The Odessa Record - Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!

The last week has not been good for small businesses in our part of the state.

The U.S. Postal Service began slowing “snail mail” services. Stores were ordered to stop using plastic bags and required to make their paying customers pay for a paper bag. And the state announced the minimum wage would jump to $14.49 per hour Jan. 1.

If you don’t own or manage a business, this may seem overly dramatic.

Who cares if it takes an extra day for your mail to arrive, right? It’s only 8 cents for a paper bag. And people deserve to make more money on the job.

It’s not that simple.

Local busin...