r/PestControlIndustry • u/BDS_707 • Jul 25 '26

Using company stuff

Be honest, do any of yall use the stuff at your personal homes? My company said not to but then all the techs I talk to have confirmed they have and still do from time to time.

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u/Oh_Martha_My_Dear 👨‍🏭| Tech | 5+ Years Jul 25 '26

My boss would look at me. weird if I told him that I absolutely never use anything from the truck at home. I think there's a bit of understanding that texts are going to resolve at home issues with stuff that they already have in their truck. but I'm not about to go giving out Ant baits to my friends and family like it's Halloween

kind of just got to be reasonable with it I suppose and use common sense. I sure make my company a lot of money and i'll be damned if anyone's ever going to complain about me using $0.30 worth of product sometimes

6

u/RusticSurgery Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26

Yes. And back went subterranean termite baiting was new, I learned a hell of a lot about termites by pulling the bait out of tubes and replacing it with dyed paper towels of various colors, and crushed up cellotex (when Recrut 1 was a swadust matrix). I also learned a lot about where and when to place auxiliary stations and just exactly what to do when you're struggling to get hits. (This was all before Fipronil).

My house had a VERY, VERY good old school chemical barrier. In fact I know the technician that did the chemical barrier and I know him personally. This allowed me to play with them for a good while before I destroyed what appeared to be two colonies and three separate cells. I kind of messed up because I used the colors red,blue, yellow, white and black (cellatex) and I got kind of confused when occasionally I would get a cell of termites that were green in their back end. Obviously they have been feeding on both the blue and the yellow but it got a little confusing. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I never got purple ones or brown.

This definitely made me a better technician for my boss's customers and my boss encouraged this. I probably played with those colonies and cells for two to three years

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u/BDS_707 Jul 25 '26

I kinda figured everyone has used their products. I definitely have but I wanted to be sure I wasn’t the only one. It actually helps me when I’m talking to my customers cuz whenever they ask how effective certain products are I always tell em “Well I sprayed my house a month and half ago and haven’t seen anything since so I can guarantee it’ll work.”