USA Pallet + Warehousing, Inc
Buying pallet wood can boost your company’s efficiency and productivity, no matter if you recycle, refurbish, or manufacture pallets from the ground up. Why not give up the frustration of having to source your own fiber and do the cutting of the pallet wood? In fact, this guide is about the importance of wooden pallets and the advantages of buying pallet wood for sale.
When it comes to deciding the kind of pallet to use, you have several choices: trusty wooden pallets, paper pallets, or plastic pallets. The type of pallet will be dependent on the nature of your product and the level of support required during transit. Wooden pallets have been a top choice for a long time due to their cost-effectiveness and durability, besides being environmentally friendly.
We gave a quick glance at why wooden pallets are the most suitable, but why don’t we go into detail explaining why this is the case?
Firstly, wood pallets are definitely the cheapest among the different types of pallets. It is easier to make a wooden pallet compared to other types. Besides, most of the industries rely heavily on wooden pallets. You can also get the pallet wood and make the pallets yourself, which might save labor and buying new equipment.
Wooden pallets are more robust and long-lasting compared to the rest of the alternatives. Plastic pallets can carry a maximum weight of 1, 500 lbs., on the other hand, well-made wooden pallets can support a weight of 4, 600 lbs. If you run a business that deals with pallets or transportation for industries using heavy machinery, then wooden pallets must definitely be the best option for you.
Here, we talk about the entire life cycle of pallet wood and how it is being used in various ways.
The story of pallet wood starts with planting the seeds, literally. On tree farms, seeds are sown to grow trees that will be converted to pallet wood. Both softwood and hardwood forests provide the timber for pallets. This matter also involves southern yellow pine, spruce, cedar, oak, and maple. It’s known that softwood trees mature quite a bit faster than hardwood trees.
When the trees have grown completely, timber companies will begin their harvesting activities. They won’t use immature trees for lumber, and it is a fact that it takes many years for softwoods to grow to a harvestable stage.
Usually, hardwoods are felled from the already-existing forests. The timber companies might not be the owners of the trees; they would buy the rights to cut the trees down and transport them to their sawmills.
After harvesting, the pallet wood is sent to the mill, where it is processed and distributed. After harvest, lumber companies haul pallet wood to the mills to have it cut. Sawmills employ technology to machine-scan trees and determine the optimal cuts, then the machine proceeds with cutting accordingly. This enables sawmills to maximize the yield of high-quality lumber from each tree as much as possible.
Before pallet wood can be used, it has to be treated after being cut into smaller pieces. The initial step is to dry it in a kiln until the moisture content is down to 19% or less, which helps in minimizing the warping and the weight of the wood.
Other treatments vary depending on the usage; for global shipping, the heat treatment is mandated, where the wood is exposed to 140°F for a minimum of 30 minutes so as to ensure its sterilization and in accordance with ISPM15 standards. The treated wood is marked quickly with a stamp for safe international transport.
When milling and other treatments are done, the pallet wood is ready to be sent to manufacturers and distributors. At this stage, the pallet wood will be cut to satisfy the requirements of a standard pallet or a custom size for a particular product.
As a pallet manufacturer, you might contact a distributor to obtain the pallet wood necessary for producing your pallets. However, if you provide packaging services for other products, then you can buy ready-made pallets by contacting a manufacturer. USA Pallet & Warehousing Inc. can act as both manufacturers and distributors, thus offering a full range of options to our customers.
More than 1.8 billion pallets are used daily, with 93% of them made from wood. They are one of the key elements in the sustainability of the supply chain. Additionally, wooden pallets are involved in the transportation of 90% of the products in the U.S. To put it simply, pallets are the engine of the global economy!
Check out How Can Custom Wood Pallet Designs Be Tailored to Fit Unique Products? to see how pallets can be customized for your specific needs.
What you save by purchasing pallet wood is as follows:
Pallet wood and pre-cut pallet stock significantly lower labor costs as they almost eliminate a big portion of the labor that would have gone into cutting the wood. The more complex or time-consuming the manufacturing process is, the more labor it will require. Pallet wood is a labor saver because your workers will build and repair the pallets rather than cutting pallet wood to the right size.
When purchasing pallet wood, it is not necessary to have extra equipment and pay for its constant maintenance. It takes large machinery, running space, and trained operating workers to cut bulk wood to exact sizes in the first place. All these factors together will cost your business both time and money to get the lumber ready for making pallets.
Customization and addressing specific needs may turn out to be a pain for your business. For instance, if you want stringers, it may get quite boring to make the notches one by one. When you purchase pallet wood, these are things that are done for you, so you can keep your time and make your business run as smoothly as possible. After you’ve made your order, you don’t have to think about it anymore.
Convenience is, perhaps, the most significant perk of buying pallet wood. When you run a business, the ability to delegate effectively to people you trust is a great skill. And if someone else is the one to source the fiber, keep up with the contracts with mills, and cut the pallet wood pieces to the required sizes, then you can spend your time and energy where they will give you the most return. USA Pallet & Warehousing Inc. can indeed be the supplier you trust!
If you are in search of new and recycled wood shipping crates, pallet wood, containers, and pallet warehousing, we are the ones to help! At USA Pallet & Warehousing Inc., we are fully equipped with all the machines that one needs for cutting pallet wood in order to meet the requirements of each customer. Maximize your labor and get rid of the pain of making your own pallets.
Call us today at (815) 822 4123 and learn how we can assist with your pallet wood requirements!
The most basic price range for standard wood pallets for sale is generally $10 -$25. Pallets that are custom-made or heat-treated could be a little more expensive. Plastic Pallets: Generally, these will cost between $25 and $80, depending on the strength, design and how many times they can be reused.
The term palate can mean two things: the roof of your mouth or, more figuratively, your sense of taste and what you like or dislike through it. It is quite different from the word palette that denotes the small board to which an artist applies his colors.
In short, a pallet is a large wooden platform which can be used to transport goods especially for commercial purposes.
Among other species, oak and pine types are predominantly used as pallet wood in the US, the world’s leading supplier of wooden pallets. It may give you a shock that one is a hardwood and the other is a softwood.
But actually, the terms “hardwood and softwood” relate mostly to the botanical classification of trees and hardly indicate the physical properties of wood, such as the strength and durability.
On average, industrial pallet wood is said to last around 3-5 years, while depending on the factors, the wood may remain functional from 3 to 10 years or more. These factors include wood species (hardwood is more durable), location (indoors and dry is ideal), the weight of the load, and maintenance (repairs).
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