Top financial issues for 2022

We asked Pest Management Professional’s columnists and editorial advisory board members to share what will be the biggest pest control industry topics in 2022. Here are some of the experts’ responses from our January 2022 print edition.

Please take a minute to answer our latest one-question poll on this topic and let us know how you promote disinfecting and sanitizing services: Reader poll: Top financial issues of 2022.

PMP’s Editorial Advisory Board and Regular Contributors

Greg Baumann

Greg Baumann: “The cost of materials and supplies will increase due to supply availability and transportation costs.”

Jerry Schappert, ACE: “Finding the balance to be fair to customers, but still keep pace with inflation. Everything is up in price, so we have to go up, too. But too much could negatively affect our business.”

Pete Schopen: “Funding our expansion. We recently purchased a second building to house our corporate staff; we need to hire a full-time human resources person; and we have instituted a retirement fund to attract more potential employees.”

Mark Sheperdigian, BCE: “Carefully monitoring the costs for materials and supplies, as inflation and supply chain issues are likely to drive up costs.”

Foster Brusca: “The ability to attract talented people that we can afford to bring on board. Talented people will demand higher pay, great benefits and a company with purpose. We are still a growing company, and have a real niche in the pest control industry. Because of this, the success and growth of The Pest Posse are determined by the success and growth of pest control companies. A weak economy in 2022 may affect our growth. We have signs of great growth potential in 2022, and look forward to the challenges ahead.”

Doug Foster: “Labor shortages and supply chain issues — in short, getting products. Both will cost more, so we are going to have to raise our prices and be more efficient in our work to combat these issues. Our industry is really creative, and I’m looking forward to watching our collective entrepreneurial spirit kick in to solve these problems.”

Paul Hardy: “Labor and vehicle costs. The pest control industry is failing to stay up with employee wages, and fuel costs already are up about 50 percent over previous years.”

Eric Scherzinger: “Inflation. We need to raise our prices because of product cost, pay and so on. Prices are going up on everything under the sun. We have to adjust and find savings anywhere we can.”