Kickstart: Halloween is not canceled

Plastics have done a lot to help battle the coronavirus, making items such as medical equipment and personal protective equipment. Now it's time for something very important: using plastic for safe trick-or-treating.

"We have to save Halloween and it starts with you," says "Happy Harper" on her YouTube tutorial on a candy chute. (And sure, you could go to other places for a tutorial on how to turn a 10-foot plastic pipe into a candy delivery system, but wouldn't it be more fun to get the details from a kindergartener in a princess dress?)

Candy chutes, essentially, are a pipe or tube at least 6 feet in length, placed at an angle to allow candy to slide from one end to the other. Simply place a piece of candy at the top. A sign on the bottom of the pipe instructs trick-or-treaters where to place their bucket so the candy lands safely inside.

"See how easy this is?" Happy Harper tells us. "Let's put down two Kit Kats."

Good idea, Harper.

Business travelers have found themselves grounded for months. And while they may be itching to book themselves a flight soon, the CEO of United Airlines says he doesn't expect a rapid return to the sky for most of its business customers.

CEO Scott Kirby told investors Oct. 15 that he doesn't expect a full rebound in business travel until August 2024.

The key will be a COVID-19 vaccine available to everyone.

"For now the Chicago-based airline expects revenue to be down about 67 percent from year-ago levels and capacity to be down about 55 percent by year-end," our sister paper Crain's Chicago Business wrote.

This week's print issue of Plastics News includes our annual ranking of North American mold makers.

If you've seen our coverage lately of forecasts for toolmakers, you may be scratching your head as to why we're not showing bigger sales drops for companies. Well, that's because the numbers we're showing this year reflect 2019, not the current year.

We all know that 2020 has been the year that is an exception to everything that has come before, at least in our collective lifetimes.

And we also need to remember that there will always be some companies that can continue to not only survive, but thrive, typically because they can deliver complex systems that others can't. So what will the rankings look like next year? That's something we all wish we knew.