Like all Kiwi businesses, we at Pink Bins were pretty happy about New Zealand moving to alert-level 1. Let’s hope that, as a country, we can continue to keep covid-19 at bay.
Getting back to normal
Sure, none of us can yet jump on a plane for an overseas holiday, but at least we are back to some kind of normality as a business.
During alert levels 2 and 3, we took extreme precautions to keep our people safe. For example, we insisted that our recycling staff wore PPE gear at all times. Also, only one staff member was allowed to operate a machine at any one time. And, of course, we upheld social distancing — no handshaking or cash handling, that kind of thing.
Well, now, thankfully, we can relax a bit. And, it is nice to now be able to allow our customers and suppliers on site for visits.
Positives of covid-19
Under no circumstances do we want to return to lockdown — a lot of Kiwi businesses just wouldn’t cope. However, like with many a crisis faced by the world, there are often some unexpected benefits. In general, it seems that Kiwis are now much more conscious about personal hygiene. That’s got to be good. Also, many businesses have revaluated how they operate and are making better use of technology and allowing staff to work from home if there is no need for them to clock in at the office.
For us, though, we found that our lunchroom became extremely tidy! Yes, we know that it’s hardly worth enduring a crisis to achieve tidiness; however, our lunchroom is now spick and span. You see, one of the measures we took during levels 2 and 3 was asking our staff bring their own packed lunches, utensils and drinking cups/bottles. Wallah! No more mess. So, we’ve decided to stick with the bring-your-own-lunch and utensils rule.
Let’s not slip
Recent reports of new cases of people infected with covid-19 have made us nervous, like no doubt the rest of the country. Thankfully, they all appear to relate to people arriving from overseas, so the virus isn’t community spread. Let’s hope the Government tidies up the loose ends that have let covid-19 make an unwelcome return. Kiwis have worked too hard and sacrificed too much to return to more restrictions.