I want to talk with you about...wooden pallets.

It’s been almost a year now since I embarked on a new opportunity as the HR Director for Fastening Solutions, Inc. FSI for short, is a family-owned, rapidly growing regional distributor of fastening products, i.e. nails, screws and strapping. In the most basic of terms, FSI sells fasteners that hold everything together in wood-to-wood applications, such as nails or staples in the construction of wooden pallets.

Before coming to work at FSI, I had not really put much thought in to the wooden pallet, and I imagine I’m not alone in that slight of wooden pallets. I mean, what’s to get excited about? Their made of wood, and they’re square. However, my narrow-minded thinking on pallets all changed soon after starting in my new role, when a manager said to me that I should respect the pallet, as everything that is shipped in the U.S., is shipped stacked on top of a wooden pallet.

His use of the word “everything” truly was a turning point for me, an epiphany of sorts. Suddenly I had to know more about pallets. The importance of these wooden boards nailed to together had long been understated, obviously, because now that I had been shown the light, pallets were suddenly a big deal.

The skinny on the wooden pallet is that it is a simple structure made of boards that are nailed or stapled together to form a strong, portable platform. We each probably see wooden pallets routinely during our daily commutes, but rarely do we pay them any attention. Despite its humble appearance, the pallet has played a critical role in the shipping and logistics industry for over a century.

They were first used to transport just wine and spirits. The use of pallets became more widespread during World War II, when they were used to transport military supplies. The true turning point for pallets, however, came in the 1930s, when a new type of pallet was introduced - the four-way pallet. This design, which allowed for easy entry with a forklift from any direction, revolutionized the way goods were moved and stored. This design quickly became the standard and it is still the standard in use today.

Wooden pallets come in a variety of sizes and can be designed to meet the needs of any type of shipment. One particularly fascinating fact I discovered is that pallets aren’t actually all square. The most produced pallet size in the United States is 40” x 48”, and the second most produced size is 48” by 48”, which of course even us non-mathematicians can cipher, truly is square.

Across the U.S. about 1.8 billion pallets are in service every day, and 93% of those in use are made from wood. Wood is preferred over plastic or metal pallets because of their durability and cost-effectiveness. Additionally, their lightweight nature makes them easier to move around, which is especially helpful for warehouse workers.

Last, but certainly not least, wooden pallet manufactures employ almost 200,000 Americans daily. Some of these essential producers are loyal FSI customers. My thanks to them for the part they play in the critical movement of goods across America, all done on top of the thankless, tireless, wooden pallet!