As a warehouse manager or business owner, choosing the type of pallet you use to store, ship, and deliver products is critical. Different pallet materials can make unloading, storing, and organizing merchandise safely more convenient or complicated.
Unfortunately, business owners often struggle to decide between traditional wooden pallets and corrugated pallets. In this article, we’ll examine what’s the difference between these two container types. To learn more, keep reading.
The Pros and Cons of Wooden Pallets
As one of the oldest materials used for standard and custom pallet sizes, wooden pallets are typically a safe bet for most businesses. Pallet manufacturers can choose between hardwood or softwood materials to create pallets that hold substantial weight without creating wear and tear.
In fact, wooden pallets are so durable that most businesses can easily reuse these containers several times before seeing any physical distress in the container’s materials.
However, a wooden pallet’s ability to hold weight can also become a fatal flaw. Many warehouse managers take advantage of wooden pallet durability by overfilling these containers and causing entire pallet breakdowns. Wooden pallets’ heavier weight can also create higher loads and higher transportation costs.
The Pros and Cons of Corrugated Pallets
Although less commonly used, many companies still utilize corrugated pallets as an alternative to wood materials. Since cardboard pallets are easier to build and more malleable, businesses can easily customize the size and dimensions of corrugated pallets without driving up their budget.
Contrary to wooden pallets, corrugated pallets are significantly thinner and more lightweight. As a result, businesses can often save a considerable margin of their budget on delivery, fuel, and freight costs when they use corrugated pallets instead of wooden pallets.
However, it’s essential to remember that corrugated pallets also come with limitations. Since these containers cannot hold as much merchandise as wooden pallets, order sizes tend to be larger with this material.
Choosing Between Materials
Whether you choose wooden or corrugated pallets for your warehouse, both of these options have plenty of benefits to improve the organization and safety of your business. Warehouses need pallets as an essential resource to keep inventory stacked and sealed.
Products would be more likely to fall and break without these containers, and employee accidents would be considerably more common.
We hope our guide on corrugated and wooden pallets has helped illuminate the difference between these two materials. Review the pros and cons of both these pallet types to help to determine what is the best material for your warehouse products.
