If I had to come up with a word to describe the portable sanitation industry in 2021 it would be uncertainty.
Heading into the new year, we had a reason to be optimistic about a return to a normal, predictable business climate — well, as predictable as we could ever envision. There was the promise of a vaccine to bring an end to the COVID-19 pandemic. There was also the continuation of a surging economy that showed durability throughout the upheaval of 2020.
PROs had weathered a worldwide pandemic the likes of which hadn’t been experienced in a century. The coronavirus had successfully shut down almost all of our traditional special event work for a year, but it couldn’t kill our industry. To the contrary, PROs had just as many customers for their services, but they were just different customers. Construction was charging ahead and it appeared that long overdue infrastructure projects would be funded and require more from the portable sanitation community.
But then a lot of the promise shown early in the year went “poof” and disappeared. Event work never really took off as completely as PROs had hoped, and toward the end of the year, we were facing caution over large gatherings due to COVID variants said to be more easily transmissible.
Somehow PROs adjusted to a seesaw of conditions that continually challenged small and family businesses across North America. Many of you have shifted on the fly to preserve and even grow your businesses as the world looks for answers to finally eradicate COVID and its dangerous mutations.
TAKE A BOW
When I reflect on some of the issues you’ve faced this past year, I think it’s time for PROs to take a bow for finding ways to provide services to keep people safe and the economy moving forward. Without portable sanitation, the world’s problems would certainly be compounded.
Even a Harvard MBA degree could not have prepared a small-business owner for the challenges you faced and overcame:
There’s been a change in plans
Early in 2021 there was an expectation that special events would come roaring back as the COVID vaccines were rolled out. PROs were gearing up for county fairs and music festivals, signing contracts to provide service and making plans to add equipment and technicians. While some of that work materialized, the revenue projections were muted at best as some events were postponed for a second year or scaled back in size to keep the crowds down.
Thankfully, restroom contractors were able to adjust to the changing landscape. There was no let-up in construction; homebuilders still needed restrooms on site, commercial building and roadwork went ahead as scheduled and sanitation resources were deftly reallocated. I didn’t hear about family owned restroom companies failing along the way; surviving the pandemic hangover year is certainly a positive outcome.
You scrambled to provide disaster relief
Massive western wildfires, Hurricane Ida and other tropical storms, and serious flooding events in many regions kept PROs springing into action to serve frontline workers and residents devastated by natural disasters. Like the firefighters and rescue workers, your service technicians endured long days, safety dangers and long periods of time away from their families to provide a critical service.
As is always the case, logistics played an important role in these disaster service scenarios. Your office crew and managers had to reallocate equipment and routes to serve people in great need. Whether we’re talking about keeping up with the fire line crews in British Columbia or homeowners in Louisiana who lost all sewer service in the aftermath of Ida, you had to stretch the limited capabilities of your restroom inventory and crew members.
You battled rising labor costs to keep your drivers on the trucks
There has been an unprecedented change in the labor market over the past year, and PROs have certainly been caught up in that. Many of you have had to reevaluate pay scales for drivers, yard workers and office staff and are finding ways to pay rising wages or risk losing good people.
From my conversations with many of you this year, I know this has been stressful and a hardship on your businesses. You have told me that it’s become nearly impossible to recruit and retain workers who will deliver the level of service you promise to your customers. Maybe you’ve had to suddenly raise wages by dollars per hour and add costly benefits to attract a loyal crew. And when that happens, you face a strong ripple effect that requires you to shave profit margins to unacceptable levels or radically increase your fees for service.
And I think these rising wage and benefit expectations are here to stay. In the past, politicians have clamored for a $15 minimum wage, “living wages” for all full-time workers and employer-supported health insurance. The free market appears to have taken care of these longstanding debates. Higher wages are the new normal, and a silver lining may be that the industry is rewarding frontline workers in a way that matches those working in traditionally higher-paid trades.
You’re coping with delays getting new equipment
The early days of COVID brought on an obvious supply and demand issue: hand-wash stations were in short supply. Just as consumers faced toilet paper shortages at the big-box stores, you had a hard time fulfilling demand for hand-wash equipment and hand sanitizer units. Backorders were common. Some inventive contractors assembled makeshift units from common plumbing supplies, while manufacturers ramped up production to meet orders.
Recently I have talked to wastewater contractors who are reevaluating just-in-time inventory practices adopted as a hedge on high overhead costs in recent years. Rather than shaving equipment reserves to a minimum, they tell me they are planning to warehouse more supplies so they are not caught short the next time an unanticipated event spikes demand. For example, some contractors have told me they expect more frequent weather-related disasters due to climate change. If that’s the case, they would rather keep more inventory in stock, even though it ties up capital reserves.
COUNT ON CHANGE
As we look toward a new year, it pays to remember that old adage: The only thing constant in life is change. Everything you’ve experienced over the past 12 months proves this is true. Successful PROs have shown they can adapt well to ever-evolving business conditions, and I have no doubt that will continue to be the case as we prepare for what comes next.
