How COVID-19 Changed Everything (And Nothing)
I've rewritten this post about six times now. Every version felt wrong — too cheerful, too grim, too corporate, too raw. The truth is, I don't know what the right tone is for writing about a global pandemic while you're still in the middle of it. So I'm just going to be honest and hope that's enough.
The Week Everything Changed
It was mid-March when it hit us. Not the virus itself (thankfully, our team has stayed healthy), but the reality of what was happening. One day we were in the office arguing about packaging colors; the next day, the office was empty and we were all staring at each other through laptop screens.
The first week of remote work was chaos. Our warehouse team had to implement safety protocols overnight. Our supply chain — which relies heavily on international shipping — ground to a halt. Orders that should have arrived in two weeks were delayed by two months. Suppliers went dark. Shipping costs tripled.
I spent a lot of that first week lying awake at 3 AM, doing math in my head and trying not to panic.
What Changed
Everything operational changed. We restructured our warehouse shifts to keep people safe and distanced. We moved our entire office team to remote work — which, for a company that had never done remote work before, was like learning to ride a bike while the bike was on fire.
Our product priorities shifted too. Travel accessories, which had been one of our biggest categories, saw demand drop overnight. Nobody was traveling. But kitchen tools? Baby toys? Organization products? Those went through the roof. People were at home, cooking more, spending more time with their kids, and finally tackling that hall closet they'd been ignoring for three years.
We pivoted. Not because we're brilliant strategists, but because we listened to what people needed and tried to provide it. We fast-tracked inventory for our kitchen and kids' products. We improved our shipping communications so customers knew exactly what was happening with their orders. We answered every single customer email, even when the answer was "we're sorry, we don't know either."
What Didn't Change
Here's the thing that surprised me: the core of who we are didn't change at all.
We still cared obsessively about quality. We still read every review. We still argued about whether a product was good enough. We still sent each other Slack messages at weird hours because someone had an idea for how to make something better.
If anything, the pandemic made us more ourselves. When the world feels uncertain, you hold tighter to the things that matter. For us, that's making good products for good people. That hasn't changed. That won't change.
The Team
I need to talk about our team for a second, because they've been extraordinary. People who had never worked from home figured it out in days. People took on responsibilities outside their job descriptions without being asked. Our warehouse team — the ones who couldn't work from home — showed up every day with masks and hand sanitizer and a determination that honestly humbled me.
We did daily video check-ins, not to monitor productivity, but to make sure everyone was okay. Some of those calls had nothing to do with work. They were about how people were feeling, what they were struggling with, who needed support. That felt more important than any sales report.
Looking Ahead
I don't know when this ends. Nobody does. But I know this: we're going to come out of it as a better company. We've learned to be more flexible, more empathetic, more resilient. We've discovered that our team doesn't need to be in the same room to do great work — they just need to care about the same things.
To our customers: thank you for your patience. Thank you for your understanding when orders were delayed. Thank you for sticking with us. We're here for you, the same way you've been here for us.
We're going to be okay. All of us.
— Stan