Issue link: http://palletcentral.uberflip.com/i/1071930
16 PalletCentral • November-December 2018 palletcentral.com Mike Hachtman PRESIDENT & CEO Relogistics Services While I see a mixed bag for 2019, I believe the pallet business will remain healthy through the year. Politics. I predict a comprehensive immigration bill. The Democrat majority in the House will give Trump some funding for "the wall" while creating a path to citizenship for Dreamers and other concessions, including additional work visas. Economy. The immigration agreement will come too late to ease the labor shortage. I foresee the U.S. economy leading a global slow down primarily due to the lack of available labor for domestic businesses. The lack of labor will prevent business from growing, increase labor rates and inflation which will prompt the Federal Reserve to continue increasing interest rates. Business. While I believe the economy will soften in 2019, this will only have a slight impact on the labor shortage in most of the country. Business will continue to pay higher wages but will also offer more perks like extra vacation time and bonuses. However, the real change will come from companies keeping employees engaged and showing their sincere appreciation for them. Jeff Lewis PRESIDENT Atlanta Pallets Lumber availability is OK, although hardwood cants have become hard to come by and are expensive. Currently with the economy doing so well, we are competing in the same labor pool with a lot of other industries to get the few who are willing to do our type of work. A change in immigration policy, even temporarily, would be wonderful. I think automation is the only hope for our industry long term. Tax changes have a lot to do with the current business boom. Our customer base has seen massive drops in their taxes, which has caused them to expand, both with new equipment and new facilities. Our market has seen a large rise in construction of new warehouse space recently. I would hope to see this continue. Consolidation is continuing to take place in our industry. The bigger companies are getting bigger, and the smaller ones are disappearing. The bigger companies are also investing heavily in new machinery and automation, which the smaller ones simply cannot afford. Nationwide contracts with big customers are proliferating. I would expect this trend to continue, and automation will continue to grow. THOUGHT LEADERS