PMPs Nearly Split on Supply Chain Issues in Rigorous Economy

CLEVELAND — In this week’s PCT Reader Poll, we asked respondents if their pest control company still faced supply chain issues.

While it was a tight race, in the end, 51 percent of respondents said they are still facing supply chain issues, and forty-nine percent said they are not.

In a May 2022 IPM Insights column by Cory Goeltzenleuchter, B.C.E., member of the NPMA Technical Committee and president-elect of the Urban Pest Management Technical Committee, said the industry was still seeing supply chain issues for chemicals, equipment, materials used for packaging and applying products, vehicles, personal protective equipment and even shipping itself.

“Equipment can be hard to come by and replace, so proper care and maintenance is extremely important to prolonging its service life,” he said. “Start by training on the proper use of the equipment. Demonstrate the appropriate ways to use the equipment and show examples of what happens when you don’t take care of it. It can be especially beneficial to show spray tips that have been damaged due to abnormal wear and tear.”

Courtney Carace, A.C.E., chief operating officer at Pest-End Inc., Plaistow, N.H., said the company has overall seen improvements with supply chain issues in the past few months. But they continue to struggle with vehicle acquisitions. “Securing vehicles has been challenging for a number of reasons,” Carace said. “Many manufacturers are no longer producing vans, which comprise the majority of our fleet. We have had to begin the transition over to trucks, which have increased significantly in price and are not always easily available.”

She also noted some gel products that the company typically uses have been difficult to obtain.

“After meeting with one of our distribution reps in December, we elected to place an order for several products in hopes that we receive them by June,” Carace said. “They explained that the products continue to go in and out of production with little notice, and much of it has to do with the plastics needed for the containers.”

She said Pest-End has undergone additional training and created new standard operating procedures for its team.

King Jones, CEO of CT Pest Solutions, Naugatuck, C.T., said although supply chain issues have improved, they are still finding products on back order for an extended period of time with no timeframe in sight. 

"We are having inconsistent supply issues with products such as a Dig Defence (a product made from stainless steel) or isolated pesticides that manufacturers may be having supply chain shortages with raw materials such as Maxforce Roach Bait Stations," he said.

On the contrary, Terminix President Scott Fortson said the company has not been heavily impacted by supply chain shortages. “Our suppliers did a great job of finding us alternative products when we did have an issue with any certain product not being available,” he said.

Similarly, Rusty Prewett, CEO of Prewett Pest Control, Auburn, Ala., said his company hasn't seen much of a supply chain shortage, "but I do think there are delays in deliveries as companies adjust to technology and efficiency changes."