Feb 3, 2017

The Forecast for Spring By Tim Hodson

According to the world’s leading groundhog/meteorologist, we now have a little less than six weeks until spring arrives.

On Feb. 2, Punxsutawney Phil, the famed rodent, saw his shadow on Gobbler’s Knob in Pennsylvania — so according to legend, spring is now only 37 days away from today.

On that same day, I received a press release from the folks at Lowe’s announcing their spring hiring intentions — another sure sign that spring is just around the corner.

This year, the No. 2 home improvement retailer plans to hire more than 45,000 in-store seasonal employees. That number is about 1,000 less than what Lowe’s announced for the 2016 spring season.

I expect that sometime this week I will be hearing from the Home Depot and how many employees they plan on adding for the spring season.

Some of the in-store seasonal positions that Lowe’s will be filling in the coming weeks include lawn and garden associates, assemblers of outdoor products, stockers and cashiers. The company also is hiring loaders to assist the increasing number of customers who order products online at Lowes.com and pick them up at their local store.

Hiring is underway and will continue on a market-by-market basis, with seasonal positions typically supporting stores between March and September. The company also emphasized that it is committed to hiring and training veterans, active military and their spouses.

Growers don’t need groundhogs or home improvement chains to tell them when spring will arrive. I’m sure that, by now, you have a major portion of your spring planting either finished or scheduled.

As we all know, Mother Nature can be very unpredictable. I don’t think she really knows how to read a calendar so, depending on where you are located, spring could get here sooner rather than later. Then again, it might be a while. Time will tell.

I’d like to know how your spring planning and planting are coming along. Do you plan to hire more staff this year compared to 2016? Will you use fewer employees this spring? Also, will you be planting new crops this year or dropping some old ones? If so, why are you making the change?

Drop me a line at thodson@greatamericanpublish.com and let me know if you and your team are prepared for spring — even though it is only Feb. 6.

— Tim