Hey boys, girls, grown-ups of all ages, and my distributor friends, too. This is your Jolly Old Pal, Santa. I slipped away from chair duty down at the mall and magically hijacked the controls of KYKLO’s Newsletter Machine.

Remember. I know when you are sleeping, and I know when you’re awake. I also know what you are thinking, so let me set the record straight. Even the North Pole Elves are computer savvy these days. It is an understatement to say we are overly busy keeping our naughty and nice list up to date. But Santa had a few moments and thought this might be a good time to set the record straight.

First, nobody asked for this COVID game for Christmas last year, and no, my crack team of elves isn’t busy bagging up any vaccine samples, so don’t even think about sending me one of those hard to read letters. Second, Mrs. Claus is plenty miffed about the shortages of toilet paper and hot chocolate mix. This Coronavirus supply chain has really hit us hard. Can you imagine keeping toilet paper on hand for 300 elves? But this letter from Santa is not to share our lack of luck and troubling tales. Instead, let’s just be a Christmas light on a snow-covered yard and reflect.

As we brush up against the Holidays and New Year’s Eve, 2020 is slipping away – and fast. Before you know it, Christmas will be over. Your gigantic New Year’s Zoom call with friends will be but a memory. For that matter, National Pie Day on January 23rd will soon be gone. But this COVID stuff will continue to linger. Santa is not doing any prognosticating, but The Evening News’ Lester Holt, is saying it will be late spring or early summer before everyone gets a shot of the Corona-curing eggnog. All that, but you will still be doing your distributor thing. Remember that?

Optimistic reports indicate a vaccine is here and will be provided to front-line health workers and those in long-term care facilities by the end of January. The rest of the population, including your Kris Kringle, will not be fully covered until summer.

While the end is in sight, it is going to be a long, drawn-out process, and likely quite the ordeal. Salespeople will not be visiting customers in the “normal” manner. Customers will continue to work from home when possible. And many of them will likely continue working remotely even after the new normal hits.

Having a webstore is important. Even Santa sees more online requests over the old-fashioned toy stores. Customers are even tossing away their catalogs. Allow me to share.

My friend, and Olympic Champion in the Naughty (vs. Nice) category, Frank Hurtte, stopped down at the mall for our annual photo. He shared the results of some focused conversations he had with OEMs and Panel Builders in the Automation world. Every single one of them indicated they were using eCommerce as a buying tool. Nearly 70 percent of the group said they have all but ditched their last catalog. They want your technical expertise as much as young Frank wanted a Red Rider BB Gun. But they also want the convenience of your web-based information.

Well, enough of this for today, the elves just brought in another thousand pounds of letters from snotty-nosed little brats trying to weasel their way onto the Nice list and Jingles the Elf wants to talk about a supply issue with baby doll arms.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Santa and your friends at KYKLO, too.