I recently turned 71 years old and find myself returning to my original roots in the pallet industry. I started working with the pallet industry in 1977 when I published our first market report in April of that year. Our market report, now known as the Pallet Profile Weekly, launched me into developing a relationship with the pallet industry. Within a few years my network of pallet contacts grew and my friendships expanded across the United States and Canada.
Late in 1981 we published our first issue of the Pallet Enterprise, which was an immediate success. Ever since then we have continued to hear positive accolades about the Enterprise from all corners of the globe. Virtually everybody in the pallet industry is familiar with our magazine. Our digital issues travel around the world.
I often hear from friends in the industry that our publication is the most valuable source of information in the pallet industry. Some readers may be surprised, however, that many of these comments are not referring to the Enterprise, but to the Pallet Profile and Recycle Record, our two market reports. Some of our readers may not be familiar with these two reports. So, it is with great expectations that I am turning my personal attention back to our market reports; it is exciting to be focusing my attention back on my first love. I can do this because Chaille is doing such a good job as the publisher of the Enterprise. He is a truly gifted writer, interviewer, and researcher. I constantly hear how much our readers appreciate his editorial skills.
Because I have extensive experience in studying the lumber markets, I decided to turn my attention back in that direction during the later part of my career, and let Chaille focus his talents on what he does so well. Jeff McBee will continue to be our major market contact and will write the market report portion of the Pallet Profile.
The Profile has been highly regarded as a low-grade hardwood lumber report with some focus on western softwoods. My intention is to expand our focus to include more information on low-grade softwoods east of the Rockies; the Pallet Profile will become the only weekly low-grade lumber market report with a strong dual focus on both hardwoods and softwoods. Our Recycle Record reaches out to the used and recycled pallet market. Our plan is to use the same softwood reporting regions that we utilize in our quarterly lumber graphs – the northeast region, east lakes region, southeast region, north central region, and south central region. We are working with the Western Pallet Association to expand our coverage of the West Coast low-grade softwood markets. More details will be coming about that venture in the near future.
Expanding our scope of pricing will make the Profile that much more valuable to the industry. There was a time when softwood pallets were a long ways off most pallet company’s radar screens, but you can’t count on anything staying the same these days. All low-grade lumber supplies have been in short supply whether it be softwoods or hardwoods. Even the supply of used pallet cores has been very tight. Nobody knows for sure what the future will hold, but it seems likely that low-grade lumber supplies and used pallet cores are likely to stay in tight supply. Thus, more and more pallet companies are finding the need to be flexible and adjust to variations in lumber species, including substituting used pallets for new ones.
If you are a subscriber to our market reports, one of the best ways you can help us help you is to participate in our data gathering process once or maybe twice per month. This takes only minutes per month to do and makes a huge difference in our reporting ability. A copy of our form can be found on page 50. Please fill this out today and fax it back to me. I would consider this a personal favor from all of my industry friends. The other thing you can do is ask your lumber suppliers to participate. This goes for both companies that buy softwood and hardwood. Consider sending your suppliers a letter with the forms asking them to participate. I encourage you to do this on a monthly basis. You can find the forms at www.palletprofile.com/dataforms.
The best way to make sure your market is fairly represented is to participate yourself and to ask your suppliers to do the same. Also, please feel free to call me to discuss your current market perceptions (804-550-0323) or return my call as I start calling companies around the country.
One of the most important parts of our market reports is our editorial coverage. The Pallet Profile and Recycle Record have become the news source of a wide variety of information for pallet companies that want to stay on top of what is going on in the industry. If you are not a subscriber, you are missing out.
Anybody who would like to join our trial subscription list can enjoy our reports on a trial basis. Simply call us at 804/550-0323. You can enjoy the benefits of our market report on a trial basis.
So, the key to getting the most out of these publications is to participate. It doesn’t take much time, but it can make a big difference when you open the pages every week.
Hello, this is Ed. Are you there???
