“Getting Back Mostly as We Knew It Before Covid”

   “mRNA Greatest Medical Invention in History?”

June 1, 2021, has rolled in so that means it is time for another Al’s Corner note.  Hopefully, this month will provide us with better weather than May did. As a reminder we had rain, cold, wind, and even snow!

First up a recap of two big events we had in May.  On May 7^th we had the fall version of STL Transportation Club golf.  Again, we had a nice turnout as over 80 attended.  This Brad Reinhardt driven event (all events) was a huge success as the weather was good, the food, golf, drinks, and socializing was excellent. 

On May 23^rd we had Cardinal Night this time at Ball Park Village.  This All-Inclusive event had around 40 baseball fans, including even a few Cub fans.  For the Cub fans Brad took a little extra time during the game to try explaining the rules of baseball and such as the Cub faithful did not seem to understand how the game is supposed to be played (just kidding or am I?).  The venue was excellent.  I can not remember which team won the game, but a good time was had by all.

Next Event—July 13^th, Horse Hooky at Fairmount Racetrack in Collinsville, Il.  This event is normally one of the best all year.  I will again be providing group bet opportunities so keep that in mind.  See you there, and I am guaranteeing a BIG win this year!!!

Getting Back to Normal—after 16 months of Covid life disruption it appears we are starting to see a strong light at the end of the tunnel.  Restaurants, Sporting Events, Movie theaters, Swimming pools, Travel, Amusement Parks, Churches, Private parties, Casino’s, Golf Tournaments you name it are starting to reopen without masks and thus a sense of normalcy is returning.  For most of the people of the world, this is a most welcome turn of events.  This also means that working from home for many will be reduced or eliminated (not us it appears). 

Looking back over the past year–the unimaginable became reality.  The simplest things like hugging people outside of your live-in family stopped.  People wore masks in public and washed their hands constantly.  Sports stopped completely around the globe instantly.  Rather you were old, or young, no one had any experience with anything close to the pandemic.  No advice could be shared or gained; we were all in the same boat.  Some leadership in government performed well, but petty arguing ruled the day.  Now all of this is becoming just a bad dream, except for the ones who died from it, or lost someone from it, or are still having difficulties from it called “long haulers.”  Hope they figure this out too.  I even survived having it.

On the Transportation side of things freight rates remain high, and available trucks are still tight. Because of the higher shipping costs everyday items are going up at an alarming rate.  Shippers and such are just passing along the increased cost to consumers.  What all of it will mean in the years to come is uncertain.  Free money will be ending too, and what will it look like as we come out of that part is unknown. 

“Working From Home” further thoughts—For our company working from home has worked for the most part, well.  Some of the negatives when speaking from a much bigger picture than our company view is for some companies it will not continue long-term.  It is hard to manage people from a monitor, and you really do not know what the employees are saying when their sound is turned off.  Positives are many as well too.  Better family life if the employee has small kids, or older family members that need daily care.  This is huge for the employee, but is it great for the employer? On the other hand, the employee has no time commuting thus it could ultimately be a wash, or good both ways.  A negative for some working remotely is they say they never get away from work.  To me working from home takes great self-discipline and maintaining it for a long period of time seems unlikely.  My suggestion would be to anyone wishing to continue remote working, develop great daily habits, and it should work out.  Still many companies have huge investments in buildings so will that drive them to try and force employees back?  My prediction is this, remote working will continue for a long time, for sure at least part of the time. 

A big negative right now is we seem to have a labor shortage too!  I feel like this is not an easy one to figure out. Is it the free money, or is it something else?

I will end this long rant with what I believe will end up being the biggest positive from this nightmare—The process of how they are delivering this vaccine by the use of mRNA could be the most important medical discovery in history.  It appears that this process will be used to teach our bodies how to fight off many deadly diseases.  Read about it, it is amazing, I hope! 

Have a great month, AL

President Rockfarm STL