Profiting during a pandemic ... what then?

[sharon sanders]

Re: Profiting during a pandemic ... what then?

Since H5N1 has an affinity for the working age groups and younger, there will be an extreme shortage of labor.

Any businesses that can obtain and then provide labor will be a "winner". This might be a Nursing Staffing Company, for instance.

The trick would be to establish those contacts now, including how to legally bring in foreign workers to fill the gap.

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Making money after the pandemic

StL Bill has a point, companies that benefit from the disposable income of the middle class will be hit the hardest in and after a pandemic. Even if the rich upper class have there wealth cut in half it shouldn't disturb their buying habits. Poor people already have no disposable income and have to concentrate on buying basic necessities.

The middle class will have to adjust their spending patterns, especially if one of the family breadwinners has lost their job. Spending will be cut back to basic necessities, and the spending patterns of the middle class will probably mirror those of the poorer classes.

No new SUVs, TVs, DVD players, etc. I think that repair services will be a hot sector after the pandemic. We will no longer have a throw-away mentality. Repairing vehicles, bicycles, washing machines, etc. will be big business. And certainly trained plumbers and electricians will be able to make a fortune repairing things.

I love ALL your points!

Spending would probably be on necessities and the lack of throw-away items would spur basic repair enterprises & skill-demands. (note to myself - learn how to repair everything)

Those with some wealth may find their sought-after goods simply unavailable, either due to lack of materials or low demand shutting down the enterprise.

If communities can plan now to activate at least a scaled down version (aka cottage industry) of basic necessity enterprises, they may be in a better position in the future. Then they need to SUPPORT those enterprises now. That might entail NOT allowing subdivisons or retail on good farm land close to population centers, etc.

Regarding TP - how much of that paper pulp comes from the US? Do we have sufficient capacity of materials and processing to be self-sufficient in TP? What are the alternatives? .......ditto for other necessities.

We may measure time in terms of when the TP (or coffee, or chocolate, or plastic sacks, or auto parts, or soap ) ran out and how many months/years passed before they reappeared. Even though I can make soap, I still need the oils and lye.

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[Mellie]

Re: Profiting during a pandemic ... what then?

AD,

I got the soapmaking skills honed again in January with necessity in mind.

Yeah on the lye. I looked for it EVERYWHERE. In the "olden days" when we had summercamp you could buy a whole 25# sack to use either to toss a scooper down the outhouse hole or to make soap with. The kids loved soapmaking...

Well I looked and looked for lye. No luck. Finally I asked an old friend who owns a hardware store. He said that lye is an ingredient in some cooked drug like methemphetamine. As a result, it's not so available.

You can't buy lye in large quantities any more for soap or cleaning your drains or anything. Hardware stores mow have to keep track of people who buy more than a pound or two... and it's only sold in small quantities.

I recall making soap with ashes from the fire pit too. It worked pretty well.

Sudafed (or the costco alternative generic antihistamine) is another ingredient of meth. I got some of that in case it helps with cytokine storm.

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Profiting during a pandemic ... what then?

I understand the lye problem. When my premix soap base runs out & I start doing cold process, my son will special order me some lye - he manages a hardware store. They need to ship it with their "dangerous" stuff.

Sometimes I think the biggest "danger" is that cottage industries are cutting into profits of the bigger businesses.

I've been trying to find large bottles of shampoo - I'm about ready to order a gallon+ of the base for shampoo making. Then I can make a really good shampoo & have large quantities.
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