Things You Should Consider Before Choosing The Pallet Type

Things You Should Consider Before Choosing The Pallet Type

It is impossible to run a supply chain business without pallets. Use of right pallet type – be it plastic or wooden, is very important part of any business. Before you consider the pallet type for your business, take a look at the following points which will surely assist you in finding the right pallet.

Cost of Pallets

While deciding on the pallet type, one must consider the cost-factor with utter most importance. Price factor plays a huge role in choosing the pallet type. Wooden pallets cost little initially while plastic pallets come with higher initial cost. Many companies like to choose the wooden pallets during the start-up phase. Plastic pallet have longer lifespan which is usually more than 10 years. Wooden pallets are not that robust to survive for many years. Wooden pallets can sustain only a few numbers of trips. After few trips, wooden pallets get splinter on the sides and they also attract fungal infection easily. Plastic pallets can take the strain of as many as 250+ trips.

Use of the Pallets

Choose your pallet after considering on how the pallets are going to be used. Wooden pallets are more than enough to serve the purpose of goods supply. Even wooden pallets can be used as a part of the display in electronics industry along with modular display in showrooms for items like brochures, bottled water, toys and clothing. However, displaying products on plastic pallets are recommended as these are durable, can be customized with different colours and final appearance is much polished than the wooden ones.

How Heavy Are the Products Carried on the Pallets?

Weight of the shipped products is a primary deciding factor when picking between wooden and plastic pallet. Wood pallets are capable of taking the load of 1,500 pounds to 3,000 pounds while plastic pallets can bear the weight of up to 1,500 pounds. Shipping products in right weight-capacity pallet eliminates the cost of additional shipping materials. Loading more weight than the permissible limit can cause serious damage to the pallet material which in turn can compromise the safety of the products and workers. All pallets come with load specification. Choose your pallet after understanding the weight requirement.

Which Country You Are Shipping the Products?

Although wood pallets are the most economical way for shipping products internationally but some countries have restrictions on wood import. In that case, you need to use either plastic pallets or wood pallets which fulfil the requirements of that country. A number of countries including Canada, Mexico, Australia and United Kingdom have stringent standards on type, size and shape of the shipping pallet materials. As wood is prone to insects and fungal infections, some countries have laid guidelines for import pallet materials.

Conclusion

Along with these points, one must also consider other factors like recycling and reuse of pallets, freight cost of transportation and maintenance factors before selecting the pallet type to eliminate additional cost from the business.