In 26 years as a mobile distributor in the South Shore of Long Island, N.Y., nothing prepared me for Hurricane Sandy. The destruction that devastated the northeastern U.S. placed my business in disarray and left my future uncertain.
I was lucky compared to many of my customers. Being a mobile distributor, I was able to move my inventory to a safe area before the hurricane struck in late October. Most of my customers were unable to prepare for the flooding that engulfed their shops and destroyed much of their equipment. Not to mention the loss of their own customers’ vehicles, the repair shops’ bread and butter.
The loss of electricity made life difficult for everyone in the afflicted areas. Some people had emergency power generators, but the lack of available gasoline made it hard for even those who had generators.
While I was able protect my assets by moving my truck to a place that didn’t suffer flooding, there was little many of my customers could do from suffering that very fate. This, in turn, delivered my own business a major setback since many customers have not been able to spend any money since the disaster struck.
Half of my customers have been lost for good. In the weeks since the Hurricane hit, I collected very little on previous purchases and I made very few new sales.
While little money has been coming in, there has been plenty of work to do. I have been spending a lot of time helping customers with loss quotes for their insurance claims. Customers are trying to tally the value of all their electric tools and equipment, including meters, battery chargers, air conditioning equipment, scan tools, wheel balancers, etc. Anything that’s got a circuit board is shot.
None of my customers know how much damage their insurance will cover. Most are not expecting much from their insurance carriers since most business insurance doesn’t cover damage from natural disasters. Some have been waiting for four weeks to hear from their insurance carriers.
Snap-on extended my credit to help me help my customers. The company is providing replacement tools at the flat rate. Snap-on also provided some apparel items to give to customers.
Some customers were also hoping for help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for uninsured losses.
In the meantime, life remains a struggle.
Power companies will not reconnect electricity to properties until they certify the circuit breaker panel has not been contaminated with saltwater. Saltwater getting into circuit breaker panels has caused many fires.
Having been spared the loss of my own home and his business assets, I feel a responsibility to do what I can for my customers, and this has not been easy. Some lost their shops and their houses.
The environmental cleanup alone will be a burden for many. Some shops had as many as 250 gallons of waste oil pour out of their drums and into the shop and the surrounding area.
Toolboxes were recovered with two inches of saltwater-contaminated sludge in the drawers.
The waves from the hurricane carried sand from some beaches inland for several blocks, piling three feet high.
Navigating the streets has been a challenge. I saw a golf course where 20 boats had washed aground from a marina. The owners had to remove the rudders and hire crews to push the boats back to the marina.
Garbage piled as much as 15 feet high along some roads.
Long-term, there is some reason to be hopeful. Many people are coping with their losses in part by buying used cars. Over the long-term, this could help my business since used cars require more service than new ones.
But nobody knows what’s going to happen, long-term.
There is not much you can do to prepare for this type of disaster. The community was warned about the storm, and in response, they erected 3-foot-high barriers along the coast. Many shop owners installed additional shelves in their buildings and elevated their tools and equipment three feet from the floor. None of this helped against 5-foot and higher floodwaters.
In the meantime, I’m doing what he can to help my customers get back on their feet.
