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The Darker Side of Christmas
Samson Tours expects revenue to total $30,000 in December, less than 10% of pre-pandemic levels.
Photo: Samson Tours
December has been the worst month yet for Samson Tours Inc., an Atlanta bus operator.
The company expects revenue to total just $30,000 in December, less than 10% of pre-pandemic levels and down from $118,000 in November. It has laid off or furloughed all but three of its 65 employees.
“This month has had the least revenue of all of them since March,” said Chief Executive John Sambdman. “It’s getting worse every day.”
The company’s most reliable clients have scaled back or temporarily stopped their use of buses. Public schools in Atlanta are expected to operate remotely until at least late January, military transportation has dwindled and corporate charters have all but evaporated.
Mr. Sambdman has taken himself off payroll, set aside $50,000 for attorneys’ fees in case the company must file for bankruptcy next year and accelerated plans to move into a smaller, less costly home.
This winter, many small businesses are suffering a second wave of economic pain.
Firms with fewer than 500 employees experienced higher job losses than big companies in the early days of the pandemic, then recovered more quickly from April to June, according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But in recent months, the picture has changed again, with large companies posting stronger employment gains.
Samson CEO John Sambdman hopes to ride out the pandemic: ‘Our goal is to be the last man standing.’
Photo: Samson Tours
The BLS data looks at employment through mid-November. The pain for many small businesses is only increasing as a new wave of Covid-19 cases sweeps the country and states reimpose or tighten restrictions.
Many small businesses brought back workers after receiving forgivable loans from the federal Paycheck Protection Program, but have exhausted those funds and aren’t sure when or whether new aid will arrive.
Performing-arts companies, travel agents and bus operators are among the hardest-hit small businesses in the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the BLS study.
Large companies tend to have more substantial cash cushions and better access to additional financing, which can be crucial as they try to wait out the virus and cover additional pandemic-related costs.
“Big businesses are just generally better at managing risk and uncertainty.” said Kenan Fikri, research director of the Economic Innovation Group, a think tank. Large companies “will get a little more slack from capital markets,” he added.
Limited cash reserves can make it more difficult for small companies to invest and otherwise make changes in response to the pandemic, such as moving operations online or adding delivery services—though such shifts aren’t an option in many industries.
One of Samson’s lenders has notified the company that it is in default on two loans, totaling roughly $600,000, for three of its 65 buses. It has asked Samson to make a full payment of roughly $14,000 in order to qualify for interest-only payments, but that could leave the bus company without enough funds to pay its insurance.
There are some small bright spots. Samson recently won three contracts for military transportation, though stiff competition has slashed pricing and profitability, and another to operate an employee shuttle for a private company.
“Our goal is to be the last man standing when things come back,” Mr. Sambdman said.
Employment has increased at some small businesses, including highway-construction firms, specialty contractors, lawn and garden equipment stores and scientific-research firms.
Small performing-arts companies have been hardest hit, shedding more than 46% of their workers between February and November, according to the BLS. Small restaurants cut head count by nearly 13% during this period, though layoffs are likely to climb with the arrival of colder weather and, in some states, new restrictions on indoor dining.
Employment loss due to business closure has been more than twice as high at small firms than large ones, though the BLS doesn’t currently know how many of those closures will be permanent. Large companies with multiple locations are doing better than those with a single place of business, the study found.
Sand & C Travel Inc., a Parkland, Fla., travel agency specializing in cruises, let go all three of its part-time administrative employees after funds from its $92,400 PPP loan ran out in June. One full-time travel agent agreed to work as an independent contractor; the other two retired. The company gave up the office that had been its home for eight of its 28 years.
“We have been hit very hard,” said Alan Rosen, who owns Sand & C with his wife, Cathy Rosen. Revenue is down 85% this year.
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Small travel-arrangement and reservation services shed nearly 39% of their workers between February and November, according to the BLS, more than five times as many as bigger firms in the same sector. “On a personal level, we’re totally living off savings,” said Mr. Rosen.
Many small businesses foresee a bleak winter. More than 60% of small-business owners believe the worst of the pandemic is ahead, according to the MetLife & U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Index.
Bluebird Lanes, a 28-lane bowling alley in Chicago, closed on March 16 in response to state orders, then reopened in early July at reduced capacity. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker ordered bowling alleys to close again Nov. 20.
When Bluebird Lanes in Chicago closed last month, for the second time this year, owner William Brennan and his employees filed for unemployment.
Photo: William Brennan
Bluebird cut its staff to four, from 25, in response to Illinois’s first shutdown, then brought back all of its employees after receiving a $70,800 PPP loan and $150,000 from the Small Business Administration’s disaster-loan program. October was the first month since the reopening that the business broke even, said owner William Brennan.
After the November shutdown, Mr. Brennan laid off all his employees and filed for unemployment himself. In part because Bluebird has now run through most of its cash reserve, said Mr. Brennan, “This one is a bigger challenge than the first one.”
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Parallel Universes
Fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic has affected big and small employers differently depending on their industry.
Parallel Universes
Fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic has affected big and small employers differently depending on their industry.
Industries where small employers struggled the most relative to large employers
U.S. employment change from February to November
Couriers and express
delivery services
Small
employers
Large
employers
Difference of
44 pct. pts.
Travel arrangement
and reservation services
Warehousing
and storage
Building material
and supplies dealers
Home furnishings
stores
Electronic shopping
and mail-order houses
Commercial and industrial
machinery and equipment
rental and leasing
Other information
services
Industries where small employers struggled the least relative to large employers
Other amusement
and recreation
industries
Large
employers
Small
employers
Civic and social
organizations
Services to buildings
and dwellings
Printing and related
support activities
Educational
support services
Specialized
freight trucking
Other specialty
trade contractors
Support activities
for mining
Industries where small employers struggled the most relative to large employers
U.S. employment change from February to November
Couriers and express
delivery services
Small
employers
Large
employers
Difference of
44 pct. pts.
Travel arrangement
and reservation services
Warehousing
and storage
Building material
and supplies dealers
Home furnishings
stores
Electronic shopping
and mail-order houses
Commercial and industrial
machinery and equipment
rental and leasing
Other information
services
Industries where small employers struggled the least relative to large employers
Other amusement
and recreation
industries
Large
employers
Small
employers
Civic and social
organizations
Services to buildings
and dwellings
Printing and related
support activities
Educational
support services
Specialized
freight trucking
Other specialty
trade contractors
Support activities
for mining
Industries where small employers struggled the most relative to large employers
U.S. employment change from February to November
Couriers and express
delivery services
Small
employers
Large
employers
Difference of
44 pct. pts.
Travel arrangement
and reservation services
Warehousing
and storage
Building material
and supplies dealers
Home furnishings
stores
Electronic shopping
and mail-order houses
Commercial and industrial
machinery and equipment
rental and leasing
Other information
services
Industries where small employers struggled the least relative to large employers
Other amusement
and recreation
industries
Large
employers
Small
employers
Civic and social
organizations
Services to buildings
and dwellings
Printing and related
support activities
Educational
support services
Specialized
freight trucking
Other specialty
trade contractors
Support activities
for mining
Industries where small employers struggled the most relative to large employers
U.S. employment change from February to November
Couriers and express delivery services
Large
employers
Small
employers
Difference of 44 pct. pts.
Travel arrangement and reservation services
Warehousing and storage
Building material and supplies dealers
Home furnishings stores
Industries where small employers struggled the least relative to large employers
Other amusement and recreation industries
Large
employers
Small
employers
Civic and social organizations
Services to buildings and dwellings
Printing and related support activities
Educational support services
He doesn’t expect the state to allow bowling centers to reopen until at least January. Mr. Brennan worries that not all league bowlers, who account for roughly 60% of revenue, will come back now that they’re out of the habit of playing regularly.
Illinois is one of eight states where bowling centers are closed, according to the Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America. Roughly three-quarters of centers in the remaining 42 states have been subject to new or tightened restrictions in the past month.
Consumers are also becoming more cautious. The average number of trips to retail and recreation businesses fell again this fall after recovering over the summer, according to an EIG analysis of Google smartphone data.
Nearly 39% of small businesses reported that revenue declined in the second week of December, versus the prior week, up from fewer than 30% in early October, before Covid-19 cases jumped, according to the Census Bureau. More than 21% of small firms reported cutting hours, up from 14.5% in early October.
Hard Hit
Industries where small employers had the biggest percentage drop in employment from February to November 2020
Note: Small employers have less than 500 employees.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics working paper; Michael Dalton; Elizabeth Weber Handwerker; Mark A. Loewenstein
“We are pretty much shut down right now,” said Mike Cazaz, CEO of Werner Aero Services, a supplier of aircraft spare parts and engines based in Mahwah, N.J. He figures it will take about 18 months for business to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels, assuming the vaccine works.
Werner’s sales, primarily to regional airlines, have dropped 80%. The 27-year-old company has slashed its staff to seven from 30. “Airlines are preserving whatever cash they have,” Mr. Cazaz said.
The BLS data doesn’t include companies formed during the pandemic. Applications for new businesses climbed during the summer, driven largely by retailers that operate online or otherwise without physical stores.
Business has remained strong in some sectors. At Levy Co. Inc., a heavy-highway and commercial electrical construction firm in Selma, Texas, head count has climbed to 190 from 165 at the start of the year.
“Part of it has to do with the nature of transportation work,” said Harry Levy IV, president of the employee-owned company. “Contracts tend to last longer. The work we have been doing through the course of the pandemic had been [awarded] long before.”
Also helping sustain the company’s business, highway construction was deemed essential by the state early in the pandemic. The pandemic has also reduced vehicle traffic, making it easier for the 20-year-old company to get more work done.
Mr. Levy worries that budget shortfalls in Texas could reduce road work in the future, but adds: “If we are able to get a good highway bill from the federal government we will be able to keep hiring.”
Some companies have seen business jump after slowing early in the pandemic. Utility Concierge, a Dallas-based company that helps customers set up home services and utilities when they move, added roughly 50 employees this year, bringing head count to more than 100.
Business declined by 30% in April and May, but bounced back in June and has been strong ever since, said CEO Gabe Abshire. More people are moving, and the shift to work-from-home has also made it easier for the company to market its services, said Mr. Abshire.
Other companies have been able to piggyback off Covid-related shifts.
Demand for scientific researchers has been a boon for Biotech Partners Inc., a boutique staffing agency specializing in the life sciences. The recruiting firm didn’t make a single job placement from March through August, but demand for contract workers swelled this fall.
With revenue up 40% this year, the Charlotte, N.C., company has added three people, bringing head count to 12. The company, which is getting a boost from its work with diagnostic test companies and vaccine makers, plans to hire five more employees next year.
“I have to look in the mirror,” CEO Ross Petras said, “and thank my lucky stars that we are in the market we are in.”
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Write to Ruth Simon at [email protected]
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Appeared in the December 19, 2020, print edition as ‘For Small Businesses, A Tale of Two Economies.’
