The advantages of palletization make shipping large quantities of goods easier and less stressful. Once you’ve experienced the advantages of a pallet you won’t ever want to make a shipment without one.
The advantages of palletization that we know make the biggest impact on the shipping process are:
These eight advantages of palletization will make transporting freight easier out on you as a shipper and your carrier. In this article, we will go in-depth into each advantage.
Simply put, pallets are flat transport structures that are used when a shipper has to transport large amounts of goods. A single worker can load multiple boxes of freight onto a pallet and secure them when they’re done.
Different loading procedures for pallets can vary depending on the company. These procedures dictate how high the pallets can be stacked and how the freight on them will be secured. In the U.S., pallets are regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
There are also many different pallets and classifications that are used to transport certain types of goods. Pallets can be made from either wood, plastic or metal.
There are many advantages of palletization when you need to ship large quantities of goods. Many of the reasons we list reflect the speed and ease that come with shipping products in bulk amounts with pallets.
Using pallets makes loading and unloading goods much easier. Despite how heavy palletized loads are, they can be easily moved with a forklift, pallet jack or another type of device that is designed to move them from one location to another.
Because pallets don’t require manual handling to move them, they can be moved on and off vehicles much more efficiently. Transporting palletized freight around a warehouse is also much faster.
Pallets are great for maintaining organization in a warehouse or inside the vehicle transporting the load. Having an organized floor space is essential to warehouse operations.
Unorganized floor space is a detriment to the safety of workers because they could trip over freight in walkways. Warehouse workers rarely have to worry about problems such as that when freight is transported on pallets.
Since freight can be loaded and unloaded so quickly, it means that there is a faster turnaround for delivery vehicles and trailers. This means that once a vehicle or trailer has been unloaded, it can quickly be loaded with more freight.
Fast loading and unloading means that the flow of freight to and from a terminal is constant. Since deliveries are always being made, customers won’t have to worry about delays for their bulk shipments.
The counterpart to palletized freight is non-palletized freight. This type of freight is made up of “loose” boxes that are loaded from the floor of a trailer or delivery truck to the top. Non-palletized freight often makes up the majority of less than truckload shipments.
One of the main downsides of non-palletized freight is that it requires manual handling. Workers are constantly repeating repetitive motions to load or unload this type of freight.
Workers have to consistently follow proper loading procedures to reduce the risk of injury. Despite these procedures, long hours of lifting and stacking boxes can wear a worker down.
To show how exhausting loading and unloading non-palletized freight can be, consider the following information. Most companies expect their package handlers to load or unload a package around every six seconds.
That means a package handler will handle 10 boxes every minute, 600 boxes every one hour and 4,800 boxes for a full eight-hour shift.
| Number of Boxes Every 6 Seconds | Number of Boxes Every Minute | Number of Boxes Every Hour | Number of Boxes for a Full Eight Hour Shift |
| 1 | 10 | 600 | 4,800 |
Non-palletized freight can vary by weight. Regardless of the weight, loading this many boxes or more throughout an entire shift is exhausting.
The advantage of using palletized freight is that it’s much easier for the worker moving it. That is because pallets are loaded, unloading and moved around a warehouse with machinery that does all of the heavy lifting.
Moving a single pallet one after the other with the help of equipment is much easier than manually loading single boxes one after another by hand.
Speed is of the essence when it comes to transporting goods that have an expiration date. Because pallets can be loaded and unloaded so quickly, perishable items will be able to arrive at their destination before they expire.
The worst thing that could happen when transporting a bulk shipment of freight is for some of your items to be lost. Pallets are beneficial to use when shipping large amounts of freight because of how well secured the freight is.
Freight that is transported on a pallet is either secured with multiple straps, clear plastic, or both. The freight is so well secured that the likelihood of it coming loose or falling off is low.
Non-palletized freight, on the other hand, runs the risk of getting lost while the freight is in transit. Fortunately, freight that is stacked on a pallet will be secured which will prevent packages from getting lost.
While freight is always loaded with the utmost care, there is always the potential danger that damage could occur from water, dirt and debris. Pallets eliminate is this danger because they keep freight from being directly on the ground which prevents product damage.
Pallets will inevitably reach a point where they have been used up and have sustained too much damage to be repaired. Fortunately, pallets can be recycled once they are no longer useful. Wooden pallets can even be used for other purposes such as composting, mulch or kept as scrap wood.
Although there are many advantages of palletization, there are limits to what type of freight can be palletized. Most types of freight can fit into traditionally shaped square and rectangular boxes.
However, freight that has awkward dimensions cannot be palletized. This includes freight that is extremely long, thin, or is not in a shape that can be easily stacked.
There are many advantages of palletization but sometimes non-palletized freight is the best option. If you need more information, check out our article Floor Loaded vs Palletized: Which is Right for You?
At R+L Global Logistics, we know all about the advantages of palletization. That’s why we specialize in servicing customers that need to ship bulk amounts of goods.
When you choose R+L Global Logistics, you are in store for the best customer service that you have ever experienced. Our representatives will take the time to understand your circumstances and use that information to your benefit.
Customers who ship goods from different kinds of industries trust us to get their bulk shipments moved. If your goods can be put on a pallet, then chances are we can find a carrier to transport them.
Find out what you’ve been missing from other providers and fill out your free R+L Global Logistics quote today on our truckload page.
R+L Global Logistics
315 NE 14th St., Ocala, FL 34470