2022 Logger Survey
Business Health Hit By Inflation Contractors strained by rising costs, inadequate compensation. BYDan Shell
T
aken during a time of unprecedented fuel price increases and overall inflationary trends, the Timber Harvesting 2022 Logging Business Survey reflects a logging corps that’s increasingly unable to cover the costs of doing business. More than 300 loggers answered the survey, and tracking logger data from other reports, two-thirds of those who responded to the survey are age 50 or older—including 40% older than age 60. Most who answered run one or two crews (82%) and 5% run five crews or more. More than half (57%) have at least $1 million invested in equipment including trucks and shop-service equipment, and that in-
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cludes 10% with $5 million or more invested in their logging business. Looking at loggers’ collective profit trend the past half-decade, while a quarter of loggers (24%) say they’ve seen an increase in pre-tax profits, 43% report seeing a decrease in profits during the same time. The intensity of profit increase reported is also lower than the intensity of decrease. For example, given six choices to describe a slight, moderate or sharp increase or decrease in profits the past five years, only 2% reported a “sharp increase” while 18% reported a “sharp decrease.” Looking at actual 2021 profit numbers of those who responded, 42% of
loggers reported no profit at all last year, either breaking even (20%) or losing money (22%). A third of loggers (33%) reported 2021 profits of 6% or less, while 14% reported a profit of 7%-10% and 11% reported 2021 profits of more than 10%. Asked to give a general rating of their company’s financial health, an almost equal amount said “good” (25%) and “poor to very poor” (24%). Another 43% said they were muddling through with a “fair” rating of their business’ health, and 8% said their financial health was “very good.” Logger William Money of William C. Money Logging in Texas says that with 30 years experience in a fifth-
TIMBER HARVESTING & FOREST OPERATIONS
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6/16/22 9:14 AM
