whimsy in support of small business

David_Snowball

Dear friends,

I'm trying to do (at least) one good thing a day in support of small businesses, non-profits and others facing ... let's call them "existential threats." One estimate that I read Friday was that 50% of all non-profits live within one month of closing; that is, with their normal income disrupted, they were within a month of closing. "Local social service agencies for the elderly" was the motif there.

So, last night I ordered a t-shirt from a local coffee shop, Cool Beanz. Augie alum, Annette, runs it. Nice person. Tries innovative stuff to make her shop "a destination." Wine bar at night. Live music. Curbside pick-up now. So ...



You're welcome to buy one, too, if you'd like. She'd appreciate it. The larger point is (a) I finally managed to post an image here after 32 failed attempts - Lewis sort of shamed me into try #33 with his Brady Sluder coverage - and (b) there are small acts that might yet make a difference.

Wishing you all the best,

David

Derf

I went on line & found no order form.
Derf

Old_Joe

@Derf- Just click on the item that you are interested in and go from there. When you get to the shipping it's a little weird- you have to click on "shipping" to keep going.

OJ

Add- just got a confirming email and receipt. Shipping is free, btw.

David_Snowball

(they're new at this)

Mark

See folks, this is people helping one another out instead of saying "it ain't my fault."

Good work, all of you.

Derf

Thanks, "Senioreyetis" here.
Derf

Old_Joe

Tell me!

msf

Glad to see @David_Snowball start this thread. I was thinking about starting a thread that was a bit broader - what's happening locally - that would include things like this.

I received email from one local restaurant asking people to buy gift cards and offering a 5% discount. A win-win - they improve their cash flow and customers get a future discount.

I subscribe to a few concert series by nonprofits (symphony, etc.) While they will refund the price of tickets for cancelled concerts, some ask if I'd like to put the money on account toward next season's concerts. Though I've already purchased tickets for next season, I'm delighted to help them with their cash flow this way.

Curiously one venue said they'd apply the refund only to their current season (ending June 2020). They're more optimistic about this season than I am. In contrast, many school districts have already announced teleclasses for the rest of the semester.

I passed a sign on a local boutique food store saying that while they work with delivery services like Grubhub which are waiving delivery fees (to customers), after fees to vendors they don't get enough back to pay their workers. So they are starting their own delivery service. That suggests that delivery was a small part of their business, something they did as a courtesy. But now that it's the only way to do business, they have to find some other way to make it work.

I don't want to suggest doing takeout instead of delivery; I'm wondering how else to ease the delivery burden on local businesses.

davidrmoran

One of the bigger orchestras in the country is having a small internal 'discussion' b/w their financial people and their counsel over whether to have the default for canceled tickets be donation or refund; the former favors the former, the latter insists on the latter (for no delivery of services).

It's hard to know what to do, for us anyway, about shopping vs takeout vs delivery. Safety, cost, altruism, and more. Several hundred thou of investments more in the recent past now gone, made it easy to exclude cost out of such calcs.