Pest Management Professional, November 2017
Nature shakes things up every century or two In Illinois we have had two remarkably warm winters that caused the rodent population to explode Needless to say we are selling mouse initials quicker than Marvel Comics flips movies Skunk and raccoon populations are also very high leading to yards being infested by fleas We did more flea work this past summer than in the previous 10 summers combined Brown marmorated stink Bugs Ten years ago we didnt have Halyomorpha halys in Illinois Now they are our third highest autumn revenue generator trailing only boxelder bugs and mice gas prices When I started my business nearly 12 years ago gas prices were at 240 per gallon which is exactly where they are now We did have a spike in June 2008 when gas hit 4 per gallon But otherwise gas prices have been pretty accommodating for service industry professionals Can you imagine how hard it would have been for any of us to grow our businesses if gas prices stayed at 4 You the faithful reader I wouldnt have my little section in this great magazine if it wasnt for all of you following my career I have met so many wonderful people because of this column and in 2018 Ill be meeting even more of you In January Im planning to fly out to Phoenix to meet a large number of pest management professionals PMPs and in March Im heading to the Land of Enchantment to meet with pest pros from New Mexico Over the years Ive shared meals with PMPs in Florida Wisconsin Illinois Washington and Iowa Everyone has been incredibly friendly and willing to share their success stories Ive also received emails from folks as far away as Kenya and England It is humbling and exciting and I hope I can continue to meet as many of my peers as possible Oh and by the way if we have any pest management brethren in the Bahamas who want me to speak at an event call me Schopen is president of McHenry Ill based Schopen Pest Solutions You can reach him at 847 529 BUGS or pete@ schopenpest com I could write a list of additional things to be thankful for that would rival a Stephen King novel in length but I only get these two pages Thanks again for reading my column and good luck to all as we finish out 2017 pmp mypmp net pest management professional November 2017 83
You must have JavaScript enabled to view digital editions.
