16 WESTERN PALLET
Women in the Pallet Industry
November MLG Offered Safe, Supportive Platform for WPA Members to Share Industry Concerns and Solutions
WPA held Women of the Pallet Industry, its latest online event on November 10, 2022. The session included a mix of "fresh faces" to the pallet industry as well as longtime WPA leaders and supporters. The Master Learning Group (MLG) format is restricted to around 15 to 17 participants to ensure that everyone attending has a chance to participate during the hour session.
The discussion included a variety of 'top of mind' topics, including the current slowdown in pallet demand, increasing
inventory levels, avoiding layoffs, workers compensation claims, and more. Here are some of the comments from the 60-minute Zoom meeting.
"We're not here to talk pricing," attendees were reminded. "We're here to share ideas and ways how we navigate through some crazy challenges."
The session began with self-introductions. "This is my first collaboration," one of the new attendees explained. "I'm excited to see what I can glean from all the experience owners and operators here and what I can provide for our little company."
One longtime WPA member commented that they are going through an unusually slow time for this period of the year. "We've gone from having just selling everything, having hardly enough cores and pallets in the yard, to now we're overwhelmed with inventory. There's never a balance, right."
Another participant commented that companies must be mindful of worker retention during a downturn. " I think the most important thing is to be creative and figure out how the heck