It is given that pallets are widely used in industries that are handling heavy and bulk materials. This is because pallets helps greatly in moving materials with less effort and less time. Not only that, these platforms also protect the goods during the transporting process. Plus, pallets can be reuse several times.
According to the statistics, there are about 2 billion pallets moving across the United States alone. Modern Material Handling Magazine has sent out the 2011 Pallet Survey to their readers and has collected 594 qualified responses from readers who are working in industries that used pallets.
These are the results of the 2011 Pallet Survey:
Most of the respondents of the 2011 Pallet Survey work in different industries: 16% are from the food and beverage industry, 12% from consumer goods, 10% from wholesale trade, 8% from warehousing industry and the other 54% are composed of other sector such as pharmaceutical, allied products, aerospace and construction industries. These respondents are purchasing an average of 78020 pallets per year most of which are made of wood.
The survey also shows that the respondents used the pallets mostly for warehousing and shipping goods. Of the respondents who used the pallets for shipping, 40% used their pallets for exporting, 59% used pallets for one-way journey to their trading partners and 20% of respondents used their pallets in a closed-loop transporting.
Another interesting result of the 2011 Pallet Survey is that although the purchasing percentage of pallet has increased in 2011, there is also an increase of users who are consedering pallet rental system. The result shows that from 22% the number of pallet users who are now considering of renting pallets increased to 43% this year.
The Modern Magazine said that the survey has a ±5.6% margin error, however this survey clearly shows that pallets are indeed useful for different industries and that every unique pallet serve its own purpose. In addition Bruce Scholnick, president of the National Wood Pallet & Container Association (NWPCA) said that all make and types of pallets have its place in the market and that different pallets can be use depending on what and where the products will be moved.
If you want to kn ow more about the 2011 Pallet Survey and the 2011 Pallet Usage & Trending Study you can register online and join the Webcast hosted by Modern Magazine.