You may be surprised to learn that there is a lot of false information out there around pallet racking – over the years, we’ve heard them all. These myths and misconceptions often mean that companies and teams have to work harder instead of smarter, and fail to reach the level of efficiency they desire. Today, we’re going to dispel the misconceptions you may believe so you understand exactly what pallet racking systems can and can’t do for you.
Pallet Racking Myths and Misconceptions
1. Belief: Pallet racking can’t hold much weight.
Truth: Pallet racking is actually incredibly strong, and can hold up to 3,000kg per tier. This makes pallet racking incredibly versatile and allows for maximum storage.
2. Belief: Pallet racking is too expensive.
Truth: Pallet racking saves time, reduces liabilities, and can even decrease your man-power needs, so once installed, it will help you save money, so you will see a return on investment from your pallet racking over time.
Another factor to consider when you think that pallet racking is out of your reach is that it can be installed slowly – we give our customers a goal master plan of their shelving requirements and then we spread the work out over each quarter to make it more affordable.
3. Belief: You have to buy pallet racking.
Truth: You don’t have to buy pallet racking in an upfront lump sum, you can lease the shelving you need. This means you get the complete fitout completed in one go and lease the shelving on terms that suit you.
4. Belief: Designing pallet racking layouts is complicated and too time consuming.
Truth: This certainly isn’t the case with Shelving Shop Group – we look at factors like what products you store, how frequently you have to move products, and provide you with in-depth CAD or PDF drawings and work with you to create the best possible layout for your warehouse. (Think of us like interior designers for your warehouse!)
5. Belief: I don’t have the time/equipment/manpower to install pallet racking.
Truth: We have trained, in-house installers that come and complete the installation for you – you don’t have to lift a finger.
6. Belief: We can’t have pallet racking because we aren’t going to stay here permanently/we’re renting.
Truth: Pallet racking is designed to change with your needs – you can move it around the warehouse if necessary or disassemble and reassemble elsewhere. We’ll take this on board when we design your layout.
7. Belief: We plan to sell/move on/scale down in the future, and we’ll be stuck with expensive pallet racking we don’t need.
Truth: You can easily sell on your pallet racking and get a lot of your money back, or talk to us about our leasing options.
8. Belief: Pallet racking systems aren’t secure.
Truth: While those videos of forklifts driving into racking and causing the whole lot to go tumbling, the reality is we bolt the racking system to the floor, and provided you’re using them appropriately (i.e., not overloading them and not using them as barriers for a forklift race) then they’re completely secure.
9. Belief: We are too small to have pallet racking.
Truth: The truth is, whether you are a “big enough” company to have a racking system or not really comes down to your goals and mindset around your business. Often in business, you need to somewhat put the cart before the horse so you can grow to meet the demands of that next business level. Of course, outfitting an entire warehouse when you only use a quarter of it would be unnecessary, but there’s no reason why you couldn’t make that quarter as efficient as possible. Hopefully, we’ve dispelled some of the myths you’ve heard around pallet racking so you can move forward knowing what is and isn’t possible for your business. If you have any other beliefs you’re not sure about or any questions about what we’ve talked about, don’t hesitate to reach out to us – we’ll be more than happy to give you the right information and answer your questions.
