Caroline County Small Business 

Economic Crisis Experience

The Caroline Review is Caroline’s Information Magazine Since 1980. It is also a very small family business in Caroline county with no employees that has been operating profitably and successfully since day one. As our authorities made decisions in an effort to minimize the health effects of COVID-19, there were significant economic impacts on this business that increased as restrictions were tightened. Fortunately, our primary supplier (printer) was able to remain open. If they had not been considered essential, it could have been disastrous, and we may not have been able to produce the April or May issues, disappointing many. Unfortunately, many of our distribution outlets had to close indefinitely making it difficult for us to make the magazine available to our community. Also, many events normally advertised in April and May had to be cancelled or rescheduled reducing advertising and revenues significantly causing us to cut costs to avoid a negative profit margin.

Since our printer is still operating, we are able to produce the magazine at about a 35% reduction in revenue. If distributors can reopen quickly, we should be back at normal capacity in June.

Though we are not even remotely interested in a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan, we did go to the SBA website and apply for an SBA COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan to evaluate how it would work and what would be involved. After applying, we received a confirmation number indicating that our application had been received and that we would be contacted by email with requests for more information. To date, all we have received is an email note implying that we would not be eligible because the program gives $1,000 per employee and we had indicated in the application that we had no employees. This was not clearly stated in the email message but implied when reading between the lines.

At the date of printing, we have not received the $1,200 promised by the authorities that will inevitably be paid by our children and grandchildren. Also, even though our authorities are saying that sole proprietors like us are entitled to Unemployment Insurance benefits, Maryland’s Unemployment Insurance website does not have that capability. It was actually entertaining to hear the spin. To paraphrase, Governor Hogan’s representative said something like, “Sole proprietors are now able to submit their email address to be notified when they can apply for benefits.” Submitting our email address to the state does not help us buy Cheerios at Food Lion. Fortunately, the Comptroller is telling us not to pay our bills…Seriously?
Our guess is that our authorities actually believe that what they say is true and don’t realize that reality is quite different. We have not asked for and are not counting on any government assistance during this crisis period and, even more presciently, do not anticipate any.

If you would like to share your experiences with our Caroline community like we have here, please go to CarolineReview.com and give us your thoughts. Many of you will have different experiences; hopefully more positive. Unfortunately, we know that many of our business associates have had much worse experiences during this economic crisis than we have had. We know there are some suffering from this illness. All of us have suffered from the economic impact. If you choose to do so, thank you for sharing. Let us know if you have difficulty with making comments on the website. Stay well.