Unmasking The New Way Of Business

Now that life is starting the journey back to a new normal while recovering from the pandemic, we see many companies and individuals producing Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) locally, compensating for the lack of supplies from foreign sources, namely China. With many companies reopening some have retooled their production to make masks, face shields, sneeze guards, among other PPE locally to fill the demand. As we continue to recover from the pandemic, we will have to continue using many of these safeguards to eradicate the COVID-19 virus.

The plexiglass business also is booming as restaurants, theatres, airports, and many other businesses are slated to open following public health and physical distancing measures and using good hygiene and disinfecting practices. Other PPE, like face masks, are also in high-demand with the government health officials encouraging the wearing of masks, when social-distancing is unattainable, to help prevent the spreading of the virus between customers and employees.

Hand-washing and sanitizers have prompted many other local businesses to add soaps and disinfectants to their line of products available. The new normal seems to have shifted commerce towards a more local economy. This is helping bolster the Buy Local movement and helping the economy to recover faster by keeping local commerce solvent.

To help the economy recover even quicker this concept of Local Commerce needs to be extended to all sectors of business. The new way of doing business needs to be run and controlled locally so it can easily and quickly adapt to the needs of the local economy. We could be using our crude oil to produce electricity and heat, then capture the carbon to sell locally to produce plexiglass for sneeze-guards or carbon filters for masks. The possibilities are endless.

The pandemic has demonstrated that the current way of doing business using mainly large centralized manufacturers is unstainable and fragile. We saw this with the meat-packing plant closures that not only laid-off workers but also affected the majority of our beef supply and the whole cattle industry.  The new way of doing business has to realize the Payback with Local Commerce that can be provided towards developing a Sustainable Local Economy. Local businesses, owned by local citizens, provide employment for the community, recirculate more money into our local economy, and support local events that help strengthen our local social fabric more than any large corporation.