26 WESTERN PALLET
compliance (27%), sustainability over wood (19%), durability (17%), better control (13%), and customer requests (12%).
Pallet Rental & Retrieval
The majority of respondents (76%) don’t rent pallets or have intentions in that regard. However, 27% are considering pallet retrieval or third-party rental in the coming year.
International Shipping
- 58% anticipate an increase in internationally shipped pallets over the next two years.
- 45% treat pallets when shipping internationally, and 26% prefer non-wood options for international shipments.
Additional Pallet Services
Pallet providers are offering more than just pallets. Some of these services include onsite recycling (34%), vendor-managed inventory (28%), and backhauls (22%).
10% of suppliers provide data related to supply chain networks.
Load Stability
- 29% face challenges with unit load stability. Solutions to this include stretch film (65%), shrink film (46%), and strapping (40%).
- Automation in stretch wrapping is increasing, with 23% using semi- or fully automated wrappers, a growth from 17% in the previous year.
Comments on Modern’s Pallet Survey
One of the surprising takeaways was to find out that almost 30% of respondents have issues with unit load stability. That sounds like an opportunity! It was also curious to see respondents reporting higher pallet prices in 2023 than in 2022, even as prices have softened this year, and likewise, tighter supply of recycled pallets, which seems to fly in the face of what we hear.
Some of the results affirm common assumptions, such as the predominance of wood pallets and then by plastic pallets in second position. In the survey, these were followed in popularity by wood composite, metal and cardboard or corrugated.
The full article is available at Modern Materials Handling.
Modern Materials Handling Pallet Survey
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