Pallet Survey: The pulse on pallets

The who, what and how of pallets
Who is using pallets, what are they using, and how are they using them?

For starters, most respondents (58%) are involved in manufacturing, with a variety of industries represented. Wholesale distributors (17%) and retailers (6%) are also represented.

The respondents represent a solid mix of large companies with revenues exceeding $1 billion (17.5%), mid-size companies with revenue of between $250 million and $999 million (12.2%) and small companies with revenue below $250 million (70.3%).

For these users, a number of factors go into the decision to buy a certain type of pallet, but the purchase price is still the most important factor, cited by 63% of readers. The cost per use is cited by 35% of readers, suggesting that readers are getting more than one trip out of their pallets.

Other factors include:

• 55% strength

• 49% durability

• 43% customer requirements

• 38% reusability

• 33% availability

Wood pallets are still predominate. They are used by 94% of readers—no surprise there. However, pallets manufactured from alternative materials are in the mix, with some readers also using:

• 40% plastic pallets

• 17% wood composite

• 8% cardboard/corrugated

• 7% metal

While there was a large demand for plastic pallets a few years ago following the introduction of a pool of plastic pallets by iGPS, demand for plastic pallets among Modern’s readers is largely unchanged in the last year. While 27% report they are using more plastic pallets, 13% are using fewer and 60% say there has been no change in their use of plastic.