating procedures in place in case it does happen. I realize that many smaller operations could not carry this kind of burden and I hope that some of you were able to get the SBA "loan/grant" program funds. This is another reason your business needs a rainy day fund

That is awesome. I understand it is hard for business owners to pay their employees if they are not getting revenues but this is so scary situation.

SBA loan/grant is just an eyewash, I don't think anyone is getting anything from SBA.

[AngryChris]

45 minutes ago, putrevus said:

God forbid if people who are servicing the machines get this dreaded virus.Does Canteen has anything in place to protect them and their families.

What about other people who are not as big as canteen.We are seeing amazon workers getting sick but not getting anything from Amazon while Mr.Bezos is raking in billions.

 

 

Just because it's something that irritates me when people bring it up.. Bezos is not raking in billions.  The value of his stock is worth billions but he'd have to cash out to actually have that money.  It's not like all of the company profits just flow to his bank account.  I'm only saying it because I hear people say things like "If bezos divded all of his money up he'd be able to do X, Y, or Z" and that's simply not true.  His salary is allegedly equivalent to about 1.5 million per year.  It's a lot, but not billions.

[putrevus]

Just now, AngryChris said:

Just because it's something that irritates me when people bring it up.. Bezos is not raking in billions.  The value of his stock is worth billions but he'd have to cash out to actually have that money.  It's not like all of the company profits just flow to his bank account.  I'm only saying it because I hear people say things like "If bezos divded all of his money up he'd be able to do X, Y, or Z" and that's simply not true.  His salary is allegedly equivalent to about 1.5 million per year.  It's a lot, but not billions.

I am the last person who is envious of his money. What I am angry is how the workers are being treated there .

Coronavirus: Jeff Bezos, world’s richest man, asks public to donate to Amazon relief fund.

 

[AngryChris]

45 minutes ago, putrevus said:

I am the last person who is envious of his money. What I am angry is how the workers are being treated there .

Coronavirus: Jeff Bezos, world’s richest man, asks public to donate to Amazon relief fund.

 

My ONLY problem with it is that everyone needs help and not just Amazon.  As for how they treat workers.. I am unaware of what the problem is.

[lacanteen]

I have the document copies if anyone wants to see them. 

gbruss<at>mmsalescompany<dot>com

[Southeast Treats]

On the topic of SBA loans... I decided to apply for the paycheck loan.  Only one employee so eligible for about 5K, not a big loan but it would help me keep my driver working.  Took several days trying to find a lender who would take my application, my credit union initially said they were not participating.   Mostly could not even make contact with the banks.  SBA website started listing banks that were lending, all of the listed phone numbers were wrong, mostly disconnected!  Finally got in touch with Regions bank, very helpful at the local branch but the app had to be online and was only open to existing customers.

Finally my CU decided to play.  They went thru another website to take applications, it crashed, finally working and I got my app in last Friday.  Monday received an auto response listing all the documents I needed to provide, took care of all that same day.  Then... crickets.  No reply, automatic or human.  Local branches and main call center out of the loop, no other numbers to call.  Thursday the news reported all the money was spent.  Still no reply to my application as of (today) Friday morning.

I was not sure about applying to begin with, I think I can muddle through OK without it.  I don't trust that the forgiveness will happen as planned, but I could manage to pay back 5K if I had to.  It would have shored up cash flow and allowed me to keep my driver pay at his regular hours, which would help him out a lot right now.

Somebody got the money, hopefully it went some place to do the most good.  But I have also seen some shifty stuff going on... one person I know was laid off from a large apartment owner/operator group because they needed to have less than 500 employees to get the small business help.  Was one of about 100 layoffs there.  Don't know how that worked for them but I am betting the bank was already processing their app when the layoffs happened.   Big money attracts big money, small money attracts flies and not much else...

[TKK]

anybody get any help?

[edward]

Not me.