A pool owns a large fleet of pallets, usually painted in a brand colour, and rents them to manufacturers. The pool collects the pallets from retail and grocery distribution centres, inspects and repairs them, and issues them again.
Pools charge in different ways: fee components (issue, rent, transfer, loss) or a flat rate per pallet. Whether pooling beats buying white-wood pallets depends on dwell, loss and what receivers accept.
See also
- Issue fee
- A charge a pallet pool makes each time it issues a pallet to a customer's account.
- White-wood pallet
- An unpainted wood pallet bought outright, as opposed to a rented, painted pool pallet.
- Dwell time
- The number of days a pallet stays on one party's account or premises before moving on.
- Closed loop
- A pallet program in which the same pallets circulate between known locations and come back to the owner.