Ah, Spring! Oh-Oh, Pests!

By Alan Caruba

I would like to thank Alan for sending this to me. I have been reading his work - and with his permission - republished many of his articles. I am also happy to say we have become friends over the years. Alan posts daily on his blog, Warning Signs. You may wish to view some of his older works at Caruba's Corner: Green Myths and Other Lies, which you will find in the right hand column of this blog. RK



  Yikes! Termites!

Poets never seem to run out of words to describe spring. Alfred Lord Tennyson said a young man's thoughts turn to love when spring arrives. Gardeners especially welcome it to put their little part of the world in perfect order, and many thrill to the sound of "Play ball!"

Spring, for me, is an annual reminder of the sheer power of nature to regenerate itself. Wherever you live, the trees burst into bloom along with the fecund life cycles of every species. In a world shaking loose the icy grip of winter, spring is full of the promise of warmer days, blue skies, and the real greening that nature provides.

Along with other species, spring signals the emergence of insect and rodent pests. America has been suffering a plague of bed bugs these days because there is only one pesticide registered to kill them and the Environmental Protection Agency has been notoriously slow to permit its use. All manner of other non-chemical techniques are used, but the bed bugs survive and thrive.

I know a lot about pests because in the 1980s I began to provide public relations services for my home state's pest control association. These days both the national and state associations have renamed themselves “pest management” groups, but the only thing you want to “manage “ with insect and rodent pests is to kill them as fast as possible.

So, yes, when spring arrives, I know that a lot of pest control professionals are gearing up to do battle with cockroaches, termites, ants, spiders, ticks, bed bugs, wasps, and the many permutations of their various species. The profession had its beginnings in the Middle Ages when men called “ratcatchers” plied their trade. Even English royalty employed them to keep their castles rat-free.

At the time, few made any connection between rats, fleas, and the Bubonic plague that raged through Europe from 1347 for the next five years, but that didn’t stop the plague from killing off a quarter of the population of Europe, some 25 million! Try to imagine what life would be like without pest control professionals today?

Spring, for example, marks the arrival of Lyme disease in many parts of the nation where there are large deer populations. The northeast is particularly vulnerable to this disease that is spread by the black-legged deer tick.

For homeowners and others with property, spring signals the presence of termites when their winged alates show up on window panes, attracted by the sunlight. What most do not know is that their home has likely been infested for several years until the colony reaches a point of sending the alates out to establish new colonies. Annually termites do more damage to homes throughout the United States than the combined effects of storms, fires, and earthquakes. Termite damage is frequently not covered by homeowner’s insurance. It is estimated they cause $5 billion in damage every year.

Termites aren't the only insect that can inflict property damage, a colony of Carpenter ants, often several thousands in numbers, can enter a home overnight and begin to dine on its wooden elements.

Pest management professionals always urge consumers to have their homes and workplaces regularly inspected for signs of insect or rodent pests. The tendency, however, is to wait until there are signs of an infestation before people call for help. I’d rather know my home or business was pest-free.

For example, there are a variety of cockroach species indigenous to the United States. They include the American, German, and Oriental cockroach. A cockroach infestation can number in the hundreds of thousands. A single, female German cockroach can, statistically, produce more than 400,000 descendents in a single year. The young of German cockroaches mature in 36 days, while American cockroaches take up to 160 days. If you see one, particularly in a restaurant, it means there are thousands you can’t see.

Rodents, mice and rats, breed prodigiously as well. Rats have a life span of approximately nine months and are ready to breed within three months. Their gestation period is 22 days and they have an average litter of eight. A female rat can produce 20 offspring. Statistically, a single pair of rats has the potential, mathematically, of producing 359 million descendents in three year’s time.

I hope this hasn’t reduced all those warm, fuzzy feelings you have about the return of spring to those of dread, but in truth Mother Nature doesn’t care how you feel about spring or bed bugs or any of the many other creatures who are too busy reproducing to be concerned about your welfare and health.

Remember that the next time the EPA bans another pesticide or some environmentalist tells you that the biggest threat to your life is carbon dioxide, a gas you exhale all the time.

Mark Twain put these words in Tom Sawyer’s mouth: It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want -- oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!

© Alan Caruba, 2012

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Pest Control – Back to the Future!

By Rich Kozlovich

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. - C. S. Lewis

Recently I had a conversation with a friend of mine who is outraged that we are attempting to bring propoxur back for bed bug control. He is also outraged at those who are working to do this, which also includes me by the way. I asked why?

His point is that we were going into the past and not into the future. We need to go forward! We were going backward, not forward when we do this type of thing. “Who wants to start using this stuff and then have it hanging over our heads?” I would assume that last part was based on EPA’s recent determination that propoxur was too toxic to use around children, without any real science behind it. Since EPA changed the safety factor from 100 fold to 1000 fold it makes it far easier to declare anything too toxic if they wish to, in spite of the fact that propoxur, also known as Baygon, was used by the general public for over twenty years.

He isn’t alone either. This isn’t an uncommon theme in our industry. Twenty five years ago this would have never occurred, but we have been psychologically prepared to accept this kind of thinking by a constant drumbeat of irrational environmentalism by the greenies, the Environmental Protection Agency, their acolytes in the media, and a host of owners, managers, Ph.D.’s involved with our industry and trainers that are from a different generation. They are much more easily swayed by the environmental litany.

He made it clear that he was willing to stand up in opposition against anyone attempting to bring old products back. I told him that he would then be wrong, and I will say this; anyone who agrees with him is also wrong. I know, I know…I’m right and the world is wrong! Yes…exactly!

Do we think we are going backward in progress if we resort to old technology if that old technology works versus new technology that is failing the nation? When the new technology doesn’t work, or doesn’t work well, should we cling to it with a religious passion because it’s modern and new while refusing to use what works simply because it’s old?

Thirty years ago when I first came into the pest control industry cockroaches were the number one problem in commercial accounts, especially restaurants, bars and apartments. I can honestly say that the majority of these places had roaches. What to do? I really hate being ignorant so I read everything I could get my hands on about roach control. About that time there was a great deal of talk about boric acid in the trade journals. I asked one of my bosses what he thought about it. He smiled, in that self assured way when someone is dealing with an idiot child and said; “that’s old technology” and walked away.

Well, since I was so ignorant I was prepared to try anything that might work. I used it in spite of his lack of enthusiasm and got results in accounts that had been having roach problems for a long time. Being in my early 30’s and having come off a job that required a great deal of physical work I was in great shape, and I didn’t mind crawling or climbing into anything anywhere to get the job done. I got results mostly because I was too ignorant to know any better. I just didn’t know that this wasn’t how it was supposed to be done. I went back to the future…..but I got the job done.

Some weeks later he came back from the Ohio Pest Control Association’s Summer Meeting and informed me that boric acid is all they were talking about for roach control. Why? Because it worked! It was back to the future for everyone at this company, and those who wouldn’t make the adjustment eventually left.

I also made a bunch of money selling roach work in accounts where so many others were failing to get control; at least until the synthetic pyrethroids exploded on the market. After resistance developed in these products we had roach baits that were introduced; and roach work has never been as profitable since. Once again; chemistry that worked was the answer.

Today we have a plethora of techniques and tools that can get rid of bed bugs. We have dry heat, steam heat, hand removal, traps, dusting techniques and procedures, vacuum cleaners designed for pest control and some chemistry that is only partially effective; and this is what makes the whole procedure partially effective. It is true that dry heat will kill everything in a building, but the expense is out of the reach of most Americans and there is no way of preventing a re-infestation with this program. We are in much the same situation as I was in thirty years ago with cockroaches. Not having the right chemistry was failing the nation, so we went back to the future and used boric acid. Bed bugs are spreading rapidly over the nation because current bed bug procedures aren't working for the nation, and for the same reason; we don’t have the right chemistry available.

Our job is more than a job. It is a mission. We are part of the public health service (whether they like to admit it or not) that stands between society and disaster. We are part of that thin gray line that stands on the wall and says, “no one will harm you on my watch”. If we are to succeed in our mission to protect society we must be effective in our treatments! If that means going back to old technology, then that is what we must do. It isn’t our job to be progressive, whatever that may mean, it our job to be effective!

There was a great old movie called “People Will Talk” with Cary Grant portraying a character called Dr. Noah Praetorius. He followed a relatively simple personal philosophy regarding medical treatments for the sick and suffering; “I’m in favor of using whatever makes sick people well”. One of his colleagues had him brought up before a faculty board to answer charges about his qualifications as a doctor. Dr. Praetorius answered one question my simply saying "I made sick people well”.

We need to properly define this issue. It isn’t about science, it isn’t about money; it’s about results, and it is a moral issue. By ridding properties of pest infestations we make sick buildings healthy, and I don’t care what we have to use to do it. I am prepared to use anything that makes sick buildings well! I am more than willing to go back to the future if that’s what’s necessary.

The answer to bed bugs in 1946 was effective, inexpensive chemistry that was available to everyone. If that isn’t the answer in 2010 then there will be no answer.


Comments will not be accepted that are rude, crude, stupid or smarmy. Nor will I allow ad hominem attacks or comments from anyone who is "Anonymous”, even if they are positive!

Pest Control in Challenging Times

This first appeared in the spring issue of The Standard, the quarterly newsletter of the Ohio Pest Management Association.

By Michelle Crawley

The past two years have posed many economic challenges to families and businesses, and the methods of coping are as varied as the businesses and individuals themselves. Recently, several OPMA member companies shared how they are navigating their businesses through these rough waters, and just when they expect to see recovery.

The verdict? These companies are faring well, despite the challenges that a recession can bring upon small businesses.

Todd Anderson has owned A-Best Termite and Pest Control since 1992. It is located in the Akron and Ravenna areas, employing eight people. In addition to running his business, Anderson is vice president of the Summit County Pest Control Association. Anderson says that while 2009 was the toughest year that any small business could go through, A-Best managed to meet all of their budget projections and even do a little better than the year before. The recession did not affect them as much as it could have, and he credits several adjustments that his company made in controlling costs for that success.

“We have not had to cut employees,” said Anderson. “In fact, we have brought an additional employee on, and have added a part-time office person to help with phones.”

Similarly, Mike Grace, owner of TNT Exterminating in Akron and past president of the OPMA said that, like most companies, they buckled down when the recession hit. His company employs 14, and he also has not had to cut anyone. Last year, despite a decline in sales, TNT’s profits were up.

“We really took a look at expenses in 2008 and got them under control,” said Grace. “So last year ended up being a banner year for us, due to the adjustments we made as the recession began.”

Gotcha! Pest Control Specialists in Akron is a three person operation, and specializes in the residential market. Owner Gregg Lang is past president of the Summit County Pest Control Association and is its current chairman of the board. He said that for his company, last year was slow and servicing for new businesses did not increase.

“We are not losing accounts; we are just not growing as fast as we used to be,” he said. “However, we stayed busy all year long, and because we are a small company we even sometimes push business to other companies in those busy times.”

Bob Caldwell is owner of Acme Exterminating Co. in Cleveland, and was the first president of the Greater Cleveland Pest Control Association. His company employs nine people. He says that in an economy like this, it’s a matter of tightening your belt and getting rid of superfluous overhead. “Analyze your market, find your niche and adjust accordingly.”

“Controlling costs is a huge thing,” agreed Lang. He said that at Gotcha!, they have not had to do any major cost cutting, but are keeping their eye on things.

Commercial versus residential markets

Caldwell pointed out that commercial and residential markets must be approached differently, especially in these times.

“The commercial market is really getting hit by the recession,” he said, “so they may find that they have to cut pest control. It’s still a high priority in homes, though – they will not live with pests.”

Grace agreed, “We’re seeing our residential contract accounts rebound at TNT – and these are not only the people who call up once a year. We are finding that people are spending money quicker than before. Much of this is weather driven.”

However, Lang said that Gotcha! saw a lot of people trying to spray themselves before calling their company to come out. He says his company is also feeling the effects the poor real estate market. “People are not moving into new homes like they used to. So there are fewer wood destroying insect (WDI) inspections these days. In the past, we did about 1,300 of those per year. Now we’re doing less than half that number.”

But one thing that Lang said has helped is that, unlike a lot of the businesses that are out there, years ago his company got away from spraying once a season and they are instead doing quarterly service for residential clients and monthly service for commercial properties. This makes it easier for residential clients to spread out the payments, instead of getting hit with a large yearly charge. These accounts also tend to be more long-term.

Fuel costs

Lang said the diesel costs are killing them.

Similarly, Grace recognizes that fuel costs are key. He said that in 2008, TNT adjusted prices when gas hit $4 a gallon. Last year, the gas prices went back down, and that contributed to his increased profits. However, he expects fuel costs to skyrocket again this year.

“The dynamics of this industry really change with the gas prices,” says Grace. “It’s very difficult to raise prices as fast as gas goes up. Sometimes it happens so fast companies can’t recover. I see fuel prices as a huge indicator of the health of the industry. The price of gas can make or break us.”

Marketing costs

These companies are taking different approaches to marketing for 2010, but all agree that that advertising costs must be examined.

Like many companies we talked to, Caldwell has adjusted his marketing. He realizes that marketing today is different than in the past – especially with the electronic opportunities that the Internet brings. “Younger consumers are using the Web to find pest control companies, versus looking at the Yellow Pages like the older generation does.”

Lang has cut advertising costs at his business. Grace, too, has cut ad costs by backing out of some of the Yellow Page ads they had done for a long time. Instead, he is shifting dollars by doing some cable television ads for the first time. “By not having the 12-month commitment of a Yellow Pages ad, we have the flexibility to spend the money elsewhere,” he said.

Conversely, instead of cutting or shifting ad dollars, Anderson increased A-Best’s exposure as much as possible for 2010. He increased yellow page advertising, labeled his fleet and is paying his technicians a commission for add-on services.

“We always ran unmarked vehicles before,” said Anderson. “I realized that they could be an advertisement on the highway, so we labeled our entire service fleet to get that free advertising. We need people to know we are here.

“We also started doing direct mailings to customers we have seen in the past three years. Carpenter ants and bees and wasps are big problems in the Akron area. We sent out over 1,200 post cards targeting these pests. This reminds customers that they have had us out in the past, and that they should schedule with us again.”

“Our technicians are also keeping their eyes open for add-on items,” said Anderson. “We don’t want to nickel and dime the customer, but sometimes a technician may notice that someone needs a chimney cap, or they will offer a free termite inspection. These can pay off for customer and for us, adding some revenue.”

Anderson also runs a retail store. He finds that a lot of customers are do-it-yourselfers, so they come in and buy their chemicals.

Other strategies

One company said that carrying no debt and having a few dollars is their secret to weathering the storm. Having no creditors makes a company flexible.

Grace says that people are the key to TNT’s success. “That is where success comes from,” he said. “We’re fortunate that we have really good customers that have supported us over the years, and we’ve been around long enough to have good, solid technicians that have decided to stay with us, rather than work for a national company. So much of our success comes down to those people.”

Anderson says A-Best is doing several things to control costs. Like Grace, his people are key. “Our technicians are now cross trained – while we used to have an insect technician, termite technician and sales technician – now everyone in the company has the ability to talk to the customer and offer a solution.”

Lang agreed, “We build our business on having no recalls, and by having no recalls the cost for doing the service work is lower. This is a result of managing and training people correctly, which is key.”

Another of Anderson’s strategies is recognizing when pesticides go off their patent and are being made for a lower price. He tries to use such broad spectrum products, instead of the insect specific pesticides that were high cost. These work very well and can help save money.

Anderson also keeps his fleet longer than in years past. “We always ran a brand new fleet, but now we wait until the vehicles are paid off – so we are running them for one more year and are saving money monthly in our fleet costs by making that slight adjustment.”

He also tightens routes to save on mileage and fuel costs. 

Sunny days (and swarms of bugs) ahead! 

The consensus is that while the economy is still rocky, things are looking up.

“We’re going through changing times,” said Caldwell, “and I don’t know that we’ll ever get back to where we were in the boom years of the 80s – not soon, anyway. One has to figure out how to ride out this kind of economy – some will make it and some will not. A lot will depend on the type of operation they have. If they have one that has very little room for adjusting they will find it very difficult.”

Lang does not predict a slow season in 2010, but he does not expect the economy to change for several years. He again expects to see less new business coming in from Yellow Pages shoppers, but instead depends on referrals to bring in new business. “If you offer a quality service to people, they will always use you,” he says.

Anderson believes that having a snowy winter and early spring has created the perfect storm for 2010, and that all pest control companies could have a banner year. “The three feet of snow that we had for most of the winter kept the ground from completely freezing – so all the insects survived. The high level of moisture also helped. And with the early warm weather, we expect it to be a great spring.”

Grace agreed. “All indications are that 2010 will be a good year. A lot of this will be weather-driven on the residential side. Time will tell how other things like fuel prices affect the industry.

Here’s hoping for a great 2010!



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