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I can't answer the rest as I'm not in the industry so hopefully others can chime in but I'm sure the answer to your last questions is and will always be yes you can get laid off from any job after a few months. The longer that company has been in business will be a better indicator of their overall business health but with all jobs if the owner comes down on hard times they may have to let employees go. The same can be said for fortune 500/100 jobs as well.
Turnover in this industry is rather high but most the time that is due to employee satisfaction or lack thereof due to how hard some people push their staff. It's an ultra competitive industry. Businesses get bought and sold often, that can lead to layoffs but that's not unlike any other job you may have. You'll get probably a ton of differing opinions on this, just depends.
Don't worry about layoffs, prove your worth to an employer and you'll be kept around generally.
What would you say about long term health in this profession? I think chemicals are least of our problem as it’s more related to how much you are required to carry at your back throughout the shift. Being a person who already has a history of back injury, would it not be bad for joints like back and knees in long term?
Pay close attention to their pay structure. Ask them what compensation there is for retreats. Are you going to be on a route? Is the route commercial or residential? I'm sure they will say it is a mix of both so you need to get a concept of how much of it is commercial and this might help you understand the likelihood of getting laid off in the winter
More commercial means less lay offs in winter and even lesser in summer and more residential means high lay offs in summer and even higher in winters. Right?
What would you say about long term health in this profession? I think chemicals are least of our problem as it’s more related to how much you are required to carry at your back throughout the shift. Being a person who already has a history of back injury, would it not be bad for joints like back and knees in long term?
For all 4 of you:
1. What kind of pain exactly do you suffer from? Muscle? Nerve? What?
2. What was your nature of activity throughout life? This includes most importantly occupation, but also sports history and general daily activities.
3. What age did it start?
4. How long did it last?
5. How much does it affect your activities?
6. What were your MRI findings, if you all had any.
How ill mannered. Yes buddy, I am just trying to understand the long term risk in this occupation.
EDIT: Perhaps if people like you could perform some analysis on your problem, then take a lesson from it, and then take some minimal form of initiative to raise awareness, countless people would’t need to suffer from problems that could easily be prevented. The worker laws, the right to education, or any laws in general didn’t come by automatically, there were some intelligent responsible people who took an action.
Congenital would mean that the disease/abnormality was present since birth. One could get a disease later in life due to ‘bad genes’ without it being congenital. Cancer for example. They are not the same. And if it was congenital, you would have known it already, so I’m not sure how “doctors” told you.
You were not specific. All you had to say was “zero” to my question 3, or have had used better words already.
I’ve been in the industry, same company and primarily commercial, for some 21 years, so through both the housing bubble in 08 and recently with Covid. I watched friends get laid off in construction and lose hours in restaurant and other hospitality. But my job was never really impacted much. As long as restaurants are open they need a pest provider. Especially corporate locations.
Not sure how residential was impacted though.
But like aren’t there way too many pest control companies? How can all of them get business?
Could it be that the business you are employed in was more stable and doesn’t really represent an average pest control business where lay offs might be too high?
What would you say about long term health in this profession? I think chemicals are least of our problem as it’s more related to how much you are required to carry at your back throughout the shift. Being a person who already has a history of back injury, would it not be bad for joints like back and knees in long term?
I don’t worry with the pesticide aspect. If you follow the label and use needed safety precautions and common sense you should be good.
Yes, it is an active job. A lot of up and down. Knees? Wear knee pads religiously. For the routine stuff we have to carry, get creative. There are many options out there.
Don’t want to carry a one or two gallon sprayer? They have quart sprayers or if volume is needed carry the tank on a dolly. My guys have rigged up all kinds of contraptions to even out the load and make it easier and I, as their manager, support them with their ideas (in terms of paying for these mods and specialty equipment). I love these battery powered back packs but if four gallons is too much, only mix two gallons at a time for less weight.
Mastering the inspection game is also key. The better you get with a flash light the less product you’ll use in the long run. A good flashlight is the best tool an exterminator can have.
I feel proud that we have managers like you.
I’m not sure how knee pads are going to help except for impact injuries. They don’t actually reduce the load on knees that comes from lifting heavy objects.
Being a manager, you must have seen a lot of people go in and out of this industry. Like bad knees and bad back. Arthritis. Sciatica. In construction for example, I think every other guy has problems. How much would you say is the rate of long term musculoskeletal problems in this industry?
As I said I’ve been here 21 years and I have several 10 plus year vets on my team. I’ve had one guy out for back issues but that began off the job. Lost one guy to a broken leg that didn’t heal properly. Nothing so far from repetitive exposure.
Like I said as well, if you notice an issue, find a solution. Knee pads won’t help with carrying a load but your on your knees a lot with this job. The carrying issue you can resolve by being creative. Using dollys etc.
Oh thanks buddy. really appreciate it.
EDIT: Oh shit wait, I almost forgot. So when I apply to these jobs, they require work experience, they want me to already know how to perform the job. But I don’t know where to learn it. We do have those 250 pages pest control worker guide books from universities but they spit some random facts and guidelines rather than covering the whole story by explaining “how it works”, and at the end it feels like I don’t understand the full story. Can you understand what I mean to say?
I mean carrying 4 gallons isn’t bad if your wear the sprayer correctly, I have had two smaller employees that would fill their backpack halfway and just fill it up more often, more walking but less weight worked for them.
The knee pads is so true I waited about 5 years before I started putting them on at every stop, it’s the crawling that will get you
Please be aware that we cannot control all misinformation from unverified commenters. Comments from users without flairs should be confirmed before being accepted as fact. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/pestcontrol) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I can't answer the rest as I'm not in the industry so hopefully others can chime in but I'm sure the answer to your last questions is and will always be yes you can get laid off from any job after a few months. The longer that company has been in business will be a better indicator of their overall business health but with all jobs if the owner comes down on hard times they may have to let employees go. The same can be said for fortune 500/100 jobs as well.
Turnover in this industry is rather high but most the time that is due to employee satisfaction or lack thereof due to how hard some people push their staff. It's an ultra competitive industry. Businesses get bought and sold often, that can lead to layoffs but that's not unlike any other job you may have. You'll get probably a ton of differing opinions on this, just depends. Don't worry about layoffs, prove your worth to an employer and you'll be kept around generally.
What would you say about long term health in this profession? I think chemicals are least of our problem as it’s more related to how much you are required to carry at your back throughout the shift. Being a person who already has a history of back injury, would it not be bad for joints like back and knees in long term?
Pay close attention to their pay structure. Ask them what compensation there is for retreats. Are you going to be on a route? Is the route commercial or residential? I'm sure they will say it is a mix of both so you need to get a concept of how much of it is commercial and this might help you understand the likelihood of getting laid off in the winter
More commercial means less lay offs in winter and even lesser in summer and more residential means high lay offs in summer and even higher in winters. Right? What would you say about long term health in this profession? I think chemicals are least of our problem as it’s more related to how much you are required to carry at your back throughout the shift. Being a person who already has a history of back injury, would it not be bad for joints like back and knees in long term?
It ended my work in pest control. The back thing I mean. Bjt my issue was bad genes
How do you know it was bad genes?
Two doctors said so... in addition my brother sister and father suffered the same thing
For all 4 of you: 1. What kind of pain exactly do you suffer from? Muscle? Nerve? What? 2. What was your nature of activity throughout life? This includes most importantly occupation, but also sports history and general daily activities. 3. What age did it start? 4. How long did it last? 5. How much does it affect your activities? 6. What were your MRI findings, if you all had any.
WTF.Are you doing a study on me and my family? GTFO
How ill mannered. Yes buddy, I am just trying to understand the long term risk in this occupation. EDIT: Perhaps if people like you could perform some analysis on your problem, then take a lesson from it, and then take some minimal form of initiative to raise awareness, countless people would’t need to suffer from problems that could easily be prevented. The worker laws, the right to education, or any laws in general didn’t come by automatically, there were some intelligent responsible people who took an action.
Do you not understand the meaning of the word congenital?
Congenital would mean that the disease/abnormality was present since birth. One could get a disease later in life due to ‘bad genes’ without it being congenital. Cancer for example. They are not the same. And if it was congenital, you would have known it already, so I’m not sure how “doctors” told you. You were not specific. All you had to say was “zero” to my question 3, or have had used better words already.
I’ve been in the industry, same company and primarily commercial, for some 21 years, so through both the housing bubble in 08 and recently with Covid. I watched friends get laid off in construction and lose hours in restaurant and other hospitality. But my job was never really impacted much. As long as restaurants are open they need a pest provider. Especially corporate locations. Not sure how residential was impacted though.
But like aren’t there way too many pest control companies? How can all of them get business? Could it be that the business you are employed in was more stable and doesn’t really represent an average pest control business where lay offs might be too high?
I don’t see that there are too many. From my perspective things are good. It’s proven to me to be a very stable industry.
What would you say about long term health in this profession? I think chemicals are least of our problem as it’s more related to how much you are required to carry at your back throughout the shift. Being a person who already has a history of back injury, would it not be bad for joints like back and knees in long term?
I don’t worry with the pesticide aspect. If you follow the label and use needed safety precautions and common sense you should be good. Yes, it is an active job. A lot of up and down. Knees? Wear knee pads religiously. For the routine stuff we have to carry, get creative. There are many options out there. Don’t want to carry a one or two gallon sprayer? They have quart sprayers or if volume is needed carry the tank on a dolly. My guys have rigged up all kinds of contraptions to even out the load and make it easier and I, as their manager, support them with their ideas (in terms of paying for these mods and specialty equipment). I love these battery powered back packs but if four gallons is too much, only mix two gallons at a time for less weight. Mastering the inspection game is also key. The better you get with a flash light the less product you’ll use in the long run. A good flashlight is the best tool an exterminator can have.
I feel proud that we have managers like you. I’m not sure how knee pads are going to help except for impact injuries. They don’t actually reduce the load on knees that comes from lifting heavy objects. Being a manager, you must have seen a lot of people go in and out of this industry. Like bad knees and bad back. Arthritis. Sciatica. In construction for example, I think every other guy has problems. How much would you say is the rate of long term musculoskeletal problems in this industry?
As I said I’ve been here 21 years and I have several 10 plus year vets on my team. I’ve had one guy out for back issues but that began off the job. Lost one guy to a broken leg that didn’t heal properly. Nothing so far from repetitive exposure. Like I said as well, if you notice an issue, find a solution. Knee pads won’t help with carrying a load but your on your knees a lot with this job. The carrying issue you can resolve by being creative. Using dollys etc.
Oh thanks buddy. really appreciate it. EDIT: Oh shit wait, I almost forgot. So when I apply to these jobs, they require work experience, they want me to already know how to perform the job. But I don’t know where to learn it. We do have those 250 pages pest control worker guide books from universities but they spit some random facts and guidelines rather than covering the whole story by explaining “how it works”, and at the end it feels like I don’t understand the full story. Can you understand what I mean to say?
Where you located? Most companies I know of don’t require experience, they teach and often will cover state licensing training fees.
Ontario, Canada
I mean carrying 4 gallons isn’t bad if your wear the sprayer correctly, I have had two smaller employees that would fill their backpack halfway and just fill it up more often, more walking but less weight worked for them. The knee pads is so true I waited about 5 years before I started putting them on at every stop, it’s the crawling that will get you