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It seems an odd choice to begin a newsletter to one’s international customer base with "Let us all hope that the difficulties brought about by the COVID-19 viru

It seems an odd choice to begin a newsletter to one’s international customer base with "Let us all hope that the difficulties brought about by the COVID-19 virus are now waning and that more aspects of our lives will return to normal soon," when officials in several EU countries have recently said that restrictions are likely to last until very late 2021, because even in a best-case scenario not enough people will be vaccinated until then. But one can understand Pine64’s impatience for the crisis to pass: COVID has seriously slowed down international shipping, and the forums have been full of people complaining that their order (if they chose regular post and not DHL) has taken weeks or months to reach them. Buyers have been blaming Pine64 for shipping issues that they have no control over.

worik 6y ago
This international customer is in Aotearoa. I know the crises has not passed, it could flare up again, and flare up here. But not all the world is doing badly. Some of us are in good shape.
- Mediterraneo10 6y ago
  I know New Zealanders and Australians often like to brag that life is normal for them thanks to their country’s bold measures, but that is not the case: you still cannot travel internationally, nor can you receive international guests or do business with international tourists. You, too, have to wait for things to go back to normal.
  - worik 6y ago
    I hate international travel. International "guests" have been a mixed blessing. We used to get >1,000,000 tourists a year. The opportunity cost of tying up that many resources for a small country of 5,000,000 is huge. Mixed, yes. Part of the world we are, but I for one will not be unhappy if international travel becomes much harder. And please let's not go back to normal!! We are headed to catastrophe, we must change...
    - dingaling 6y ago
      Serving international travellers and taking their money in exchange is much easier than bootstrapping new economic activities for the 10% of the population who work in that sector. What economic opportunities do you foresee for them?
      - worik 6y ago
        Heaps. We are very short of horticultural labour. With the use of modern machinery horticultural workers are getting very productive. It is hard to increase tourism workers productivity with technology.... We are very short of infrastructure workers, ditto. Even for unskilled jobs we have to import workers. There is a lot of work available, and no need for the low skill low productivity tourism jobs. It was wrecking our economy and the opportunity of the tourism collapse will be a boon across the board. The sad part is all the small operators that have built up on the margins. These businesses will collapse too, taking people's life savings and hard work. That is sad.
jsight 6y ago
I don't see the issue, tbh. Hopeing that the issues are waning and more aspects of our lives will return to normal is not inconsistent with an expectation that some restrictions will continue throughout the year. That those restrictions will soon trend downward instead of upward is a great hope for a lot of people this year, all throughout the world.

worik 6y ago

This international customer is in Aotearoa. I know the crises has not passed, it could flare up again, and flare up here. But not all the world is doing badly. Some of us are in good shape.

Mediterraneo10 6y ago
I know New Zealanders and Australians often like to brag that life is normal for them thanks to their country’s bold measures, but that is not the case: you still cannot travel internationally, nor can you receive international guests or do business with international tourists. You, too, have to wait for things to go back to normal.
- worik 6y ago
  I hate international travel. International "guests" have been a mixed blessing. We used to get >1,000,000 tourists a year. The opportunity cost of tying up that many resources for a small country of 5,000,000 is huge. Mixed, yes. Part of the world we are, but I for one will not be unhappy if international travel becomes much harder. And please let's not go back to normal!! We are headed to catastrophe, we must change...
  - dingaling 6y ago
    Serving international travellers and taking their money in exchange is much easier than bootstrapping new economic activities for the 10% of the population who work in that sector. What economic opportunities do you foresee for them?
    - worik 6y ago
      Heaps. We are very short of horticultural labour. With the use of modern machinery horticultural workers are getting very productive. It is hard to increase tourism workers productivity with technology.... We are very short of infrastructure workers, ditto. Even for unskilled jobs we have to import workers. There is a lot of work available, and no need for the low skill low productivity tourism jobs. It was wrecking our economy and the opportunity of the tourism collapse will be a boon across the board. The sad part is all the small operators that have built up on the margins. These businesses will collapse too, taking people's life savings and hard work. That is sad.

jsight 6y ago

I don't see the issue, tbh. Hopeing that the issues are waning and more aspects of our lives will return to normal is not inconsistent with an expectation that some restrictions will continue throughout the year. That those restrictions will soon trend downward instead of upward is a great hope for a lot of people this year, all throughout the world.