Roaches and Mice Thrive in a Recession
By Michael Wilson
Gianni Cipriano for The New York Times An exterminator displays a mouse caught in a Manhattan restaurant in 2007.Brace yourselves for more fun news: recessions, it turns out, while bad for humans, may be good for cockroaches and mice.
Veterans in the pest control industry said that their customers, both residential and commercial, appear to be sacrificing on regular exterminations as a cost-cutting measure. While restaurants are bound by the threats of steep fines, apartment landlords and office buildings are cutting back services, the exterminators said.
Robert Agatowski, with Control Exterminating Company on East 33rd Street in Manhattan, recalled a recent call from a general manager of a business.
“He said, ‘It’s very simple. I don’t know if we can make the rent or the payroll,’” Mr. Agatowski recalled. “‘So in other words, you’re out. We’ll step on the bugs and kick the mice.’ The exterminating almost becomes like a luxury item.”
He and other exterminators interviewed this week were careful not to name names.
“People are being penny wise and pound foolish,” said Gil Bloom, with Standard Pest Management in Long Island City, Queens. “Monitoring pest control is very much pest prevention. It’s not just killing what’s there today. One mouse, a month later, could easily be a dozen mice.”
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