Price, price and price — it’s a big factor when it comes to decisions by businesses that buy pallets for shipping their products.
How big a factor?
Nearly 61% of pallet users identified purchase price as an important factor in an annual survey of pallet users by Modern Materials Handling magazine.
The survey let respondents choose from more than a dozen factors, but purchase price was the leader.
It’s not all about price, however. Pallet suppliers may be relieved to know that a majority of the pallet users surveyed also chose strength and durability as factors in their purchase decisions. Fifty-five percent chose strength, and 54% chose durability.
All the other factors in the survey question were selected by less than 50% of the respondents.
However, another one that ranked high was reusability; it was chosen by 44% of responding pallet users.
Cost per use, customer use and availability were — in descending order — the next most frequently selected factors in the survey. They were chosen by more than 30% of the respondents.
Interestingly, recyclability ranked fairly low; it was chosen as a factor in pallet buying decisions by only 17% of the survey respondents.
Wood pallets are still the clear favorite for shipping and material handling, the survey showed. Ninety-six percent of respondents said they use wood pallets; the figure is up a bit compared to last year when 91% said they use wood pallets. Thirty-seven percent said they use plastic, 15% use wood composite and 5% use metal.
Sixty-five percent of those surveyed prefer recycled pallets while 54% prefer new pallets. Thirteen percent said they use pallet pools.
A majority of the respondents (54%) use stringer pallets, 20% prefer block pallets, and 20% use an equal number of stringer and block pallets. Those figures represent a slight year-to-year increase for stringer pallets and a decrease for block pallets and those who use both types.
The survey also asked if businesses would use a pallet leasing or pallet pooling option if they change from stringer pallets to block pallets. Half said they would choose leasing or pooling, and half said they would not.
Modern Materials Handling received 286 responses to its survey, which was conducted by Peerless Research Group.
To see the magazine’s complete report on the survey, visit www.mmh.com, and enter ‘pallets’ in the search window at the top of the home page.
