Dear all, “Eight days of self-isolation and it’s like Vegas in my house. We’re losing money by the minute, cocktails are acceptable at any hour, and nobody knows what time it is.”
—Courtesy of the internet Ideas - Congratulations to Mike and Hilary on meeting their GoFundMe goal for Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
- Thanks to Debbie at The Story House in Rockville, Maryland, and Bookstore on Wheels in the DC area for sharing her model for The Story House: A small book area (about 300 square feet) located in a local organic grocery store/coffee shop/wine bar — a place that is considered “essential” right now, allowing her to stay open within their walls. It’s interesting to think about partnering with local essential businesses right now, especially ones with empty shelves that could be filled with books.
- Changing Hands in Phoenix and Tempe, Arizona, is selling care packages for customers. I just ordered one for myself as my self-care gesture for the day.
- Gramercy Books in Bexley, Ohio, announced its “Meet the Authors While Maintaining Social Distance” series. After cancelling all events through early May amid COVID-19 precautions, Gramercy is now hosting a new e-newsletter series that will showcase interviews with some of the previously scheduled authors.
Actions - File. Insurance companies have said that store closures related to COVID-19 will not be covered by business interruption insurance, but we are investigating whether there is an opportunity to fight this. For now, we strongly encourage stores with business interruption insurance to file a claim regardless of what they’re being told by their insurance companies. It’s a long shot but timely documentation could be useful if things change.
- Donate. Activate a donation button on your IndieCommerce or IndieLite sites by going to your website and logging in as an admin. In the dropdown menu at the top of the page, go to Store > Configuration > Account Information and Preferences > Store Features. You can also email [email protected] for assistance.
- Lobby. Counties in California and New York have announced eviction bans for those affected by the pandemic. Use examples like these to lobby your city or county for similar relief.
Government Relief Yesterday, the Senate passed the CARES Act, aka Stimulus III, which, among other things, looks to help provide businesses with 500 or fewer employees with streamlined access to Small Business Administration (SBA) Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) grants (maximum of $10,000), as well as “forgivable loans.” This bill is presently awaiting a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives, and word is they plan to vote on Stimulus III tomorrow, Friday, March 27. ABA wrote House leadership urging them to pass the bill right away, and I would ask you to do the same. Information Ingram Transportation Changes Customers in Southern California, Arizona, Nevada, and the Northeast may be impacted by a transportation change. Those affected have already received an alert on ipage detailing delivery changes. If you have any questions, please contact your sales representative or Customer Care at (800) 937-8000 or [email protected]. Shipments UPS and FedEx may not deliver to stores that they assume are closed, due to a shelter-in-place order in the community, for instance, or if there is no one readily available to accept a shipment. Post signage communicating to shippers about your availability to receive shipments, talk to your delivery people and let them know your schedule, and contact your UPS customer service or sales representative to keep them informed. Shipments that can’t be delivered may be returned to the sender without the usual re-attempt. IndieCommerce Support The IndieCommerce team is working long hours to keep up with as many as 250 emails a day plus multiple customer support phone calls for current members. To help you help us help you — you following? — here are some tips for getting assistance right now: - Email. The fastest way to get a response is by sending an email to [email protected]. You will receive an automated confirmation within a few minutes. If not, check your spam folder. Stores should NOT email individual staff email addresses for customer support related issues.
- Phone Calls. Stores will get a much faster response by emailing. The IndieCommerce team has virtual phones for all customer support staff to make outgoing calls from their homes, but only one person can take live incoming calls in their home. If she is on the phone or not available to answer the phone, all incoming calls at that time are going to go to voicemail. Those recorded messages will then be emailed to everyone on the customer support staff. These calls are logged and either a return phone call is made or a ticket is created. The IndieCommerce customer support phone numbers are: (914) 406-7500 (option 2) or 800-637-0037 (option 2).
- BookWeb. Many questions can be answered in the IndieCommerce Help Center.
- Patience. Please be patient with the IndieCommerce staff. Like you, they are under a lot of stress right now and working long hours, every day of the week, to help everyone. We have added staff and technology to help with the increased volume, but e-commerce sales these past two weeks are the equivalent of what we normally see in a six-month period.
I’m trying to practice patience in general right now and to remember that, as Tolstoy wrote, “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” ABA is here for you. Please reach out if there is anything we can help with. We are an incredibly creative, resilient, supportive industry. We’ll get through this, together. Best,
Allison |
