The Secret Titan: Pallets

The pallet industry, colloquially known as ‘whitewood’ (named for its use of unfinished lumber) uses 10-15% of all lumber produced in the United States-more than any other single use other than homebuilding.

That should give you a little idea of the scope of the industry-unbelievably huge--and with a scope undeniably important to the United States economy, pallets are vital to industry in every developed economy in the world.

Almost every consumer good has been transported at some point, on a pallet. Every warehouse and grocery store uses pallets to transport, store and display goods, for good reason. Pallets have become the standard shipping mechanism for two reasons-firstly, they are easily transportable, and secondly, they are durable and support the goods that they transport.

This has all lead pallets to take off in the last 50 years as the primary transport method. There are now 2 billion pallets in the United States, 6 for every person. There is more mass tied up in pallets than there is tied up in people.

So where does Cedar Box Company fit into all of this?

Cedar Box Company is both a producer and a recycler of pallets. What does that mean?

As a producer of pallets, we hand manufacture pallets in our facility. Pallets are relatively simple to produce, but are incredibly ingenious, versatile, and pervasive. From approximately 15 pieces of economical but strong wood, a skid able to carry hundreds of pounds in many different ways is created.

Not only versatile and strong, but recyclable and repairable, pallets come to us from independent contractors and businesses who have surpluses of pallets. This is a vital part of the whitewood industry. Instead of creating waste that deteriorates into decrepitude, pallets are reinserted into the cycle where they are rehabilitated and repaired to be reinserted into the cycle of pallets-this creates a powerful tool for recycling and reuse in the transportation and warehousing industry.

Does Cedar Box produce pallets?
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Cedar Box Company also operates as a producer: in our manufacturing facility, our employees work hard creating many types of custom pallets, listed below. We create 2-way and 4-way pallets, as well as custom dimensions for all of your specific needs. And as a producer of some of the 2 billion pallets that are circulating in the U.S, we pride ourselves on doing it right.