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Making the most of the situation.

ECLM
WCF

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I'm gonna watch topless darts from the 1990s on memory stick.  Its a lot more entertaining than listening to the dullards on the news spreading panic amongst those daft enough to listen.  What will be...will be.

 
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It's a nasty flu...it's not the end of human life as we know it...every winter 100,000s get a flu virus ...life goes on 

"Public Health England estimates that on average 17,000 people have died from the flu in England annually between 2014/15 and 2018/19" 

I imagine it will get sticky for a few weeks and then we'll come out the otherside...pick up the pieces and continue 

image.png

 
Part Timer said:
He has nothing to do with it, the Government are letting the "experts" decide any action to be taking. All they are doing is implementing their recommendations. 
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The problem with that is that our government do not really have any experts when it comes to Covid19. China and Italy do. Italian experts are telling us to shut down and our government is ignoring this based on their own so called "experts" - which have no expertise.

NoName said:
It's a nasty flu...it's not the end of human life as we know it...every winter 100,000s get a flu virus ...life goes on 

"Public Health England estimates that on average 17,000 people have died from the flu in England annually between 2014/15 and 2018/19" 

I imagine it will get sticky for a few weeks and then we'll come out the otherside...pick up the pieces and continue 
Click to expand...
The problem is that this is far more deadly than flu. Yes flu can kill but if you had the same number contaminated with flu as you do contaminated with Covid19, there will be far more deaths from Covid than there would be flu.

That is the real problem here. There is a reason why Italy has started telling us to close down. Flu they can cope with. Covid 19 they cannot and even some of the medics are becoming ill.

Oh and it spreads exponentially... you can be reasonably sure you're going to come into contact with it, so don't be so quick to dismiss the danger to yourself.

 
Agree Tango it could kill more that the flu...and will stick around for years probably forever now it's 'been created' - it's the vulnerable who need wrapping up in cotton wool - vast majority - will experience a nasty flu...

As per 'WHO' as of  now...

125,288 confirmed cases
4,614 deaths
118 Countires 

so I reckon that's a 3.7 mortality rate - unfortunately these are the most susceptible with pre-existing conditions

https://fullfact.org/health/coronavirus-compare-influenza/

"Mortality rates also appear to be higher for the new coronavirus, although the WHO does warn that the “true mortality of Covid-19 will take some time to fully understand”. Based on current data, the crude mortality rate (the number of reported deaths divided by the reported cases) is between 3-4%—although the actual rate, when including mild cases where people do not get diagnosed,   is likely to be lower. Globally, for seasonal influenza, the WHO estimates the mortality rate is usually below 0.1%"

However on the positive all the vunerable are on high alert and will probably stay isolated compared with normal years and flu 'sliently' rages and takes larger number of lives as a result - I would postulate - let's see what happens.

 
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Tango said:
The problem with that is that our government do not really have any experts when it comes to Covid19. China and Italy do. Italian experts are telling us to shut down and our government is ignoring this based on their own so called "experts" - which have no expertise.
Click to expand...
Supposedly we have some of the best viral specialists. Even if they're wrong you still can't blame the Government.

 
Martyn said:
This thing is going to do an awful lot of financial damage, we should prepare for a situation where some customers simply can't afford us any more.
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Yes, I think that is the realisation that I have and others should have now, some will firstly maybe not want us near their house others may lose hours at work and/or be unpaid or get ssp which is peanuts or lose their jobs, so we will either get asked to offer a different schedule, not call for a while or they will cancel all together, this could be like or worse of a financial impact than the last recession of 2008 which will effect us and our industry directly. 

 
Personally I absolutely believe this is being blown out of all proportion. It's not great, granted but lots of other bad stuff is happening, always has and always will. It's time to keep a level head, stay calm and not buy in to the panic and hysteria. 

10 have so far died sadly. And the number in the end will be much greater. It's going to pick off those older (and some other) ones struggling with their health. But keep it in perspective. 10 die every 48 hours on our roads. And a much greater number die each year from flu. 

Yes the financial markets are all over the place but you can literally bet your bottom dollar there are many out their profiting from this. It's going to disrupt life for a few weeks/months but then things will settle down. But it ain't exactly going to be WW1! In terms of disrupting our (window cleaners) businesses. Again stuff always happens. It's the nature of the world. Many things we simply cannot control. Whether it be interest rates, fuel, local competition or even areas where mass redundancies occur. There is almost an infinite amount of factors that make up our lives, businesses, etc that we simply can't control. And we should always be prepared because on top of that we can't predict the future with any great certainty. So, in my view, getting through life is largely to do with being able to adapt and be flexible. 

In the end the UK and global economy will march on. There's a never ending thirst for growth and those at the top of the pile driving that forward will ensure this is simply 'a blip'. We are consumers first and citizens second. The cash register must keep ringing, regardless. And debt, personal and national, will continue to mount up. 

I'm fairly cynical. Largely because there are plenty of reasons to be so! I don't believe this virus has been manufactured though. The way we (globally) live, breed, eat, travel, etc this kind of thing is inevitable and will be more regularly going forward. However I do believe there will be plenty of change going forward and those changes will be permanent once this has run its course. There will be an unbelievable amount of stuff pushed through by governments and big business that we simply won't notice right now. And we'll sit back and accept it because we're crapping ourselves! We will have less control of our lives. The state will end up with even more power. Bags of regulations, new laws, legislation is coming our way. Our personal lives will become that little less private. And we'll be model consumers driven by (more) fear.

So my advice, for what it's worth! Keep your head and ensure your house is in order. Stuff like this, like it or not, provides opportunities. Recessions in particular provide many more opportunities than when the economy is steadily growing. It also provides a different opportunity to evaluate what you're doing. So in our case take a look at your costs, any debt, customer service, customer base, business model, etc, etc. 

And finally. Be thankful (particularly if you're a 1 man band or very small concern) of the industry you find yourself in. We go under the radar with so much. Within reason we can operate with so much more freedom and flexibility than if you were under the boot of an organization. We also largely work outside. And if people are smart you can earn an amazing amount cleaning windows. Presently I'm working 2 days a week and I have 2 little ones and a wife to support. My wife hasn't worked for 10 years! I'm not rich. I just haven't got loads of debt sat on the drive and I'm prepared to walk a few extra yards to bathroom rather than have an en suite! You also have the capacity to earn more money. Joe Bloggs generally doesn't have that option. 

Keep your cool. Take a real hard look at your business. Personally I don't see why decent honest hard working peeps need to worry. 

 
Andy Hill said:
Personally I absolutely believe this is being blown out of all proportion. It's not great, granted but lots of other bad stuff is happening, always has and always will. It's time to keep a level head, stay calm and not buy in to the panic and hysteria. 

10 have so far died sadly. And the number in the end will be much greater. It's going to pick off those older (and some other) ones struggling with their health. But keep it in perspective. 10 die every 48 hours on our roads. And a much greater number die each year from flu. 

Yes the financial markets are all over the place but you can literally bet your bottom dollar there are many out their profiting from this. It's going to disrupt life for a few weeks/months but then things will settle down. But it ain't exactly going to be WW1! In terms of disrupting our (window cleaners) businesses. Again stuff always happens. It's the nature of the world. Many things we simply cannot control. Whether it be interest rates, fuel, local competition or even areas where mass redundancies occur. There is almost an infinite amount of factors that make up our lives, businesses, etc that we simply can't control. And we should always be prepared because on top of that we can't predict the future with any great certainty. So, in my view, getting through life is largely to do with being able to adapt and be flexible. 

In the end the UK and global economy will march on. There's a never ending thirst for growth and those at the top of the pile driving that forward will ensure this is simply 'a blip'. We are consumers first and citizens second. The cash register must keep ringing, regardless. And debt, personal and national, will continue to mount up. 

I'm fairly cynical. Largely because there are plenty of reasons to be so! I don't believe this virus has been manufactured though. The way we (globally) live, breed, eat, travel, etc this kind of thing is inevitable and will be more regularly going forward. However I do believe there will be plenty of change going forward and those changes will be permanent once this has run its course. There will be an unbelievable amount of stuff pushed through by governments and big business that we simply won't notice right now. And we'll sit back and accept it because we're crapping ourselves! We will have less control of our lives. The state will end up with even more power. Bags of regulations, new laws, legislation is coming our way. Our personal lives will become that little less private. And we'll be model consumers driven by (more) fear.

So my advice, for what it's worth! Keep your head and ensure your house is in order. Stuff like this, like it or not, provides opportunities. Recessions in particular provide many more opportunities than when the economy is steadily growing. It also provides a different opportunity to evaluate what you're doing. So in our case take a look at your costs, any debt, customer service, customer base, business model, etc, etc. 

And finally. Be thankful (particularly if you're a 1 man band or very small concern) of the industry you find yourself in. We go under the radar with so much. Within reason we can operate with so much more freedom and flexibility than if you were under the boot of an organization. We also largely work outside. And if people are smart you can earn an amazing amount cleaning windows. Presently I'm working 2 days a week and I have 2 little ones and a wife to support. My wife hasn't worked for 10 years! I'm not rich. I just haven't got loads of debt sat on the drive and I'm prepared to walk a few extra yards to bathroom rather than have an en suite! You also have the capacity to earn more money. Joe Bloggs generally doesn't have that option. 

Keep your cool. Take a real hard look at your business. Personally I don't see why decent honest hard working peeps need to worry. 
Click to expand...
Totally agree and there will be massive opportunity as people want to live cleaner lives after this.

will start a service of selling sanitiser!! to clean door handles

 
I shall go over this again in case people missed it coronavirus comes from animals, and every flu strain in last 20 years has come out of China. 

Forget about N.W.A Straight Outta Compton, this is Straight Outta China from Chinese with attitude with two big fingers saying Feck You , we will do what we want to do and cause the mass outbreak of another flu, Straight Outta China!!!  

 
I've just sent all my customers the following text

Hi it's Mike the window cleaner.
Due to the coronavirus outbreak, I will unfortunately no longer be taking cash payments until further notice.

I have made this decision so that contact between myself and other customers is kept to a minimum to help slow the spread and to try and protect some of my older more vulnerable customers.

Once I have cleaned your windows I will pass on my bank details so you can pay by bacs. 

This also means that I can continue to provide a service, even if you have to self isolate.

Sorry if this causes any inconvenience.

Thanks in advance
 

Everyone who's replied has said it's a great idea. So hopefully no more cash payments.

 
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