The Less Blob

My guess is that this is the next step for me...them cutting my salary 10-20%. But last time they did that they still made us work 5 days a week (and it was 10%...so every 10th day). They paid us (those of us who will still working there) back for the deducted salary like 5 years later or something like that.

floor freezers sold out a month ago. who are you kidding?

With industry shuttered (not that we have much industry left) other than ventilator production and far fewer people driving right now, it may be just the opposite. At least for a minute. Satellite photos actually showed how the smog lifted and air quality improved in the areas of China under house arrest.

BLASPHEMY!

I may need to learn how to skin and butcher one of those. Not that we have any around here. Maybe raccoons and possum? No way I'd be able to catch one of our squirrels.

Make that 4. I ate a bowl cabbage soup, a lettuce salad, and about 4 ounces of cheese yesterday, yet still gained weight. WTF? It's like my body is going into hibernation mode, yet I am still awake.

Folks have wondered when modern would end as it has now lasted like 27, 28 or more years.. Well, with comic publishing taking a break for a bit it seems like we're here. So what's the next age? Postcovid? PostDiamind?

Binged both seasons. Liked it.

We like it so far after 3 episodes!

Why do you assume this isn't a regular part of his life?

Grocery store is deemed essential. Can't stop people from getting food. But yeah, here in New York half the spread probably happened in mid March when folks were panic buying in supermarkets and on top of each other.

The dallas shelter in place order would seem to preclude the workers from coming in for this non-essential business. They can work from home, but most of what mycs does will not be doable from home. What happened in dallas seems weird. A judge apparently issued the order, but the article didn't say who asked him to (the mayor, etc.)

It is pretty chilly and wet out now. I don't want to get a cold right now and not know whether I am sick with a plain old cold or the corona. As it is I have a chronic cough since 2001 or thereabouts. I am also supposed to be working at home 8 hours a day. If I am not there to answer e-mails right away I can get in trouble. So I am kind of stuck in my house during most of the day. And at the same time I have to home school 2 kids (ok, I have basically given up on the teenager, I still have hope for the 3rd grader).

Their vintage toilet paper, canned food, and gun departments will remain open, however

My comic shop may be 5% of the online vintage comics market, so pretty relevant

But honestly I find it unsurprising that diamond does not have more than 1-3 weeks of cash in the bank for an emergency. As a society we don't save for a rainy day. What's in it for a business? .3% interest? When a money market made 4-5% there was a reason to have some cash handy.

I have managed to not gain 20 pounds during quarantine? Only 2 or 3.

Because they probably need to devote their cash to bills they have less leverage over?

I guess lawn care guys are "essential?" Our's showed up today. We were kind of hoping we'd get a $ break this month, but I guess they have their "spring" whatever scheduled.

This will be a great time to get my store inventory listings up as I have been really lazy lately. Won't need to spend any ebay time packing and shipping...

Bookery has 10+ employees and he has been a good boss and hasn't fired them. Frankly, I wish you did have some online stuff, I might be buying it.

I don't think many people think it is enough for a typical shop to make up all the lost income, but $300 or whatever a week is better than nothing if you can gear up, are a small shop, etc.. Maybe it isn't though, I don't know how the aid to small businesses will work. I still don't understand why some shops don't have any real on line presence. You've given perfectly legitimate reasons why you don't, they're the same reasons I don't have thousands of listings up while having a 30,000 or so book collection -- I am exhausted and busy with my other responsibilities -- but I also think you're someone who has done what you've been doing a long time and haven't felt a need to adapt because whatever it is worked (just like I, for the time being, can pay my bills without working ebay 20-30 hours a week). I walk into a lot of shops and the owners don't seem to be working all that hard or efficiently (or having their employees do the same). As for a flood of inventory...a decent # of people on these boards have more legitimate back issue stock than 90% of the stores out there, myself included. My comic room would probably be in the top 5-10 inventory wise among NYC comic shops (which is not saying much, I admit).

I appreciate the huge number of free listings being offered, but is anyone really buying?

Something will reopen there if there is a market. It's not like these places don't change hands. When this is over I don't think people will stop eating out. And maybe some good will come of it in terms of paid sick leave, etc. Were the owners of retirement age? I think this is going to get a lot of 60somethings who had held off collecting social security (or who had been collecting and still working) to say "F-it" and retire if they were on the fence already.

But I will toss out an unexpected answer: May 1999 - April 2000 Every shop that existed in 1999-2000 that had any kind of reliable distribution was printing money with Pokemon. ------------------------------ That is exactly when my local shop went under. He sold pokeman, etc...pushed it plenty. Was 2 blocks from an elementary school and middle school in an affluent area. But it was not enough with everything else krapping out.