(Topic ID: 264119)

The “temporarily closed or worried about having to close my arcade” thread

By pookycade

4 years ago


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    #401 4 years ago
    Quoted from pookycade:

    Ordered t-shirt. If I have to be closed I might as well take the time to get a bunch of t-shirts from around the country

    Tyvm!

    11
    #402 4 years ago

    I've been giving this a lot of thought since my ten day closure got extended by five weeks yesterday.

    First is no income during this time. I don't really want to sell a game currently in use on the floor. The last decade has been spent increasing the number of games after the last bad time when the total number of games was in decline.

    So since the Bill Paxton pin died. The CPU needs to be reprogrammed, which I have the files and don't know how to do. It needs a computer nerd. And once running again I'm not sure I want to run it commercially anymore. I have thought of selling Bill as is.

    And since I don't have gift cards to sell. I did get to thinking there is a way to send donations to my email address via Paypal. I could ask local customers to contribute. And easy to track who and how much. Then when I open again. When they come in. I could give them the money back so they could play games or shoot pool.

    This could help me two fold. Short term help. And also help rebuild my customer base. Get my customers used to coming here again after such a long time.

    I remember when the refresh went almost three weeks instead of one week. It took awhile to bounce back.

    I've got a lot to think on right now.

    LTG : )

    10
    #403 4 years ago

    Lloyd, here's the question: How can I get customers to spend money with me TODAY?

    Here's some thoughts, take what you want (and everyone else reading this). I would NOT "pass the hat". You have an awesome business worth supporting in a meaningful way:

    Support SS Billiards today with these great packages:

    "Grand Champion" Package - $1000
    Name listed as "Grand Champion" on membership wall
    Includes private party during following year of re-opening
    SS Billiards t-shirt (when available)
    "I was a Grand Champion at SS Billiards and all I got was this mug" mug
    Certificate of Appreciation
    acknowledgement on ssbilliards.com
    1 hour early admission on request
    $2000 of game credits redeemable within 1 year.

    "Wizard Mode" Package - $500
    Name listed as "Wizard Mode" on membership wall
    SS Billiards t-shirt (when available)
    "I'm a Wizard at SS Billiards and all I got was this mug" mug
    Certificate of Appreciation
    acknowledgement on ssbilliards.com
    $1000 of game credits redeemable within 1 year.

    "High Score" Package - $250
    SS Billiards t-shirt (when available)
    Certificate of Appreciation
    acknowledgement on ssbilliards.com
    $500 of game credits redeemable within 1 year.

    "Jackpot" Package - $100
    acknowledgement on ssbilliards.com
    $150 of game credits redeemable within 1 year.

    -1
    #404 4 years ago
    Quoted from frolic:

    $2000 of game credits redeemable within 1 year.

    I can tell in that post you put some really good thought into that draft and there are many ideas I like about.

    But I feel bad for whoever (presumably LTG) has to keep track of the above. I just can't imagine him running around his business with a wheelbarrow of quarters and notepad deducting peoples tabs.

    #405 4 years ago
    Quoted from frolic:

    Here's some thoughts,

    I sincerely appreciate your input.

    I am mindful that about seven years ago a lot of people stepped up and contributed to the refresh Kris ran for my business.

    I'm trying to avoid going to the well again so to speak. The 2nd year of Pintastic when guys wanted to raise money to send me there. Unbeknownst to me. Sure enough I caught some crap for begging for money again.

    I do have a rough month or so to deal with. That is why I was thinking similar to the gift card idea that places are using. If people donated. When they came back in I could return their money for them to play games.

    Or sell a game.

    LTG : )

    #406 4 years ago
    Quoted from EJS:

    But I feel bad for whoever (presumably LTG) has to keep track of the above. I just can't imagine him running around his business with a wheelbarrow of quarters and notepad deducting peoples tabs.

    That brought back memories. My 30th Anniversary and Goose Party. I had friends helping. They get a box of quarters rounded up and they'd have sold them before they got back to the counter with them.

    LTG : )

    #407 4 years ago
    Quoted from EJS:

    I can tell in that post you put some really good thought into that draft and there are many ideas I like about.
    But I feel bad for whoever (presumably LTG) has to keep track of the above. I just can't imagine him running around his business with a wheelbarrow of quarters and notepad deducting peoples tabs.

    It's a brain storm, not meant to be scripture. Take the good ideas.

    #408 4 years ago
    Quoted from LTG:

    I sincerely appreciate your input.
    I am mindful that about seven years ago a lot of people stepped up and contributed to the refresh Kris ran for my business.
    I'm trying to avoid going to the well again so to speak. The 2nd year of Pintastic when guys wanted to raise money to send me there. Unbeknownst to me. Sure enough I caught some crap for begging for money again.
    I do have a rough month or so to deal with. That is why I was thinking similar to the gift card idea that places are using. If people donated. When they came back in I could return their money for them to play games.
    Or sell a game.
    LTG : )

    Lloyd, I hear your discomfort. That's why my packages aren't charity. They are preselling value. Whether or not all the tokens get redeemed or not, doesn't matter. You have a real business and you are offering real packages.

    I'd say this is different that a gofundme or anything like it. It's an answer to the question of how to get customers to spend money with me today. A pure value transaction.

    #409 4 years ago
    Quoted from LTG:

    That brought back memories. My 30th Anniversary and Goose Party. I had friends helping. They get a box of quarters rounded up and they'd have sold them before they got back to the counter with them.
    LTG : )

    Well, WHEN that time comes around again hopefully I'll have the strength to unload two boxes at once for ya.

    #410 4 years ago

    and I don't expect many $1000 packages to sell, but if you start there the other stuff looks like a steal. Better than collecting $20 at a time.

    #411 4 years ago
    Quoted from frolic:

    and I don't expect many $1000 packages to sell, but if you start there the other stuff looks like a steal. Better than collecting $20 at a time.

    You never know. For those of us who don't play pinball very well it's our one and only shot at being the Grand Champion

    #412 4 years ago
    Quoted from EJS:

    You never know. For those of us who don't play pinball very well it's our one and only shot at being the Grand Champion

    For sure. In my opinion these packages should be offered year-round.

    #413 4 years ago

    These are all great ideas. Like you said use what is applicable to the situation you find yourself in. I appreciate the effort and the contributions to this thread. They have been helpful in a time that I never thought I'd see.

    Cheers!

    -21
    #414 4 years ago

    It's going to be up to the individual governors who gets to turn on and who is "locked down". I'm expecting Easter Sunday will end the Montana quarantine measures. Schools probably stay closed and zoom makes a fortune. Testing for anti-bodies will tell the tale. But testing for the virus doesn't do jack at this time.

    A bigger question to me is how you all can be terrorized or comforted by the lies spewed by confirmed liars? I mean the politicians, AMA, CDC, WHO, China, Italy, Iran et al as reported by the clearly biased media. There is a lot of nonsense and misleading going on from those y'all seem to trust much more than your own instinct. Does anyone know someone 1st hand who has succumbed that wasn't high risk? I'm waiting to sadly hear some anecdotals from personal contacts before I'm believing into the hype. Some states will be back rolling by Mid april and if everything is still stopped come June, we'll have greater social problems to contend with than a dry cough with a low-grade fever.

    15
    #415 4 years ago
    Quoted from SadSack:

    It's going to be up to the individual governors who gets to turn on and who is "locked down". I'm expecting Easter Sunday will end the Montana quarantine measures. Schools probably stay closed and zoom makes a fortune. Testing for anti-bodies will tell the tale. But testing for the virus doesn't do jack at this time.
    A bigger question to me is how you all can be terrorized or comforted by the lies spewed by confirmed liars? I mean the politicians, AMA, CDC, WHO, China, Italy, Iran et al as reported by the clearly biased media. There is a lot of nonsense and misleading going on from those y'all seem to trust much more than your own instinct. Does anyone know someone 1st hand who has succumbed that wasn't high risk? I'm waiting to sadly hear some anecdotals from personal contacts before I'm believing into the hype. Some states will be back rolling by Mid april and if everything is still stopped come June, we'll have greater social problems to contend with than a dry cough with a low-grade fever.

    I don't personally know anyone who died from the plague, polio, WWII, in a school shooting, or chicago downtown last week...or the holocaust either, but I'm pretty sure those were bad.

    -4
    #416 4 years ago
    Quoted from Zablon:

    I don't personally know anyone who died from the plague, polio, WWII, in a school shooting, or chicago downtown last week...or the holocaust either, but I'm pretty sure those were bad.

    It just so happens my MIL was a Polish Holocaust survivor. So I know the myths behind that spell, too. I also know people crippled by polio and quite a few guys that were in both theaters of WWII. There were and are lots of spells about those events, too.

    #417 4 years ago
    Quoted from frolic:

    Lloyd, here's the question: How can I get customers to spend money with me TODAY?
    Here's some thoughts, take what you want (and everyone else reading this). I would NOT "pass the hat". You have an awesome business worth supporting in a meaningful way:
    Support SS Billiards today with these great packages:

    "Grand Champion" Package - $1000
    Name listed as "Grand Champion" on membership wall
    Includes private party during following year of re-opening
    SS Billiards t-shirt (when available)
    "I was a Grand Champion at SS Billiards and all I got was this mug" mug
    Certificate of Appreciation
    acknowledgement on ssbilliards.com
    1 hour early admission on request
    $2000 of game credits redeemable within 1 year.

    "Wizard Mode" Package - $500
    Name listed as "Wizard Mode" on membership wall
    SS Billiards t-shirt (when available)
    "I'm a Wizard at SS Billiards and all I got was this mug" mug
    Certificate of Appreciation
    acknowledgement on ssbilliards.com
    $1000 of game credits redeemable within 1 year.

    "High Score" Package - $250
    SS Billiards t-shirt (when available)
    Certificate of Appreciation
    acknowledgement on ssbilliards.com
    $500 of game credits redeemable within 1 year.

    "Jackpot" Package - $100
    acknowledgement on ssbilliards.com
    $150 of game credits redeemable within 1 year.

    I’d be in for a package, as I’m sure many more would be, LTG has donated a lot of his time to helping many, and it’s ok to let the community give back, that is in essence what a community is.

    #418 4 years ago
    Quoted from SadSack:

    lies spewed by confirmed liars? I mean the politicians, AMA, CDC, WHO, China, Italy, Iran et al as reported by the clearly biased media.

    Wow, take off the tinfoil hat and stop reading Breitbart News.

    #419 4 years ago
    Quoted from Jaybird815:

    I’d be in for a package, as I’m sure many more would be, LTG has donated a lot of his time to helping many, and it’s ok to let the community give back, that is in essence what a community is.

    Thank you for the kind words.

    I sold a game. Crisis averted as long as I reopen May 1st.

    Thank you all !
    LTG : )

    #420 4 years ago
    Quoted from LTG:

    Thank you for the kind words.
    I sold a game. Crisis averted as long as I reopen May 1st.
    Thank you all !
    LTG : )

    Great to hear, LTG, stay safe.

    11
    #421 4 years ago
    Quoted from SadSack:

    Does anyone know someone 1st hand who has succumbed that wasn't high risk? I'm waiting to sadly hear some anecdotals from personal contacts before I'm believing into the hype.

    High-risk people succumbing to corona may indeed be the the least of your worries. What should worry you is that in hospitals the influx of intensive care corona patients is getting to the level where it takes away healthcare capacity for other ailments.

    Simply put, if you crash your car into a tree tonight there may not be an intensive care bed available for you, so you'll be left to die. This is why stopping the spread of corona by all reasonable means is everyones, including your, responsibility.

    #422 4 years ago

    More people are asking for gift certificates to use when I reopen. I will make them available. But please intend to use them. PM me for info.

    LTG : )

    #423 4 years ago
    Quoted from LTG:

    More people are asking for gift certificates to use when I reopen. I will make them available. But please intend to use them. PM me for info.
    LTG : )

    PM sent. I am not sending you a Charity we are sending you Thanks for all you contribute in kind to so many. Let’s face it, you work for and support Most All of the game companies we enjoy without a salary. Most don’t know that I suspect. You contribute from your heart and love of this hobby your parents addicted you to lol. Call it a membership, a future mug, or simply a smile owed We appreciate you and that’s all you need to know if people want to help. We Love You.
    Dave and Darcy

    #424 4 years ago

    To be respectful of #LTG I won’t post his PayPal address but if anyone else sees his contributions to this hobby over 40 years as a value and would like to help PM me and I will gladly provide his info. I honestly can’t think of a more valuable contributor or supporter to this hobby. And an amazing person to boot which is Rare to say the least in this hobby. Again, He is not asking for Anything from us as he never does. Just pointing out one of the few unsung hero’s of our little hobby world.

    #425 4 years ago

    This idea is probably half baked, so bear with me. Is it not possible to open an arcade for a single family to enjoy for an hour ? As long as not under stay in place order, and assuming one can wipe down machines, you would think a single family could come enjoy the place for a small period of time. Not trying to be hypocritical here, but it’s hard to see how this is much different than the entire family hanging out at home looking at cell phones and whatnot. I think they key question is could it be done without putting the operator at risk or the family at risk. Can one actually disinfect all surfaces between families. I’m not about to go do it, but I thought I’d toss this trial balloon up for discussion. Just seeing if there is anyway besides gift cards, go fund me, and bail out loan to ease operators pain.

    #426 4 years ago
    Quoted from SonicZone:

    Bob Elson's Retrovolt Arcade (Calimesa, Calif.) has just announced they're shutting down for awhile...
    https://www.facebook.com/Retrovoltarcade/posts/1294465570942471
    https://retrovoltarcade.com

    Shutting down was difficult but the right thing to do. Turns out an order from the county came about 6 hours after we announced we were shutting down anyway.

    We'd just signed a new 5 year lease and expanded into the unit next door to us about 2 months before all of this started - how's that for great timing?

    Since the shut down I've continued to work on fitting out the new space and been doing maintenance etc. It's been very weird going in every day not knowing for sure when this will end, or if we will be around to open up when it does. I've got somewhat of a safety net but it's not endless and I have no idea if or how this new package the gov just passed will actually help us or not.

    The contractor I was working with left (understandably) to go to Florida to look after his elderly parents about 2 weeks ago, so we are doing what we can on the construction side without him. Crazy times for all of us I guess. As of today I'm still getting calls asking "are you open?" from customers. I have a feeling that if we can ride this out, that the customers will come back - just when and how quickly is anybodies guess.

    Thanks for the PM's / texts from those on here offering support, it's very much appreciated. Let's see what the future brings. Until then, stay safe, wash your hands and be excellent to one another.

    Bob
    Retrovolt Arcade
    closed (resized).pngclosed (resized).png

    #427 4 years ago
    Quoted from pookycade:

    Is it not possible to open an arcade for a single family to enjoy for an hour ?

    No. Too great a risk. In Minnesota goes against the shut down. No idea what the penalty might be.

    And, someone in that family contracts the virus and they trace it back to your arcade, that was supposed to be closed. No idea of penalty, but I would bank on lawsuits flying.

    LTG : )

    #428 4 years ago
    Quoted from Minigedge:

    Shutting down was difficult but the right thing to do. Turns out an order from the county came about 6 hours after we announced we were shutting down anyway.
    We'd just signed a new 5 year lease and expanded into the unit next door to us about 2 months before all of this started - how's that for great timing?
    Since the shut down I've continued to work on fitting out the new space and been doing maintenance etc. It's been very weird going in every day not knowing for sure when this will end, or if we will be around to open up when it does. I've got somewhat of a safety net but it's not endless and I have no idea if or how this new package the gov just passed will actually help us or not.
    The contractor I was working with left (understandably) to go to Florida to look after his elderly parents about 2 weeks ago, so we are doing what we can on the construction side without him. Crazy times for all of us I guess. As of today I'm still getting calls asking "are you open?" from customers. I have a feeling that if we can ride this out, that the customers will come back - just when and how quickly is anybodies guess.
    Thanks for the PM's / texts from those on here offering support, it's very much appreciated. Let's see what the future brings. Until then, stay safe, wash your hands and be excellent to one another.
    Bob
    Retrovolt Arcade
    [quoted image]

    That looks awesome. Sure it will be waiting for willing patrons when we can all open again.

    #429 4 years ago
    Quoted from LTG:

    No. Too great a risk. In Minnesota goes against the shut down. No idea what the penalty might be.
    And, someone in that family contracts the virus and they trace it back to your arcade, that was supposed to be closed. No idea of penalty, but I would bank on lawsuits flying.
    LTG : )

    I don’t disagree with you at all. And for sure I’m not proposing doing something that flat out violates some state decree. But just thinking there has to be a middle ground between 0 and 100%. Perhaps there just isn’t

    #430 4 years ago
    Quoted from pookycade:

    Is it not possible to open an arcade for a single family to enjoy for an hour ?

    I think this will be a good offer for when businesses are allowed to open but people are still afraid of coming out and the place is sitting empty.

    Private Party @ Arcade for $300

    We will close for 1 hour before your arrival to wipe down all machines, controllers, buttons, common surfaces. You and your family will then have private use of the entire arcade for 2 hours and not share it with anyone during your visit. Imagine the fun your whole family can experience out of the house!

    #431 4 years ago

    We decided to close the Ottawa Pinball Arcade along with our partners the Neighbourhood Pub on March 15th, despite the fact that we were prepared for an amazing week during March Break with an unlimited play event every day for the kids, and had just rented and fully renovated the adjoining unit to expand the Arcade and move our Pinball Medics store to the new shop area for game sales, parts sales, and repairs from a storefront retail location, something this city has never seen, and my lifelong dream. We had just finished moving in and things were going better than we could have ever hoped. Even if we had not chosen to close however, on March 17th all restaurants and bars were ordered closed, and this week all non-essential businesses were ordered shut.

    Despite all this being a huge drag, and financially beyond brutal for myself personally, for my customers (which will blow back on me), and for the Governments of the World (which will blow back on us all), My mind is occupied thinking about my elderly parents, who I can not visit, stuck in their house alone, and what would happen to them if they got sick, hurt themselves, or for any reason required any sort of medical attention. And as has been mentioned earlier, it's not just old people at risk. If any of my children need medical attention, they will be in the cue with the masses, with a medical system that has a 5 + hour wait on a good day, when they have healthy staff working their normal hours and PPE to go around, and an ICU available God forbid it be required.

    Yes, it will be tight, and I'm not sure how I will weather this storm for what sounds like at least 2-3 months if things go well and everyone does their part. Many businesses will not survive this. In fact many will personally not survive this financially intact, whether employer or employee. Entire economies are being devastated. And any investments that may have been cashed in to bridge the chasm have been devalued beyond logically selling at this point. But I keep hearing what my Dad has told me since I was a money hungry kid and throughout my career. Money is worth nothing if you don't have your health. And the reality is, there are not that many who can afford a personal wing of ICU's equipped with ventilators with attendant Doctors and Nurses for their entire family and everyone they love. I am imagining most hospitals in the middle of this resemble a field hospital on the front lines while the Blitzkrieg raged and the bodies stank than any scene from Grey's Anatomy. All the money in the world will do you no good. The stories and numbers of deaths in Italy combined with the scenes from NYC with the reefer units chilling tents to keep the bodies cool and the sound clips of the ER staff describing the scene are burned into my psyche. And that show is on the road and coming to a town near you if we don't get a handle on this.

    I truly feel terrible for all who are suffering financially (myself included), but feel much worse for those watching their loved ones die because they just don't have the resources to save them. And while I would not categorize this as "short term" pain (it is in fact somewhat long term feeling to me from what I predict), it's better than the permanent pain this will inflict if we don't get on top of this as soon as possible.

    All the efforts being discussed to help keep these arcades going are great, it really would be a horrible loss for these locations that have been popping up all over North America, allowing us to play Pinball in the wild like when we were young and got into this "hobby" before it was a hobby in the first place, and as with any crisis that restricts the way we live, work, and play, new opportunities will present, and we will adjust.

    I for one hope all I stand to lose is my business. And if I do, I'll build it again, in the company of everyone I love.

    #432 4 years ago
    Quoted from frolic:

    I think this will be a good offer for when businesses are allowed to open but people are still afraid of coming out and the place is sitting empty.

    It's going to be hard to rebuild a business. This is a good idea to get your players back in.

    LTG : )

    #433 4 years ago

    Just posted this on my arcade’s Facebook

    Everyone is paying attention to deaths from Coronavirus. I am not. What I am paying most attention to is the number of hospitalizations. 15% of all patients need to be hospitalized. Even that number in of itself doesn’t matter. What matters is if we have a bed for you. When you have a heart attack, stroke, fall, flu, appendicitis, or even bad coronavirus you expect there to be a hospital bed waiting to take care of you. If too many people get too sick too fast with coronavirus there won’t be. That’s truly what I worry about. That’s what actually matters. And that is why our hospital sits half empty having cancelled non urgent surgeries and cancelled routine followup appointments. We wait for the tsunami we see elsewhere. I am not a smart enough person to be able to weigh this against you going broke, not being able to pay the mortgage, not being able to see your friends. Those have real costs, both to your health and pocketbook. The arcade is hemorrhaging money, the hospital is hemorrhaging money, all of you are hemorrhaging money. But trying to listen to every smart person I can who tries to weigh all these numbers, the least amount of damage in total is likely done by people staying indoors isolated for now until the peak passes. It’s a real pain, but it keeps our hospital beds open for you when you absolutely need them. Viruses are apolitical. Our goal in combatting it is the same regardless of beliefs: stay sane, emotionally get thru this, don’t go totally broke, don’t be irreparably harmed by this virus, trying to get back to normal life as soon as possible.

    #434 4 years ago

    I am sure most of you have already talked to your accountants or other local small businesses to get options. The option I have seen others take is selling off games. Great option, liquid assets, no debt, but hard to recover those games if you dig yourself out.

    I would again strongly urge you all to apply for disaster relief from the Small Business Association. You may very well be eligible for low interest loans repayable over 30 years and for the short term per this new funding measure passed, grants that don’t need to be repaid to cover employee costs and mortgage. Took me about 2 hours to apply.

    Lastly, talk to your accountant about capital depreciation since taxes have been delayed. It’s like taking your Monopoly properties and mortgaging them temporarily to gain cash. Due to new quirks in the laws we were able depreciate most of our games and gain needed cash. It was going to be used to reinvest into the business but for now it’s sustaining us. The only requirement is that when you sell the game for $X, and say you have previously depreciated it to $0 then your are taxed on the full $X.

    Sorry don’t mean to be pedantic. Most of you have been doing this way longer than me. So perhaps you will tell me a thing or two. For those that don’t know or weren’t aware I hope this is helpful. I want us all to stay alive and not have to firesale games. Unfortunately there isn’t a Grubhub for pinball.

    #435 4 years ago
    Quoted from pookycade:

    15% of all patients need to be hospitalized.

    To be clear, are you considering every case to be a patient or only those that go to a medical professional?

    #436 4 years ago

    I have no worries now. A guy that won $150 million in the Powerball wants to send me $2 million.

    All he needs is my info.

    I'm on easy street now. Swimming pools, movie stars.

    LTG : )
    Disclaimer : I know it's a scam. But a new twist. Made me laugh. I'm still smiling when I think of it.

    #437 4 years ago
    Quoted from YeOldPinPlayer:

    To be clear, are you considering every case to be a patient or only those that go to a medical professional?

    No I am basing 15% entirely on those patients which have tested positive. Given the limited tests we know there are more positive than that so the 15% is a high estimate. How high ? Nobody knows. But one can use NYC and Italy as some metric as to the actual number of patients needing hospitalization per capita. Right now it’s too many. If you read many of the reports from there there are many patients that would normally be hospitalized told to stay home because they aren’t bad enough yet. This is eventually going to move to lower density towns in about 1-2mos. My town we can hopefully handle it since usually a town of 45000 people doesn’t have a 500 bed hospital right there. Of course if patients are shipped in from elsewhere that might be an issue. Many smaller communities have seen their local hospitals close, or have say 50 beds for a population of 50000 because that was the only viable economic model. They really risk being overwhelmed here. I do recognize we have branded this politically into those who say stay home (mostly Democrats in larger cities) and those who say we are going bankrupt if we stay closed much longer (mostly republicans in smaller cities). I won’t say who is right here. I will say that the evidence weighs more heavily in favor of the Democratic approach if you want to get thru this the fastest and get back to business. But that can’t be proved beyond doubt. Think of it this way, if we could all stay 6 feet apart from one another for 14 days in the entire country this would all be over with immediately. Wishful thinking and not pragmatic but it is the general approach that allowed Wuhan to shut down the virus, prevent it from seeding other Provences and let them get back to full operation in 3 months time. As Americans with our individualism and peicemeal approach here we just aren’t going to be amenable to that kind of draconian solution unless it gets really really bad. It’s who we are and there are many many good things that allows. But containing an apolitical virus is not one best served by that approach.

    #438 4 years ago
    Quoted from pookycade:

    Sorry don’t mean to be pedantic. Most of you have been doing this way longer than me.

    New ideas are always good, especially when every established rule is going out the window. Everyone here is an adult and can do what is right for their business, but I'd share the ideas ESPECIALLY when they are not the established ones.

    #439 4 years ago
    Quoted from frolic:

    but I'd share the ideas ESPECIALLY when they are not the established ones.

    Right you are.

    What works for one, may not work for others. Or vice versa.

    And what may not work today, may work tomorrow.

    Much of this is uncharted territory. And the rules are continually changing.

    For me I went from closed for 10 days, before that was over increased to almost 7 weeks. And don't know if that will be increased.

    This added more thinking to my plan. Get by. Okay now can't get by. Okay after that long, how to get customers back ?

    LTG : )

    #440 4 years ago
    Quoted from LTG:

    I went from closed for 10 days, before that was over increased to almost 7 weeks. And don't know if that will be increased.

    I’ll be surprised if it’s less than a year before bars and restaurants are allowed to open again.

    #442 3 years ago

    I just read about a 5 minute covid-19 test that was approved by FDA last night. It's stuff like that that will get us out of this. There won't be a return to normalcy while there's an invisible menace walking amongst us.

    #443 3 years ago
    Quoted from frolic:

    I just read about a 5 minute covid-19 test that was approved by FDA last night. It's stuff like that that will get us out of this. There won't be a return to normalcy while there's an invisible menace walking amongst us.

    I fully agree with you on this. The ability to quickly separate out infected versus non infected is the key to shutting this down. It is the grasping in the dark with an invisible enemy that prevents any of us from venturing outdoors. And for those still open and having a job puts them at risk. The person working cashier at Kroger’s is at even more risk than I am seeing patients. Right now in my town due to limited availability we are still only selectively testing COVID suspects at the hospital. We use the term now “presumptive positive” rather than test. Our tests are still in the 24-48 hour range. This will be a welcome addition for everyone, the equivalent if you will of a rapid flu test.

    #444 3 years ago

    Disaster Loan form has been much more streamlined. You will be eligible for a $10K emergency grant that does not need to be paid back even if they determine you are not eligible for a larger loan. Takes about 15 minutes to fill this in.

    https://covid19relief.sba.gov/

    #445 3 years ago

    Was posted on 2N Jenn.

    F297B455-FABD-4B8A-A82C-769FF80B2E1F (resized).jpegF297B455-FABD-4B8A-A82C-769FF80B2E1F (resized).jpeg
    #446 3 years ago
    Quoted from pookycade:

    Was posted on 2N Jenn.[quoted image]

    some states have on line lotto.

    NOW WILL NJ use to say why you can't ever pump your own gas.

    #447 3 years ago
    Quoted from pookycade:

    I am sure most of you have already talked to your accountants or other local small businesses to get options. The option I have seen others take is selling off games. Great option, liquid assets, no debt, but hard to recover those games if you dig yourself out.

    Here in Texas the TWC (texas workforce commission) is allowing unemployment claims to go out without it affecting the companies rates. Not sure if its nation wide or not. We told all of our employees to file, pretty sure as an owner you can file as well since your still on the payroll.

    If your a sole proprietor or even an LLC, probably the best solution would be like you said, to get an SBA loan. Even if you don't need it right now, there is no telling how long this is going to last. It's first come first serve, so if you haven't done it already try to get it done soon. Best case - you don't use it and pay the loan back. Worst case - your have a loan, but at least you still have a business to pay it back with.

    #448 3 years ago
    Quoted from hocuslocus:

    Here in Texas the TWC (texas workforce commission) is allowing unemployment claims to go out without it affecting the companies rates. Not sure if its nation wide or not. We told all of our employees to file, pretty sure as an owner you can file as well since your still on the payroll.
    If your a sole proprietor or even an LLC, probably the best solution would be like you said, to get an SBA loan. Even if you don't need it right now, there is no telling how long this is going to last. It's first come first serve, so if you haven't done it already try to get it done soon. Best case - you don't use it and pay the loan back. Worst case - your have a loan, but at least you still have a business to pay it back with.

    Agree with all of the above.

    And today we learned that the “how long are we going to be closed ?” extends per our governor until at least June 10th

    #449 3 years ago

    I've been officially closed for 2 weeks. Sold a few t shirts, and a couple of gift certificates. I've made great progress on the TZ I am restoring!

    We are still hoping for May 1st re-open. Stay safe everyone!

    #450 3 years ago

    So all arcades check with your lender (mine is BofA) for the Payroll Protection Program. Online application. It just opened yesterday. It will grant you 2.5X your monthly payroll. I just applied for $8K. Not a perfect solution but will tide you over and loan is forgiven if you spend it on keeping employees employed including yourselves

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