Midwest Knifemakers Supply, llc statement on Covid-19

[BossDog]

Statement regarding Coronavirus from Midwest Knifemakers Supply, llc

These are uncertain times and we will be taking some steps to ensure our employees remain healthy and employed.

We remain open for business.

Immediately through April 5, we will be closed to walk-in customers and sales representatives in our facility. If a local customer desires to pick up an order, call in, we will pick it and you can stop by and pick it up. We won’t be able to allow shopping, facility tours or sales rep meetings until April 6.

Should a “shelter in place” order become mandatory in Minnesota or Federally, of course we will comply. We have received notice that a few of our key suppliers are closing for a short period. If this affects your existing order, we will contact you. As of today, the majority of our suppliers currently are shipping normally or slightly delayed. We ship 95% of our customer orders in 24 hours so we do not anticipate any orders being delayed here.

I am concerned about our employees and their families, especially those at increased risk. They do a great job and we need them to stay employed with us.
If we are forced to close, we will continue employee salaries for up to two weeks or longer as our emergency reserve funds and cash flow allows. If an employee contracts Covid-19, we will extend their sick pay for an additional 7 days at minimum. I hope other small businesses can do the same. I fear many will fail. I urge you to support your local small businesses when you can.

I wish the best for you and your family.
Stay healthy, stay positive, this will pass.

Tracy Mickley
Owner
Midwest Knifemakers Supply, llc

 

[Sean Jones]

You're a good man Tracy

 

[Randy Lucius]

Thanks for taking care of your employees. Hope everything works out ok. God bless you!

 

[bladegrinder]

That's a stand up move Tracy. I've noticed some of my neighbors not going to work the last few days.

 

[EdCaffreyMS]

Dealing with the virus and what's going on.......we got a huge blessing today.
Every day before Cindy leaves for work, I pray over her for protection and a "good" day. She's been really concerned about working at a Ford dealership, and bringing something home to me.

Well, today I prayed over her that God would give us an answer to our problem, and to calm her fears and anxiety. About 9am the owners (Father and Daughter) called Cindy into the "office" and told her that they knew of my situation, and how dangerous this virus is to me..... and that they were going to move heaven and earth so she could work from home and minimize any exposure to her and I.

Cindy is the Office manager for the dealership....she handles everything from her three cashier employees, to payroll, and monthly statements..... in other words it's difficult for the place to operate without her there.

To have the owners have that kind of concern, kindness, and willingness to protect ME? Talk about God answering a prayer with a slam dunk!!! And wonderful people that Cindy works for!! JUST WOW!!

Cindy starts working from home tomorrow, and will be "going in" to the office once a week, and then between the hours of 5am-7am..... after the cleaning crew has been there, and before any employees get to work.
I can't say enough about such wonderful employers, and how much they care for their employees......and family members!

 

[Randy Lucius]

Dealing with the virus and what's going on.......we got a huge blessing today.
Every day before Cindy leaves for work, I pray over her for protection and a "good" day. She's been really concerned about working at a Ford dealership, and bringing something home to me.

Well, today I prayed over her that God would give us an answer to our problem, and to calm her fears and anxiety. About 9am the owners (Father and Daughter) called Cindy into the "office" and told her that they knew of my situation, and how dangerous this virus is to me..... and that they were going to move heaven and earth so she could work from home and minimize any exposure to her and I.

Cindy is the Office manager for the dealership....she handles everything from her three cashier employees, to payroll, and monthly statements..... in other words it's difficult for the place to operate without her there.

To have the owners have that kind of concern, kindness, and willingness to protect ME? Talk about God answering a prayer with a slam dunk!!! And wonderful people that Cindy works for!! JUST WOW!!

Cindy starts working from home tomorrow, and will be "going in" to the office once a week, and then between the hours of 5am-7am..... after the cleaning crew has been there, and before any employees get to work.
I can't say enough about such wonderful employers, and how much they care for their employees......and family members!

With all the stories in the news every day about the awful things humans do to each other we forget that the majority of Americans are caring and companionate people. In tuff times we stick together and try to help our neighbors. Yeah we have idiots as well. Toilet paper and hand sanitizer hoarders that make it hard on the rest of us but I still believe they are in the minority. At my job we are working with a reduced crew. The essential people have been split into two groups and we are working every other day on rotation. The non-essential have been sent home to work from there. Everyone is still receiving their full pay and benefits and will be until this is over. Our leadership has been good stewards of our finances and we are in a position to weather this. I pray for those who aren’t as fortunate and I’ll be helping those that I can. My wife and I work for the same company and we’ve been praying Psalms 91 on the way to work for months. We’ll add you and Cindy to that prayer daily. God bless you Ed. Let us know if there’s anything we can do.

 

[Chris Railey]

My employer has been really good to us too. We are running on a skeleton crew and I currently switching out work and home every other week with my boss until this is over. My kids have always been homeschooled so there is no real change there. Keep praying people, this too shall pass.
I am fortunate that I have chosen to live in a very rural area and commute to work (50 miles one way) there many benefits to having space between oneself and the neighbors.

 

[Motor City Mike]

Good for you Tracy. It's says a lot about what kind of person you are at heart.



We are under a shelter in place order here in Michigan but my wife's boss is one of those idiots that doesn't care

He conned one of his customers into giving him a letter saying he does vital work for the defense department. (His customer does deal with the DD however my wife's company does NOT). So they're still working. Her boss told everyone that if they don't work, don't bother coming back after the shelter in place is lifted

My wife has lupus and my father-in-law (who lives with us) just had quadruple bypass surgery a month ago

Here's the rub...we are in the middle of a refi on our home and my wife cannot lose her job

We need this refi because it lowers our payment significantly and who knows how long this crisis will last

But I'll tell you one thing: the day we close on our refi will be the last day my wife works there