The Drive-Thru: Companies respond to the coronavirus, craft chains refuse to close, and workers deal with chaos

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The Drive-Thru: Companies respond to the coronavirus, craft chains refuse to close, and workers deal with chaos
Costco coronavirus

AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus

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Hello! This is Kate Taylor, back on the newsletter beat after two months traveling in Asia.

Yes, I now realize that I somehow picked the worst possible time to travel internationally. Thankfully, Shoshy did an incredible job taking over the newsletter as I tried my hand at travel blogging and slowly realized that there was a pandemic spreading around the world. I am currently self-isolating in North Carolina - day 12 out of 14 of post-travel quarantine, no symptoms!

But, enough about me. The coronavirus pandemic is forcing vast transformation of every industry, with retail and restaurant workers on the front lines. Here's what happened this week.

Craft stores refuse to shut down

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Bethany has been breaking news all week about craft chains' resistance to shutting down amid the coronavirus pandemic. Hobby Lobby was trying to stay open without providing any paid sick leave for workers, reportedly partially inspired by the founder's wife saying she received a message from God. Now the chain is slashing jobs and cutting salaries.

Michaels said in a leaked memo the craft store will stay open as an "essential" business that is "here for the makers," even as workers feel their lives are at risk. Joann Fabrics said that stores need to stay open because hospitals asked the craft retailer for supplies ... a claim that hospitals told Bethany they had not heard.

Why are craft stores acting like this? After an extremely busy week of scoops, Bethany wrote a post explaining why executives are forcing stores to stay open.

"Though craft stores are just a microcosm of the retail landscape, their collective push to bypass closures is showing the danger of a lack of a unified approach in defining essential versus nonessential business," she explained.

Read the full piece here.

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Fast-food workers are on the front lines of the pandemic

McDonald's worker

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It has been a busy two weeks back on the fast-food beat!

There's been a lot of news: Burger King's biggest franchisee cut pay, then reversed its decision, choosing to slash the CEO's pay instead of that of restaurant workers. McDonald's stopped serving all-day breakfast. Pizza chains are hiring.

I also spent this last week trying to figure out why the pandemic is playing out the way it has for fast-food workers.

I spoke with insiders on why fast-food workers are considered essential employees. I learned from experts that even if a worker sneezes in your food, you're not going to catch coronavirus from eating it. I dug into why the franchise system means that the only way fast-food workers can get better benefits or pay across an entire chain is through legislation. And, I blogged about class warfare.

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I've spent most of my time talking to dozens of fast-food employees about what it is like working right now.

Here is what fast-food employees say it is like to work during the coronavirus pandemic, as they choose between risking their safety and being unable to pay the bills.

CVS and Walgreens workers face potential exposure

medical medication medicine pharmacy pharmaceutical drugs pills vitamins cox prescription FDA over the counter OTCCrystal Cox/Business Insider

Irene investigated what is happening inside CVS and Walgreens, as stores are full of customers hoping to avoid getting sick and workers deal with people who may have already been infected.

At a CVS in New York's Hudson Valley, one patient sat in the crowded waiting area near the line where other patients were waiting to pick up medication.

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Once she was at the counter, the patient admitted to the pharmacist that she had just been released from the hospital and was supposed to be under quarantine. She said that she wasn't able to drive herself and had someone drive her to the pharmacy.

"I wiped down everything she touched," the Hudson Valley pharmacist told Irene. "But by the time I thought about wiping down her seat in the waiting area, someone else had already sat in it."

Read Irene's investigation here.

Costco chaos continues

shoppers outside Costco panic buying coronavirusMagdeline Aguayo/LA Times/YouTube

Shoppers at Costco in Chino Hills, San Bernardino County, as supplies of toilet paper run low.

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Shoshy is keeping a close eye on Costco's reaction to the coronavirus, as workers are on the front line dealing with panicked shoppers.

Costco is paying workers more and switching people who previously gave out free samples to new roles cleaning the stores. Shoshy also has some great posts giving an overview of what it is like working in Costco right now.

"It's been exhausting," an employee in a Utah store said. "I've never seen our shelves, our stocks, so bare before."

Read the full story here.

Every company is being impacted by the coronavirus

There's been so much news, it's almost impossible to keep up. Here are some of the ways the coronavirus pandemic is impacting retail.

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Is there any good news?

No comment. But, since you made it to the bottom of this newsletter, a few weird and less depressing stories:

Get the latest coronavirus analysis and research from Business Insider Intelligence on how COVID-19 is impacting businesses.

NOW WATCH: We tested a machine that brews beer at the push of a button

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