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Note: I worked for a large grocery chain for 7 years Plastic pallets are vastly superior in the long run to wooden pallets in terms of durability, and many com
by MisterBastahrd 12y ago
Note: I worked for a large grocery chain for 7 years
Plastic pallets are vastly superior in the long run to wooden pallets in terms of durability, and many companies have used them for almost two decades interchangeably with wooden pallets. One of the issues here is that once a pallet enters the supply chain, who knows if or when you'll get them back. When I first started working for the grocery chain, there were over 30 pallets of back inventory sitting in the warehouse (this is a very bad thing and I corrected it during my time with the company).
The main problem with wooden pallets is that they are largely made with inferior wood that can't stand up to the stresses applied to them for a long period of time. If any of the center slats break, there's no problem. If one of the ends break, then you're probably going to be cleaning up a warehouse floor from whatever was on the pallet. People are also more likely to walk away with a wooden pallet since they have plenty of utility and are very inexpensive.
That isn't to say that plastic pallets are without fault, even if they are virtually indestructible. Most plastic pallets are manufactured with a diamond plate pattern. That's nice and all, but it's still plastic and therefore, slippery. Place some frozen or refrigerated food on a pallet destined for a windy area and have fun cleaning bananas out of the back of the truck.
So the best of both worlds would be a plastic pallet with a non-slip coating on the top of the pallet and the feet.
- stephengillie 12y agoI also worked in the grocery industry for most of a decade. My sister worked for local fast food and general retail chains (Taco Time & Target) and I was always amazed at the lack of palletization they used. Target especially. Target sends several trucks a day to each store. Each truck is half-full, and half of that freight is simply "stevedoered" into the truck, not put on pallets. So emptying a truck is a several-hour process of moving individual boxes of merchandise out of a truck by hand. What pallets they do use are often poorly stacked (by retail grocery standards), not well wrapped, and often fall over in transport. Wal-Mart, by comparison, looks to have embraced the same "CHEP-only" policy as Costco.
- batmansbelt 12y agoWhat's taco time?
- gonzo 12y agohttp://www.tacotime.com/ http://www.tacotime.com/
- Kluny 12y agoAn inferior version of Taco Bell, often found in Canadian food courts.
- eco 12y agoThat's weird that they are in malls in Canada (and considered inferior). They are considered a "higher end" fast food than Taco Bell where I am in the US.
- stephengillie 12y agoIt's really strange to hear you describe one as inferior when they barely sell the same food. True, they both sell food based around Mexican staples of corn, beans, tomatoes, spices, and meat, but that's as far as the similarities go. Taco Bell has trouble proving that up to 35% of its beef comes from cows: http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/01/24/lawsuit-filed-in-california-court-over-taco-bell-beef/ http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/01/24/lawsuit-filed-in... Taco Time's ground beef isn't even frozen: http://www.tacotime.com/menu/ http://www.tacotime.com/menu/
- shawnz 12y ago> Taco Bell has trouble proving that up to 35% of its beef comes from cows Actually, Taco Bell had no trouble at all proving that their beef met the standard, and the suit was dropped pretty quickly. See: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/19/us-lawsuit-tacobell-idUSTRE73I42U20110419 http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/19/us-lawsuit-tacobel...
- 12y ago