Goodbye, 2020. What a Year!
December 17, 2020
2020 will go down as one of the most tumultuous years in modern human history. As I write this, more than 1.6 million people have died worldwide of COVID-19, over 300,000 right here in America. I hope and pray that all your extended families have made it through thus far and will continue to stay safe as vaccine distribution ramps up. Hopefully, we can put COVID-19 into the rear-view mirror for good by mid-2021.
As bad as this pandemic has been, for some historical context, in 1918, the Spanish Flu is estimated to have claimed more than 50 million lives globally, over 600,000 here in the USA. My 89-year-old father put it in perspective for me by saying, “Your bad is bad, but it’s not as bad as it was for your Granddad’s Dad back in 1918.” It sounded rather catchy at the time he said it with a twinkle in his eye. My Dad still remembers his grandfather’s stories of the Spanish Flu from his childhood.
At CoolSys, we are fortunate to be an “essential business,” but that doesn’t mean we have been immune from the impacts of COVID. Our installation business has been hammered, with revenues down 15%, as has certain aspects of our restaurant and retail division. Thank goodness for the sales team, who had their best year ever, adding more than 6,000 new customer locations. Most of these new locations happened in our light commercial division, which incidentally, is where we needed them the most. Our bad is bad but not as bad as it could have been — so I’m thankful. Imagine if CoolSys was a chain of movie theaters or restaurants. Yep – could have been worse.
As if a Global Pandemic wasn’t enough – then came the political upheaval and social turmoil. At this stage, I think American’s are just plain worn out of a lot of things. Let’s hope we find peace in our hearts in 2021 and some level of normalcy as the pandemic winds down.
Who would have thought that toilet paper hoarding would be a thing during 2020 or that stores would need to ration paper goods and basic household items? We saw new catchphrases like “social distance” and “mask up” become part of our everyday language. According to a recent article that I read, the number one most widely used new phrase for 2020 was, “you’re on mute.” There was a time in the world where if you walked into a bank with a mask on, you’d be seen as a robber. Now, if you walk in without a mask, you get yelled at. Crazy times and new norms in the world today!
As the holidays approach, and we put this year into the history books, I wanted to take a moment to wish each of you and your families a joyous holiday season! Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Mele Kalikimaka, Merry Kwanza – whatever the celebration is in your home, and even if there is no celebration at all, I pray you have the best one ever! I can’t wait to turn the page on 2020 and begin anew in 2021 – surely it can’t be as bad as this year was? And with that, Coffey’s Corner is a wrap for 2020!