Wood, plastic or paperboard aren't your only decisions. Where pallets are concerned, you have to balance the price of your pallets with the demands of your customers.

Few industries are as competitive as the produce industry, where profit margins often ride on how many pennies can be shaved off a materials handling process. It's not enough, however, to just save money: In today's economy, companies must balance their cost concerns against quality and sustainability demands.

Few understand that reality as well as Brian Thure, vice president of processing and distribution at River Ranch Foods, a premium produce grower/shipper and fresh cut processor based in Salinas, Calif. Thure's company ships to 500 locations, from terminal markets to Wal-Mart and Costco. Today, Thure says, it's not enough to ship a quality product. How he ships his product is also important. “Wal-Mart, via our partnership with CH Robinson (952-937-8500, www.chrobinson.com), is one of our largest customers,” Thure says. “When it comes to sustainability, they keep our feet to the fire.”

River Ranch Foods must be doing something right, because business from Wal-Mart is on the rise. According to Thure, it's not just sustainability that's attracting them, it's a whole package of things, including the pallets on which the produce travels.

In the past, River Ranch shipped its product on expendable wooden pallets that were disposed of by the customer. The up-front cost of one-way pallets was cheaper than permanent pallets, but productivity and administrative problems added to the cost. River Ranch Foods tried using plastic pallets but determined that they didn't really fit the company's materials handing needs. Instead, they turned to a pallet and container pooling service (CHEP, 407-370-2437, www.chep.com).

By using a pooled wooden pallet that may stay in the supply chain for several years, River Ranch estimates that it is reducing solid waste generation by more than 2.8 million pounds per year—the equivalent of about 125 dump trucks of waste. River Ranch is also reducing energy usage enough to power 233 homes with electricity for a year, and is contributing a 58% reduction of CO2 emissions-greenhouse gas. That is equivalent to taking more than 133 cars off the road for one year. The energy cost savings, plus the elimination of customer complaints and lost pallets, have helped broaden River Ranch's profit margin.

An added benefit: By using pooled pallets from one supplier, River Ranch gets pallets of consistent size and quality every time, eliminating the possibility of scraps of wood ending up in the produce. “With many pallet producers we've worked with, we never knew what we would get,” he adds. “Now we know it's consistently sized and has a consistent board strength.”

Thure has not given up on the idea of some day using plastic pallets in his operations, and he's hoping CHEP will help him on that account—as well as providing the traceability he'll need as dictated by new food regulations.

“We'll be looking at the whole RFID piece tied to plastic pallets,” he says. “CHEP will be a partner with us in that.