Kickstart: Time to restock the shelves

Will packaging be considered an essential industry as stores work to restock shelves?

Our sister publication Crain's Detroit Business has a story on the efforts by retailers, distributors and manufacturers to supply stores after a coronavirus-related surge in buying.

"If the virus starts to curtail, and the country does a good job of controlling it, the spikes that we've seen at the retail level, by the end of the week we should start to see some relief," said Thom Lipari, CEO of Warren, Mich.-based Lipari Foods.

Much of the surge will be over by then, because people have stocked up at home, he said. Demand should level off and give product manufacturers time to resupply diminished inventories while people live off their stockpiles.

Retailers and distributors said they may have to limit sales of some items so stores can restore their supplies.

None of us here at Plastics News have precise answers about what COVID-19 will mean to resin pricing. But Senior Reporter Frank Esposito talks to a lot of people who follow those markets and may have some ideas.

If you want to get some insight as to what may happen — or at least the questions that the industry will face — Frank and Editor Don Loepp will take part in the Polymer Points Live webcast, exclusive to PN subscribers, starting at 2 p.m. Eastern today.

Sign up here.

Office workers in the U.S. are being told to work from home and stay away from crowds.

Italian residents have been on a mandatory lockdown other than travel to grocery stores, pharmacies and essential work for more than a week.

Luca Ciferri, editor and associate publisher of our sister magazine Automotive News Europe, lives near Turin and has been writing a daily blog about life under quarantine.

In his March 16 post, he noted positive and negative issues related to working from home, including that there is "less time to think."

"This phenomena takes a while to grasp but it is properly the biggest change. Whether your commute was a 10-minute walk or a one-hour drive, that was your time to ponder all kinds of subjects: life, business, love, sports, dreams. These twice-a-day opportunities are quickly missed."

Feel free to drop a note to me at [email protected] or Editor Don Loepp at [email protected] if you have news to pass on about how your company is helping with the coronavirus response or other issues. We're working remotely, but still available.

And in parting, if you need a laugh, here's a link to one of the funniest work-at-home experiences ever shared with a global TV audience.