Pallet shipping is as reliable a service for an individual sending engine parts as it is for a business regularly delivering to an Amazon Fulfillment centre. A little investigation into the the advantages and disadvantages of each type of wood construction can help you choose the pallet best suited to the goods you need to have delivered.
Standard wooden pallets
The most economic pallets are the standard wooden variety. On these pallets, loads of up to 1000KG can easily be hauled. One of the leading courier services in the UK, National Pallets offers same day pick up, but if you don’t have your own pallets they can provide a standard wooden pallet which will be sent with the driver.
Benefits
- Cost effective
- Readily available
- Durable raw materials
- Recyclable; can be used to make, mulch, paper or reused for DYI undertakings
- Pallets are often made using recycled wood
- broken boards and parts are easy to replace
- Easy to construct
Shortcomings
- When wood comes in contact with bacteria and fungi it can deteriorate
- Increased air freight costs due to weight
- Sprinters, protruding dangerous nails, and shrinkage mean pallets have to be frequently replaced
Presswood pallets
Presswood pallets are pressed into a mould to gain their shape, the woods chips are then pressurised at high temperatures to create an end product which is both lightweight durable pallets.
Benefits
- Pallets can be easily stacked thanks to their design
- Despite weighing 60% less than standard wooden pallets, presswood is very strong
- Manoeuvrability is increased while wear and tear is decreased thanks to rounded corners
- No need to worry about dangerous nails or unruly staples
- Environmentally friendly construction
Shortcomings
- Many warehouses don’t facilitate this type of pallet making it difficult to ship to different types of storehouses.
- Don’t leave these pallets in the rain, they will decompose.
Plywood pallets
This is another type of common wood used in pallet construction. Plywood pallets are simple pallets that consist of a single board on top.
Benefits
- If you need reliable support for a light to medium haul theses are your pallets
- Durable
- lightweight
- Smooth surface
- Not as absorbent as other wooden pallets, and therefore more resistant to bacteria and fungi
- Numerous ways to stack in warehouses
Shortcomings
- Standard wooden pallets are still the easiest wooden pallet to stack in a warehouse
- Not all warehouses have the storage designed for these pallets
Standard wooden pallets are cheap, can be stored from warehouse to warehouse and can be easily sourced. They also hold a heavy weight load of up to 1000KG. If you use a lot of airfreight for overseas delivery however, you’ll want to look for a lighter pallet construction. Presswood will be your best bet. If your pallets take a beating as they get hauled around and left outside, of all the wooden pallets, plywood will attract the least about of bacteria and fungi.
