Things are changing rapidly so we will keep our updates at the top of this post.

Updates

March 25, 2020 – Bellevue Store Closed, Seattle Store Open

According to Governor Inslee’s Stay Home order, communication companies such as ours qualify as an essential business. From the Communications and Information Technology section:

Installation, maintenance and repair technicians that establish, support or repair service as needed

To minimize the risk to our employees, customers, and communities:

1. We’ve decided to close our Bellevue store temporarily.
2. Our Wallingford store in Seattle with be open with limited number of employees and limited hours. Instead of our normal 7 day a week schedule, we’ll only be operating Monday – Friday from 10am – 7pm.

Both stores should go back to normal operations on April 7 when the rest of Washington’s businesses are expected to open again.

March 21, 2020 – Mail-in Repair Depot Open

We’ve decided to keep our mail-in repair depot open for now. This services broken iPads & Chromebooks for schools. With the number of schools around the country moving to at-home learning, it’s important these devices keep working. In fact, we’ve had a number of schools request repairs already so they can deploy them to students.

Fortunately, our repair depot does not have any direct contact with customers and technicians have their own workspaces that are at least 6 feet from each another. In addition, all but one of our depot employees drive to work so they don’t have to worry about public transportation. The one employee we do have that takes the bus, will now be taking a Lyft & our company will be subsidizing the extra cost for her.

In addition, we will be following all applicable practices listed below in the Jet City Precautions & Procedures section.

March 20, 2020 – Chicago Store Open but with Limited Hours

Governor Pritzker ordered all non-essential Illinois business closed. We meet the criteria of an essential business. From Section 12.n:

Businesses that sell,..supply other Essential Businesses…with the support or materials necessary to operate, including computers, audio and video electronics…telecommunication equipment…

We will continue to follow all the precautions listed below to help ensure the safety of our employees, customers, and community. In addition, until April 7, we will be operating on a more limited schedule. We will only be open 10am – 7pm Monday-Friday.

Jet City Precautions & Procedures

Like many people, we are concerned about the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19). We’re doing what we can to protect our employees and customers. Here are some of the steps we’re taking:

1. Hand sanitizer on the front desk for customers.*
2. Hand sanitizer on our technicians’ work space for them to use. *
3. We wipe down all surfaces a couple times a day with alcohol.
4. Wipe down all handles & faucets several times a day (including when we first open). This includes:
   • Front door (inside & out).
   • Bathroom door.
   • Toilet flush handle.
   • Bathroom and kitchen sink faucets.
5. Credit card machines on the front desk so we aren’t handing cards back & forth.
6. Encouraging customers to pay with a credit card. We will still accept cash, but prefer you use a credit card if you can.
7. Fully wipe a customer’s phone with isopropyl alcohol as soon as we get it and right before we hand it back.
8. Technicians washing their hands through out the day.
9. Encourage employees to stay home if they are sick. To ensure this, we are offering sick time pay without taking it off their normal, paid sick-time.

* Note: If hand sanitizer isn’t available, which Is common lately, we put isopropyl alcohol in a spray bottle and use that.

We know there is no fool-proof way to stop the spread of germs, but we think these  simple precautions will go a long way towards keeping staff and customers healthy.

Have other suggestions for us? We’d love to hear them. Please let us know.