Stay Safe From The H1N1 Mexican Swine Flu: Preserving Business Financial Viability

Shift your business into home delivery. Your customers may not be able to come to you, make sure you can get your products to them. Stress that you strive to maintain a germ-free environment in your store or warehouse. Have your delivery personnel show up at their door in full respirator, etc. gear. That will be a huge selling point. Offer to deliver items that other merchants have available but won't deliver for a reasonable premium fee. Since you're stocking respirators in bulk, give one away with every order. Your customers will appreciate the gesture.

Ensure that your business has adequate back-up supplies, consumables and energy capability to keep your operations running in the event that the grid is unable to provide it. Don't worry too much about business insurance. Chances are your insurance company will go bankrupt by the time the pandemic is over. Don't leave your capital in your business account at your bank. Keep in mind that your bank might not be operating at all in a few months. You would be far better advised to transfer all your company's cash reserves into a solid commodity with a firm value that cannot depreciate over the run of the pandemic.

Go as far as burying boxes of gold bullion (or antiviral... which is likely to be more in demand) under your backyard at home if you have to, but it is imperative that you do not trust any electronic systems with the financial resources of your entire company. Remember that paper is just that... paper. Currency has seen massive and previously unthinkable devaluations in the past. Could anyone in Rhodesia have foreseen the collapse of Zimbabwean currency to the point where it took 50 billion dollars to buy a loaf of bread?

In a pandemic situation accepting 30 day invoices, credit cards, debit cards and cheques for your product or service may be equivalent to just giving it all away. You may not get the actual money due for that transaction... maybe ever. Give a discount for cash if you have to but refuse any other payment type. Accept barter if you can get the better part of the deal on something useful. Don't extend credit to anyone, however you should be open to running up big credit bills.

The shakeout might wipe out your supplier and then you might be able to get away without paying. (Yes, this is very unethical, but remember that this is a dog eat dog apocalyptic global pandemic scenario we're discussing.) Consider overstocking your company to the point where your warehouse is ready to explode regardless of whether you have the resources to pay for it on normal terms.

Stack inventory up in the halls if you have to. Remember that you might not be able to get restocked for months to come. Why would you want to proceed in this manner and go against all the standards of JIT (Just In Time) warehousing? It's simple. Your suppliers may not be in business tomorrow and when your competitors end up with empty shelves because their JIT stocking policy has fallen apart as the pandemic progresses, you can increase the prices of your goods exponentially.

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Stay Safe From The H1N1 Mexican Swine Flu: The 40 Products In Greatest Pandemic Demand

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