GENERAL MANAGER: Rick Shaver rshaver@seawaynews.media SALES DIRECTOR: Patrick Larose plarose@seawaynews.media EDITOR: Nick Seebruch nseebruch@seawaynews.media
501 Campbell Street, Unit 6, Cornwall, ON K6H 6X5 613-933-0014 WWW.CORNWALLSEAWAYNEWS.COM
Time to pivot
NICK SEEBRUCH
6 - Wednesday, April 22, 2020
- Seaway News - www.cornwallseawaynews.com
nicholas.seebruch@tc.tc
So many things are different now, and things are not going to go back to the way they were. This global pandemic is going to change things, permanently, for everyone. This upheaval has created a lot of hardship for a lot of people and businesses, but it also has created a lot of opportunity. While many are struggling, we are seeing new ideas crop up, and businesses continuing to operate, but in new ways. Local restaurants are a good example of this. Being unable to have an open dining area, restaurants like Lola’s, Edwards Bistro and Brunch on Pitt are instead offering curbside pick-up for their food. Social distancing is not just a public health practice, it is also a commodity, one that enterprising restaurants are eager to provide for their customers. When you order a pizza from Schnitzels for example, they will provide you with the best time to pick it up. When you arrive, you simply call the restaurant and give them the make and colour of your car, and they deliver the pizza and the debit machine to your window. Some restaurants have opted for a more nimble or unique menu during this crisis to make curbside pickup faster while still offering variety. These local restaurants realize that making the customer feel safe during this pandemic is a new service which they must provide. I think gives them a leg up on similar businesses who are not doing this. I can’t name all local restaurants here that are doing this, but I applaud all of them for their innovation. Many places have been closed because of COVID-19, but the ones that are able to continue to operate are able to do so through innovation or pivoting. The Finch Market, Cowan’s Dairy, and Truffles are all offering a similar service, frozen food boxes. Finch Market is offering a variety of meat in their Barnyard Boxes, which change from week to week. Cowan’s Dairy, are offering meat boxes, vegetable boxes, seafood boxes, and more. Truffles Burger Bar/ Table 21, in addition to offering meat and veggie boxes, also offer delivery along with the service. These are all great examples of entrepreneurs thinking about their business and their industry in a different way with all of different composition and price points, so they aren’t one size fits all. These changes have come out of necessity and from public demand, not just for their services, but for the desire to receive these services in a safe as possible way during the time of a pandemic. Grocery stores are an essential service during this pandemic, and the grocery shopping experience has definitely changed. Senior hours, plexiglass at cash registers, limiting the number of people in the store, are just some of the new measures that grocery stores are offering to provide their service to their customers in a safe way. A new service that I think more grocery stores could offer is grocery pick-up, or grocery delivery. I think this weekend’s discovery of a COVID-19 case in a local Food Basics shows that there is still more that can be done to social distance. Baxtrom’s Your Independent Grocer in Cornwall offers curb side pick-up for their clients, as does M&M Meat Shops. Baxtrom’s PC Express members have both curbside pick up and delivery options. Now might be the best time for grocery stores to pivot and see what a delivery service would really look like. If it is successful, they might even be able to use their cashiers to make the deliveries, if it leads to less people coming into the store. I think that the first grocery store to offer this service will really be able to corner the market on it. What do you think readers? Is it time for grocery stores to offer a delivery service? Would you use it? Email me a Letter to the Editor at nseebruch@seawaynews.media Go to www.cornwallseawaynews.com for the rest of this story PLUS additional SN coverage.
LETTERS
nseebruch@seawaynews.media
How much is a life worth Dear Editor I am 71 years old. I have had 3 heart attacks which caused only minor damage, but in the last attack my life was hanging on by a thread. I only lived through it because of brilliant and immediate medical care!! I am a Christian, and I know that my soul is so precious that Jesus willingly suffered an agonizing death on a cross to save it. I would never welcome pain but I am not afraid of death, because I know that death is not the end and I will not die alone. Jesus shall be with me. My life is priceless. There is no price which can buy a life or prolong a life. There may be a pill which costs a million dollars, but it cannot keep me from dying in my sleep tonight. A million compassionate Canadians may pay a great price to “bubble wrap” my residence, but they cannot guarantee my safety or theirs. Around 300,000 Canadians will die this year from all causes. My life is not worth one penny more than anyone else’s. I would never ask anyone to spend a million dollars to save my life when that money could save countless others, by providing intervention to meet the needs of many who are suicidal, homeless, awaiting radiation or chemotherapy, unemployed, etc. I would never want to be protected from possible sickness or death, by condemning so many others to die without any family or friends by their side. Such protection might save my life but it would be coldly calculating and cruel. I don’t want that to be my legacy. Roderick McRae Cornwall, Ontario
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Seaway News welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be no longer than 300 words and may be edited for clarity or length. Please send your letters by email to nseebruch@seawaynews.media or by mail to 501 Campbell Street, Unit 6, Cornwall, ON K6H 6X5. Please include your name, address and phone number.
