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My mother is my barometer for technological adoption--if my Mom asks me to help her figure something out on her phone or tablet, it is safe to assume it’s going from mostly mainstream to fundamental fact of life. So when Mom hit me up a few days ago asking about GooglePay, I had two thoughts in succession: 1) Ugh, Lord give me strength as I guide her through this, and, 2) It might be time to blog about mobile payments again.

As retailers prepare to reopen their doors, there are immediate needs to be addressed: Compliance with local restrictions, realigning resources, and, most importantly, ensuring employees and customers both feel and are as safe as possible. 

I’ve always known we were going to get out of this phase of the pandemic, but this week was the first time I actually could see it playing out. Indeed, what has been a distant promise is slowly becoming a tangible future as concrete plans are being laid across the nation for a gradual relaxing of social distancing standards and a reopening of shuttered businesses. While logistics and timetables are going to vary from state-to-state, county-to-county, and even city-to-city, examining California’s recently announced, four-stage reopening plan offers our first real glimpse at what our new normal will look like and how we will get there. 

In these times, grocery delivery can be stressful. An anecdote: Hearing that Amazon Prime Now grocery delivery windows were being released at midnight each day, last night (or was it this morning?) my man and I set our alarm and tried to time it just right. But the stress of rushing through our grocery shopping combined with miscommunications led to a late-night (or was it early-morning?) shouting match about shared responsibilities, mutual respect, and the difference between ‘want’ and ‘need.’ 

If it weren’t for the news, every day would have started feeling like the one before--quarantine is least terrible of our current options, this should go without saying, but that doesn’t mean it is fun or fulfilling. The walls get boring, the couch starts to make your back stiff, and every time you stop to think about it, you realize you are doing the exact same thing in the exact same place at the exact same time as the day before.