Mark Cuban hired a team of secret shoppers to find out how businesses were opening in Dallas

I wanted to get an understanding of what opening meant to businesses around Dallas. Were they opening? What precautions were they taking? Were employees in safe environments? And bigger picture, I wanted to know if these are places that I would feel safe taking my family to.

The numbers reported by Mark’s research are as fascinating as they are hair curling. Of the roughly 1,000 businesses surveyed, “only 36% of businesses chose to open on the opening weekend,” which I found encouraging. “Wow, Dallas really approached this responsibly and only a little over a third of businesses felt they could manage opening safely,” I thought. I continued reading.

Of those who chose to open “96% of businesses were non-compliant across all mandatory protocols and all locations.” Mark breaks this down further by explaining that only ~1/3 businesses were 50% compliant and of the protocols, “~60% of mandatory protocols were followed and ~54% of all suggested protocols were followed.”

I was encouraged when I read the first stat that only 36% of businesses opened as I assumed that meant only businesses who planned to comply with the mandatory protocols would be willing to risk opening and the remaining 64% were simply unable to open safely. However the stats pertaining to compliance suggest that when businesses in Canada open up, we cannot be assured that they are doing so because they are ready to implement protocols to protect their customers. It remains our individual responsibility to observe the appropriate protocols when participating in public commerce.

All of this said, I do not think Dallas or any other area was wrong to open. Businesses who failed to comply with protocols during opening weekend will surely improve now that we have the data. For the sake of employees and customers, I hope they are able to make those improvements quickly.

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