Plastic lumber offers captive pallets a new future.
Captive pallets are designed to save money by being reusable. Plastic lumber is repairable and durable. Plus, it can be custom made to fit your specific requirements. Sounds pretty good so far. But will it work for you? Below we explore the benefits and drawbacks to plastic lumber pallets.
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So what does the cost of my wooden pallets and packaging have to do with an improved economy and greater new housing starts?
The wood packaging industry depends on many of the same lumber producers that supply the housing industry. Lumber prices (especially softwood dimensional lumber) go up with increased housing demand. Those higher prices trickle down to the housing industry's by-product lumber that we use for building pallets and wood packaging. In my last post we discussed 7 basic types of pallet racks. Now that we know EVERYTHING (well, almost everything) there is to know about pallet racking, let's talk about how pallets interact with racks and why structure matters.
Rackable pallets are designed to be used in racking systems - but what does that really mean?
Rackable pallets (plastic or otherwise) are pallets that are expected to bridge an open span. Much like the Brooklyn Bridge suspends high above the rushing waters of the East River, a rackable pallet spans a distance between supports in a rack. You may be scratching your head right about now so let’s back up a little. Pallet rack? What the heck is a pallet rack? Any conversation about rackable pallets needs to start with the various types of pallet racks found in industry. This post will identify seven of the most common racking systems used with rackable pallets. Did you struggle to source hardwood pallets two years ago? I wrote a blog in March 2014 called, Where has all the lumber gone? Kind of sounds like a country western song.
The irony now is that the industrial hardwood market in the US is improving. Sounds like good news, right? I mean even country singer Frankie Ballard tells us, "bad times make the good times better." I'm afraid that might not be the case this time around. Instead, you may want to continue approaching lumber supply with caution. What happens to wood pallets in icy snow and rain?
A major snowstorm named Jonas has its sights set on the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast this weekend. Could be snow. Could be rain. Maybe you're thinking about dusting off your snow shovel for the first time this winter. But... have you thought about how severe winter weather impacts your pallets? |
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