Peter Yoneshige Moves From Fast Food to Forest Products

Peter and his family - Desmond, Quinn, Maeve and wife Katie - visit the Space Needle in Seattle.

When you ask Peter Yoneshige, operations supervisor at our distribution center in Tacoma, Washington, about his Weyerhaeuser career, he says it fell into his lap.

It all started in Redding, California, in March 2019. Peter was the general manager at a fast food restaurant. He was sharing his frustrations about fast food life with a family friend, who happened to know someone who worked at our Redding distribution center. The friend told Peter the starting wage as a temporary employee at the distribution center was $2 an hour higher than what he was making as a general manager at the restaurant.

"It shocked me, even though I knew retail and food service industries are among the lowest paid out there," Peter says. "I had a lot of stress as a restaurant manager, and a lot of responsibilities at work and home - including a child on the way. The opportunity to do something new for more money was something I couldn't pass up. During the interview, the Redding team asked how I'd adjust to working outdoors, and I assured them they'd hear no complaints out of me!"

He started the following Monday, taking the first step on the path that would eventually lead to Tacoma.

Peter on a visit to our Vail tree farm in Washington.

AN EYE ON AN IMPROVED FUTURE

Peter was hired as a temporary forklift operator, picking and trimming materials and loading trucks. He had forklift experience from previous jobs with Goodyear Tires and Walmart, so he was able to get right to work.

"As a fast food restaurant manager, I was working at a position of high responsibility and low pay, and I went to a temporary position with lower responsibility, better work-life balance and higher pay," Peter says. "I knew my future with Weyerhaeuser could continue to grow, which incentivized me to move up as high and as fast as I could."

He was hired as a full-time employee after just six months. And as he got comfortable in the site and the business, he began thinking about how to expand his career and grow his responsibilities.

Then in 2022, the operations supervisor role in Tacoma opened up. Tacoma is a much larger distribution center than Redding, and Peter knew a move there would help open even more doors for future career growth.

"We had a third child on the way, and I wanted to better support my growing family," Peter says. "The best way to do that was to move up in the company, and the opportunity in Tacoma would let me do just that."

Though neither Peter nor his wife Katie knew anyone in the Tacoma area, the possibilities of making a new life and advancing Peter's career were enough incentive to make the move.

After talking with some employees at our Tacoma distribution center and researching the area, he and Katie packed up everything they owned, including babies and his mother-in-law, and drove their U-Haul 10 hours north. There were bumps along the way - they arrived in Tacoma to find their rental hadn't even been cleaned yet - but they bridged the gap in a motel and kept their chins up.

"We knew we were taking a risk coming up here," he says. "We knew we had to just make the best of it, no matter what."

Quinn and Desmond put on PPE while visiting Peter at work at our Tacoma DC.

REAPING THE BENEFITS OF CHANGE

Though it was a big change to adjust to life in a larger city, Peter says they've found that healthcare and activities for the kids are better, and they're finding plenty of things to do.

"We walk our kids to school every day, and they absolutely love it," he says. "We would've had to pay for head start/preschool in Redding, but here it's free for all our kids. It was such a pleasant surprise."

Peter said Katie took to Facebook and joined some stay-at-home mom groups in the area, then began meeting people at the park for kids' play dates.

"It was challenging at first, not having any family in the area," he says. "Eventually we found a group of people who vibed with our situation. I even got a Jeep and met people who like to go 'Jeeping.' But it wasn't easy; we had to deliberately get out of our comfort zones to meet people."

As part of their efforts to build a community, Peter and his family joined other local families who drive Jeeps into the mountains to explore.

CONTINUING TO GROW AND LEARN

Every career move Peter has made set him up for success in the next adventure. Even two years later, he's still busy, getting his family settled in while building a new team at our Tacoma DC.

"Everywhere I've ever worked, I needed to take on more responsibility in order to earn higher pay," he says. "I'm always working to move up. I work hard to learn as quickly as I can and find out how to be more useful. I think that mentality can go a long way. There's so much opportunity in our Distribution business, and I'm super excited to see what I can do from here."

ADVICE FROM PETER

• Consider looking at your job differently. Whatever I do for Weyerhaeuser is like any relationship - it's a give and take. I know the company pays for the roof over my head, the food on my table, the clothes on my back… by going the extra mile at work, I'm helping my family out.
• Put yourself out there if you want to grow in the company. It doesn't just happen. If you don't like your job or your career path, consider a move that will help improve your environment.
• Seek constant improvement. It's always going to be better than the alternative.

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