Industry Insight

The Long Road to Doing the Right Thing

By Bob Vetere
President, APPMA

Bob Vetere

Sometimes doing the “right” thing comes easy and natural. It’s just something that you know to do without even thinking about it. Like not walking in front of a moving car. Or making sure all of your shelves are stocked properly in your facility.

Sometimes, though, it’s not quite that easy. When it is a one person decision (in other words yours alone to make) it gets pretty simple to weigh the alternatives and proceed. As you add people to the equation, doing the right thing not only gets harder to accomplish it gets even more complicated to define. What is right for you may not be right for me. Add another interested party and the equation gets even more complicated.

Well, try putting together a group consisting of manufacturers, distributors, retailers, several associations representing different interests along with a couple of wild cards and then try getting them to agree to do something that will affect the entire industry. AND to do it proactively and with buy-in from every segment!! It is kind of like herding cats – not impossible but not exactly like falling out of bed either.

It has been a long road over the past two years but we are learning that we can come together as an industry to do the right thing. Many of the retailers who attended the Global Pet Expo last month were invited to work with a coalition of interested parties representing all parts of the pet industry to review a series of guidelines being developed to help retailers. One thing we can agree to as an industry is that we care about animals. We care about how they are handled. We care about how they will be treated by the people who bring them home to be companion animals. This common interest is helping us to work together as an industry to develop these guidelines and other tools to help promote the proper care and handling of companion animals.

I won’t get into a great deal of detail but I am truly impressed with the perseverance of the groups working in this coalition. There have been times when it looked like no progress was ever going to be made. But no one left the table. Everyone kept coming back searching for that common denominator. How can we help the industry as a whole suddenly became the lynchpin. We are not all the way there yet, but we are close. Based on the comments we have been receiving it is clear we are on the right track and close to having a very impressive finished package.

Stay tuned. It has been a long road but the end is in sight. I think you will all be impressed with what is being accomplished.