Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.bonus,americast.usa-today.bonus From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: bonus Tue, Sep 22 1992 Date: Tue, 22 Sep 92 04:55:02 EDT Message-ID: 09-22 0000 BONUS: Firms recovering from Andrew USA TODAY Update Sept. 22, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network Hurricane Andrew tore a couple of 8,000-pound air conditioning units off the top of Robert Zinn's Mazda dealership in Perrine, Fla., then peeled back the roof and pounded half the dazzling glass-and-steel building to oblivion. Twelve days later, Zinn re-opened for business. More than 80 new cars were destroyed. Only 23 of his 70 employees have reported to work. He has no phone line, no fax machine, no way to check customers' credit ratings. WHAT DOES HE HAVE LEFT? But he has a trailer, a generator and the will to keep going. "Our competitors have been spreading rumors that we've filed for bankruptcy," says Zinn, who was insured for losses estimated at more than $3 million. "We'll come back from this." ARE OTHER BUSINESSES OPEN? Given the mass destruction and chaos caused by Hurricane Andrew, it's a wonder anyone touched by the storm can focus on making a living. But along a 30-mile stretch of U.S. 1 south of Miami, supermarkets, convenience stores, restaurants, car dealerships, gas stations, building supply stores and the occasional beauty shop are hanging out signs declaring, "WE'RE OPEN!" HOW HAVE THEY MANAGED TO BE OPEN? They may be open, but often they're operating without power, water or many customers. Some employers have laid off workers or cut their hours until business picks up. Some workers have returned after cleaning up the rubble of their personal lives to find more headaches waiting for them. Their offices were blown to bits, their Rolodexes, files, correspondence and personal mementos gone forever. HOW ARE THE WORKERS BEING ACCOMMODATED? They're sharing space in temporary quarters, or working under leaky roofs and dim lighting supplied by generators. Many now live in temporary homes an hour's commute north of the hurricane zone; others have stayed put, living in houses without roofs, power or hot water. Thanks to Hurricane Andrew, flex time and casual dress codes have become the norm. HOW MANY BUSINESSES SURVIVED? Only one quarter of the 8,000 businesses located in the area of southern Dade County hit by the storm are fully operating, says Bill Cullom, president of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce. In Homestead, 90% of businesses are destroyed, 10,000 jobs gone. Before the storm, 123,000 people were employed in southern Dade, most in small service businesses with fewer than five employees each. About 15,000 were farm workers employed by nurseries and fruit growers. County officials estimate about 85,000 people are still unemployed because of Andrew, but more are back on the job every day. HOW ARE WORKERS COPING? Under such circumstances, those lucky enough to have work have had to improvise. Some have gone to great lengths to protect their livelihoods. The morning Andrew hit, Zinn's mechanic Lee Payton spent two harrowing hours in his shower stall with his wife, daughter, two dogs and a cat as the winds blew the roof off his apartment building. After the storm subsided, they went to Zinn's service garage where Payton, armed with a 380 automatic, stood guard over thousands of dollars worth of tools and equipment. ARE LOOTERS THE ONLY PROBLEM? Payton's family lived at the garage for 10 days, sleeping on mattresses on the floor, cooking on an outdoor grill and taking turns watching for looters who roamed the neighborhood after dark. Zinn has carried on his own battle against the price-gougers who've descended since the storm. He says some heavy equipment operators, electricians and computer companies have tried to charge outrageous fees for generators, trailers and replacement parts. And competitors in northern Dade County, who were untouched by the storm, are hiring away his best salespeople: "The vultures are circling," he says. HOW DID BURGER KING FARE? At Burger King headquarters in Cutler Ridge, offices on the west side of the building escaped the storm relatively unscathed. The all-important database remained intact. But on the east side, where executive offices and the legal department overlooked a fresh-water lake, glass windows shattered, ceilings collapsed, and desks and computers were hurled hundreds of feet. A command post was set up immediately at a hotel near the airport. Then vice president of real estate Ron Biskin, whose own home was destroyed, worked practically round-the-clock for eight days to arrange a move to temporary offices in West Dade County. Many Burger King employees now work in hallways crammed with boxes, or in tiny offices shared with two or three co-workers. WHAT ELSE HAS BEEN DIFFICULT? One of their greatest difficulties, they say, is dealing with people on the outside who don't understand the extent of the destruction. "This was yesterday's news very quickly to the rest of the world," says CEO Barry Gibbons. Says Gibbons: "Someone from (parent company Grand Metropolitan) headquarters in London wrote for a copy of our ethics book. I think all 6,000 copies are in the bay right now." HOW HAS THE JOB MARKET REACTED? Before Andrew hit, Dade County workers were just beginning to recover from a collapse in the construction, finance and airline industries that led to the loss of 39,000 jobs last year. While the county's unemployment rate was 10.4% in July, state labor economist Bruce Thomson says the rate of layoffs had slowed. Rebuilding in the hurricane's wake has provided about 20,000 new jobs, says the Chamber's Cullom, but a similar number will be lost. Some companies won't survive, and some will move out of the area. Most of the new jobs are in construction, but some laid-off, white-collar workers have found temporary positions working for relief agencies such as the Red Cross. IS THERE A BRIGHT SIDE? Hurricane Andrew has done some businesses a favor by wiping out the competition. Nails Nouveau, in the northern end of the disaster zone, is the first nail salon north of Homestead that wasn't blown away. Co-owner Sandra Stubbs says she's getting 18 to 20 customers a day, the same as always. But half her regular customers have moved out of the area, replaced by customers from the south who have nowhere else to go. One Homestead woman who lost everything is going ahead with her wedding plans - and a manicure. HAVE SOME ACTUALLY DONE WELL? Even in the most devastated regions, some businesses have defied the odds. A Rite Aid drugstore on Route 1 in Homestead is one of only two stores open in a battered shopping center. Although half the roof blew off and all the merchandise was ruined, new supplies were trucked in two days after the storm. Batteries, candles, beer, cigarettes, charcoal and 69-cent cans of tuna are selling briskly. "I have to pay someone to watch my house so I can go to work," says Sheila Bertolino, a security guard working 14-hour days. "But we're thankful for our jobs." Bonus Editor: Kate Coughlin. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM