“It started with one person,” Vasquez continued. “When we're here,” she stressed, “there is social distancing. We were checking everybody's temperatures, disinfecting, and doing everything over and above the call of duty and yet it still happened.”
Critical factors in the company’s successful rebound were their engaged employees who rose to the occasion to fill in for missing team members, as well as industry collaboration, allowing it to fill orders even as its own operations had been temporarily disrupted.
Luckily, Oxnard’s company truck drivers had not been impacted by the coronavirus and were able to pick up pallets from the other pallet companies for delivery. She attributed the goodwill to pallet industry relationships that Oxnard Pallet has formed through association participation.
“We were really fortunate,” Vasquez said, referring to both the industry support as well as regarding health outcomes, noting that none of their team members had required hospitalization. “They were very sick, but everybody was able to stay home, and get well,” she added. Read more about Oxnard Pallet's story in the October issue of Pallet Enterprise.
Association participation can make a difference in many ways, including a helping hand when dealing with a serious disruption. A great place to get to meet other pallet company operators is at the 2021 WPA Annual Meeting, scheduled for next January in Rancho Mirage, California.