This Saturday, we invite you to celebrate with our family in a unique way. Instead of coming to our office for a party, we at On Time Logistics encourage you to celebrate small businesses by participating in Small Business Saturday.
This means visiting local stores and local restaurants for food, gifts and many other items. In Northwest Arkansas we’re blessed to have both of the world’s best large retailers and to also be a hotbed for entrepreneurialism. Our own company is locally operated and most of our couriers are entrepreneurs as well.
We work with companies of all shapes and sizes and some of what you see at the Black Friday sales got to your local big box store because of our last mile service. We also work closely with many fellow small businesses and love that these companies have their own special day to offer special deals and emphasize the value of shopping locally.
What is a small business and what economic impact do they have?
- The Small Business Administration defines a small business as having fewer than 500 employees.
- There are almost 28 million small businesses in the United States.
- More than 50 percent of the working population (120 million individuals) works in a small business.
- Small businesses have generated over 65 percent of the net new jobs since 1995.
- Fifty-two percent of all small businesses are home-based.
- On a dollar-for-dollarbasis, the local economic impact of independently owned businesses is significantly greater than that of national chains.
- Every $100 spent at locally owned businesses contributes an additional $58 to the local economy.
- The same amount spent at a chain store yields just $33 in local economic impact.
- If residents of the region were to shift 10 percent of their spending from chains to locally owned businesses, it would generate $127 million in additional local economic activity and 874 new jobs generating over $35 million in wages.