The Pallet Story

It's an odd business problem which N-TV (German commercial news network) brings up.

When you make a product  and sell it, then you need to ship it to the receiver.  Somewhere in the process, you need pallets.

So it got brought up today....there's a pallet shortage going on in Germany.  The association over the pallet companies.....HPE (Federal Association of Wood, Packaging, Pallets, and Export Packaging)?  Well, they say that some companies have have had to cancel some large-scale orders because they simply can't get their hands onto enough pallets.

Typically, when you can't buy new pallets....then you go to the secondary market....the used pallet companies, and buy off them.  Well....they've run out as well.

A national shortage?  What the pallet companies are saying is that they've actually gone to a higher production scale and making more pallets.  Demand is simply up and this points to a business climate which is very positive right now.

Naturally, all of this leads to one key part of the story.....increased cost for pallets.

It's an odd problem.  Typically, this is where you'd find new companies starting up and filling the void.  But in this case....you don't see that.

All of this affecting the market, and costs?  Well.....yeah.

ADDED NOTE: ZDF brought up a short news piece.  It revolved around three small companies that use pallets daily.  The three were all suffering from pallet theft.  Yes, folks were sneaking onto the property at night, and stealing pallets....a hundred here, two-hundred there.  Cops figured the average make on these at 6 Euro per pallet on the used pallet market.  So a sting operation was set up. A couple of guys were arrested, and charges are going to be filed.....for stealing pallets.