Warehouse re-opening.

[Anguish]

With deepest respect, I have questions regarding Lisa's announcement that the warehouse is reopening in a limited fashion with one staff member arriving today, and the rest arriving on Monday.

I absolutely, positively do not intend this as criticism and I'm confident that this decision is being made with information I simply don't have. But I'm a compassionate, caring customer and the welfare of the employees is something that matters to me. So I'm going to ask for the blanks in my understanding to be filled.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) announced Thursday that the state will extend its "stay-at-home" order to May 4.

So, simply put, how is this warehouse reopening happening? And - I suppose - the parallel question of why?

I understand the urge to return to business as usual, but isn't this exactly what isn't supposed to be happening?

Again, I don't mean this to sound critical. I just don't understand this decision and need to ask because it goes counter to everything I've known and read about the circumstances in Washington.

[Marc Radle]

Out of curiosity, where was this announcement made?

[CrystalSeas]

Marc Radle wrote:

Out of curiosity, where was this announcement made?

Paizo Customer Service Status Updates & What to Do thread in the Customer Service forum

[Zapp]

Anguish wrote:

And - I suppose - the parallel question of why?

I understand the urge to return to business as usual

I believe you have answered your own question. But consider this just a random internet comment.

[Marc Radle]

I think that is part of the problem. Because we do not have a centrally coordinated effort at the Federal level to deal with this pandemic, and the President is actually saying he’s leaving it up to the states to figure out how to deal with it ( which is, frankly just unbelievable) we end up with a patchwork approach.

Some states have issues Stay at Home orders, other Shelter in Place, others issue recommendation but fall short of actually enforcing anything, and some particularly irresponsible Governors have even decided to do essentially nothing.

What’s worse, I don’t know that there are actual legal definitions attached to these terms, so different states seem to mean subtly different things when they issue them, and in some cases not everyone in a given state knows exactly what the rules are, or fully understands them.

[thejeff]

I also wouldn't want to take Amazon as a model for responsibility and concern for worker safety.

[TwilightKnight]

We have the luxury of not have a business to be responsible for, one that employs dozens of people. Like many “small businesses” Paizo may have to make some compromising decisions to ensure their survival, both physically and economically. It’s easy to say that a person’s life trumps all when you don’t also have to be responsible for their livelihood.

[thejeff]

TwilightKnight wrote:

We have the luxury of not have a business to be responsible for, one that employs dozens of people. Like many “small businesses” Paizo may have to make some compromising decisions to ensure their survival, both physically and economically. It’s easy to say that a person’s life trumps all when you don’t also have to be responsible for their livelihood.

It's also easy to not be responsible for other people's lives when you're not at risk and it makes more money for you. Which I don't think applies to Paizo, but it is a reason for not just leaving this up to individual business owners to decide what to do.

In which context, I am not a lawyer, but I don't see how Paizo's plans comply with the Governor's order quoted above.

[Virginia J.]

This discussion went off the rails, and strayed into territory inappropriate for our forums. I understand that tensions are high, and this time is traumatic, I truly do. Washington has been doing all that it can to flatten the curve, and ensuring that its residents stay safe.

This thread is going to stay locked unless one of the executives feels it necessary to add any information on the subject.