Discussions

One day soon we're going to look back at this essential/non-essential mumbo jumbo and be amazed at the stupidity of it all, I can walk down an isle in a store and buy this but not that, even though they are literally side by side but one is covered by the super high tech safety plastic lol  
 
I would really like to understand the reasoning of someone who honestly feels safer from all this essential/non-essenital nonsense ?  
 
Edited by hutchster, 2020-12-23 11:21:38

I don't know if anyone feels safer from it. Part of the reason behind essential and non-essential items was to help small businesses. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-non-essential-retail-rules-covid19-1.5809303

Maybe I'm dense but I fail to see how forcing businesses to restrict certain items helps small business compete ?  
 
If anything it might hurt small businesses more as they aren't set up with stock tracking websites and online ordering processes like the big box stores.

Small businesses can take orders over the phone even if they don't have a website  
 
Here's some more background on the topic https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/small-business-owners-covid-restrictions-1.5800242

It makes it more difficult for the big box stores to sell non essential items. Before, the small stores that sold only non essential items had to close completely, and could sell only by phone or on line. Meanwhile, the big box stores had customers coming in to buy essentials, and then they could just walk over and buy whatever non essentials they wanted. It was very easy to buy non essentials that way.  
 
Now with it being not quite so easy, some people will be more inclined to call a smaller store, since they can't just walk into the big store and pick an item off the shelf. Is it ideal for small business? No, but it is about as fair as it can be.

What exactly makes it more difficult for the big box store vs the small shop ?  
 
Big box stores have inventory management systems setup so customers can easily check stock online whereas small shops have to field phone calls all day checking stock before buying.  
 
Big box stores have many more employees making it easier to devote staff to curbside deliveries, small shops are now forced to either hire more people or spend all their time delivering to the curb and thats time spent not answering phones.  
 
I'm of the belief that this whole essential/non-essential system is nonsense, it was initially touted by the government to be all about our safety but I fail to see how it does anything besides cripple our economy.

We have all been coping and dealing with these restrictions for some time now so I don’t really see the problem. Many are making sacrifices right now for the benefit of everyone. It’s just part of the new reality.

I totally agree that this was the reasoning behind it, but I have to wonder if it did anything to reduce foot traffic at all. I myself have found myself in walmart even more than usual because Ive had to do curbside pickup all over the place whenever stores call and "while I'm in town I might as well grab...", whereas in March I did all my shopping at once when I went into Walmart or Canadian Tire or wherever. Traffic in Brandon certainly doesn't seem to be any lighter than any average December. I think the restrictions were well intentioned , I just wonder how much they've done to reduce transmission and/or visits to big box stores. I believe the closing of stores was never so much about the virus being transmitted there (its pretty commonly agreed that 15 mins of contact is needed to be considered a close contact) as it was about keeping people home and giving that locked down feeling of March. Go into town any day around 4-5 and you'll see that hasn't worked very well. It's a zoo. I thought it was school staying in but it's the same this week. It's interesting to note BC never closed stores but was one of the first provinces to prohibit social gatherings and they saw their lowest numbers since November 5th today.

thats exactly what closing aisles in big box stores does

I did not say that it makes it more difficult for the big store....it makes it that bit more difficult for the shopper to buy a non essential item from that big store.  
 
Some of the problem-those big stores were advertising black Friday sales and encouraging shoppers to come into the store to get great deals on non essential items. That was specifically stated by Dr. Roussin prior to the change in rules on November 20. It simply was not fair to shut down the small stores while allowing the big ones to keep selling everything to in person shoppers, especially when those big stores were offering incentives to get people into their stores. They leveled the playing field as best they can.  
 
Yes, stores have still been fairly busy, but I am certain they would be even more busy if the stricter rules had not been put in place.

The reality is, not that long ago, they didn't actually know where people were getting infected. The community transmission rate was around 50%, meaning a full 1/2 of cases had no known origin. A significant chunk of the "known" origins were household.  
 
So what do you do?  
 
They went for the lowest hanging fruit - retail, dining, etc, anywhere people congregated. They set restrictions at 25-50%, and allowed carry-out because again, it's about congregation. But then numbers kept going up. So they increased restrictions because again, they don't really know where it's coming from, and they need to go for the lowest hanging fruit.  
 
We were literally at the point (and still are, frankly), where really know where a lot of infections are coming from. But part of the point in a circuit breaker is to change people's patterns of movement and behaviour. This did a reasonable job of accomplishing that.  
 
Really, the only other big step they could have taken (other than literally ordering everyone to work from home, which they were already strongly suggesting where possible) was to shut down schools. But that has far greater economy-disrupting effects that the restrictions we have now.

Lets's just leave it there.