econlife - The Reopening Role of the Restroom by Elaine Schwartz

One of the stars of The Irishman, a 3 1/2 hour movie with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, said, “…just go to the bathroom before it starts…” Now, as we end pandemic lockdowns and reopen theaters, stores, and stadiums, we need to resolve restroom problems.

Resolving (Coronavirus) Restroom Problems

Coronavirus worries converge in the restroom. Many of us are concerned with social distancing, airborne germ droplets, and sanitizing hands and surfaces. Whether it’s a drive-in theater, an outdoor music festival, or a restaurant with curbside dining, the establishment needs a restroom policy.

One drive-in theater owner said she was increasing the number of portable toilets. But still, the lines would be a problem. Meanwhile, in public restrooms, a high speed hand dryer could spread COVID-19 droplets. Enclosed stalls are a worry because those droplets can be virulent for eight minutes. We also might have sinks that are too close and infected surfaces we all touch.

The solution is expensive retooling. McDonald’s said that with touchless sinks and sensor-activated towel dispensers, the cost of a restroom renovation could exceed $25,000. A group that oversees beach restrooms said they would be charged $250 for the cleaning they want to repeat every 90 minutes.

Our Bottom Line: Spillover

The economic term spillover seems uniquely appropriate for tracking the connection between lockdown reopening and the public restroom. Defined as the positive or negative impact on unrelated third parties, the spillover from a restroom flows to economic growth.

At movie theaters, ball games, parks–wherever we share public space–we depend on restrooms. According to Slate, a California water use textbook tells us that a typical office worker flushes the toilet somewhere between 2 and 3 1/2 times a day. In restaurants, half of all diners use the facilities.

As we reopen, accelerated economic activity will require a new kind of restroom. When we are willing to leave home to see a three hour movie, we create a spillover through the employees theaters hire, the popcorn they sell, and the movie studios they support.

My sources and more: During a family dinner discussion, I learned that restrooms were a big reason that the summer music festivities in Tanglewood could not open. From there, The Washington Post and Slate confirmed their plight.

Our featured image is from Pixabay.

Ideal for the classroom, econlife.com reflects Elaine Schwartz’s work as a teacher and a writer. As a teacher at the Kent Place School in Summit, NJ, she’s been an Endowed Chair in Economics and chaired the history department. She’s developed curricula, was a featured teacher in the Annenberg/CPB video project “The Economics Classroom,” and has written several books including Econ 101 ½ (Avon Books/Harper Collins). You can get econlife on a daily basis! Head to econlife.

econlife - A Tale of Two (Very Different) Restaurants by Elaine Schwartz

Used to be that a restaurant was where we talked, and ate, and relaxed. Maybe we had some wine and good food. At Prune, in Manhattan’s East Village, our dessert could have been the sugared black plums on warm buttered toast (pictured above).

In this three-year-old image of Prune, you can see it was tiny and cramped…and diners loved it:

Now Prune has closed, maybe forever, maybe not. But in Midtown, Junzi remains opens. Let’s look at the difference.

Two Restaurants

Prune

Days before Prune closed on March 15, its owner saw her revenue cascading. It slid from Saturday’s $12,141 to Thursday’s $2,093. Hours after the owner decided to shut down, so too did the city. Gathering her 30 employees, she knew she could not afford her payroll, sales taxes, rent.

As Gabrielle Hamilton explained, in her 20 years in business, she had survived 9/11, Hurricane Sandy, and the Great Recession. But the coronavirus was different. Her dining recipe had brought success until we started to worry about social distancing.

She said she thought about take-out, an app, and a delivery service. But her style was too different. Yes, she has 10-year lease so reopening is a possibility. But her side-by-side 24 inch tables will no longer work.

Junzi

On West 41st Street in Manhattan, Juntzi Kitchen is open. No longer serving the tourist or office crowd at lunchtime, its fast casual Chinese food is ready for delivery. When Yong Zhao realized he needed to tweak his business model, he stocked up on larger takeout containers. Instead of single portions, he prepared larger family friendly meals. He had a chef streaming heating directions to all who ordered a three-course dinner. His logistics facilitated Grubhub deliveries and customer pickups.

In 2019, Junzi looked like this:

Now, the tables are gone and Yong is planning for the future.

His friends in China tell him that they seat parties of three or less at every other table. Diners have an app tied to their national ID number that tracks temperatures and contacts. A sign in front documents the establishment’s cleaning schedule, health stats, employee data. Yong’s plans could be similar.

Our Bottom Line: Land, Labor, and Capital

Called the factors of production, land, labor, and capital are the ingredients in every good and service recipe. Only months ago, a restaurant’s land, labor, and capital depended on the owner’s vision. People like Gabrielle Hamilton wanted a cozy establishment with her own kind of cooking. Her 30 employees included servers, bartenders, and a sous chef. Her tables, her stoves, and the chefs’ treasured knives would be in a list of her capital. As for the labor, they formed a sort of family. Regular customers became a part of the group. They produced 14 services, were open for 7 days, served brunch and lunch. Now she has to decide whether to change her land, labor, and capital if she reopens.

But the owner of Junzi is ready to change his.

My sources and more: While the NY Times Magazine took a close look at Prune in 2017, Planet Money told the Junzi story in a recent podcast.

Ideal for the classroom, econlife.com reflects Elaine Schwartz’s work as a teacher and a writer. As a teacher at the Kent Place School in Summit, NJ, she’s been an Endowed Chair in Economics and chaired the history department. She’s developed curricula, was a featured teacher in the Annenberg/CPB video project “The Economics Classroom,” and has written several books including Econ 101 ½ (Avon Books/Harper Collins). You can get econlife on a daily basis! Head to econlife.

econlife - The Innovations That a Pandemic Inspires by Elaine Schwartz

As xkcd suggests, our 2019 selves would have been mystified by a surging interest in flour during 2020:

But you can see that online interest in bread machines has also increased:

Pandemic Innovations

Affordability

Expecting consumers to cut back on spending, companies are simultaneously targeting luxury and economy. For the U.S., Europe, and emerging market economies, the goal is a menu of similar products that cater to different budgets. PepsiCo tried the same approach during the Great Recession (Dec. 2007-June 2009) when they based marketing on paycheck cycles. Convinced that we are more loyal to a brand if we have cash, they publicized pricier packages when we were paid and smaller packs later in the month. Somewhat similarly, Proctor & Gamble has a version of Tide that is 20 percent cheaper and Nestlé is producing smaller seasoning packets as well as the normal sizes.

Hands-free

In Thailand, a mall is experimenting with elevators that have foot controls. Instead of selecting a button to indicate your destination, you use your foot on a pedal:

For doorknob safety, a British firm developed a “hygienehook.” The idea here is to open a door without touching it:

There also is a Hygiene Hand that touches the elevator button, the ATM, and the phone screen for you:

Sanitizing

The Hong Kong International airport is testing a disinfectant enclosure. From what I could surmise, travelers step inside for a 40-second spritz. Inside you get your temperature checked and your clothing cleaned of viruses and bacteria:

Our Bottom Line: Structural Change

I suspect that our economy will experience some structural change during the next several years. Defined as the replacement of old industries by new ones, structural change requires new skills from workers, new capital, and new products. Our best example is the replacement of typewriters by computers, and of horse and buggy apparatus by autos. Also though, I can remember pre-9/11 airport design when there was no security perimeter to prevent gate and shops access.

Because of the coronavirus, some of the places and devices that brought us closer together will be replaced by a socially distanced and sanitized array of goods and services. They will range from everyday sanitation to traditional offices that could become obsolete.

Returning to where we began, more interest in flour seems minor but it could be the tip of a massively restructured “remote” economy.

My sources and more: Seeing the xkcd cartoon, I knew there had to be other examples beyond this WSJ article on smaller packages. So, from there, you might enjoy (as did I) tales of innovations from Aljazeera, and FastCompany, and the Standard.

Our featured image is from Pixabay.

Ideal for the classroom, econlife.com reflects Elaine Schwartz’s work as a teacher and a writer. As a teacher at the Kent Place School in Summit, NJ, she’s been an Endowed Chair in Economics and chaired the history department. She’s developed curricula, was a featured teacher in the Annenberg/CPB video project “The Economics Classroom,” and has written several books including Econ 101 ½ (Avon Books/Harper Collins). You can get econlife on a daily basis! Head to econlife.