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When I worked at a grocery store, our solution for re-stacking pallets of merchandise was to place the largest boxes at the bottom and build upward with smaller

When I worked at a grocery store, our solution for re-stacking pallets of merchandise was to place the largest boxes at the bottom and build upward with smaller boxes. Obviously this wouldn't be a great way to do things in a shipping container given the amount of vertically wasted space, but it worked in a warehouse. Of course, the reason we were re-stacking pallets is because our original managers were so bad at managing inventory that the 20ish backstock carts were full, so we would routinely have 15-25 pallets of backstock in the warehouse... when ideally the carts should only ever be half full. Saved their jobs when I took the order gun from them, lol.

jcims 5y ago
The nice thing about shipping containers is that you have walls that can provide lateral stability and a bit of retention. Loading for UPS you would basically play 3D Tetris building walls of boxes. As you neared the end of each row you would pick a box 2-3 inches too wide to fit and smash it in there to lock everything up. To unload you most reverse the process. Unless it gets busy then you just pull the whole wall down at one time and bulldoze the boxes onto the rollers. Restacking pallets in warehouses is way harder. It’s more like building a house of cards but no card is the same size.
KineticLensman 5y ago
> place the largest boxes at the bottom and build upward with smaller boxes I think this is actually a basic rule in packing / loading. Get the big things in first and then work around them with the small things. It's how I load my car when going on a big trip. The main exception is things that you will need quickly without having to unload everything. 'Big things first' is also why mixtures (e.g. muesli) settle in transit with the larger pieces at the top and dust at the bottom. Small things can work their way under the big things but the converse isn't true, unless the whole volume is vigorously shaken.

jcims 5y ago

The nice thing about shipping containers is that you have walls that can provide lateral stability and a bit of retention. Loading for UPS you would basically play 3D Tetris building walls of boxes. As you neared the end of each row you would pick a box 2-3 inches too wide to fit and smash it in there to lock everything up. To unload you most reverse the process. Unless it gets busy then you just pull the whole wall down at one time and bulldoze the boxes onto the rollers. Restacking pallets in warehouses is way harder. It’s more like building a house of cards but no card is the same size.

KineticLensman 5y ago

> place the largest boxes at the bottom and build upward with smaller boxes I think this is actually a basic rule in packing / loading. Get the big things in first and then work around them with the small things. It's how I load my car when going on a big trip. The main exception is things that you will need quickly without having to unload everything. 'Big things first' is also why mixtures (e.g. muesli) settle in transit with the larger pieces at the top and dust at the bottom. Small things can work their way under the big things but the converse isn't true, unless the whole volume is vigorously shaken.