Storing Fruits and Vegetables on Pallets in Wholesale Warehouses

Excerpts from the report: The generally used method of storing palletized fruits and vegetables in wholesale warehouses (called the conventional method in this report) does not make full use of vertical storage space. Pallet loads of produce in containers that are strong enough are placed directly atop one another, but many commodities cannot be tiered in this manner, and valuable storage space is lost. A number of devices are available that provide for stacking loaded pallets in two, three, or four tiers. Precise information was lacking, however, as to: (1) How much reduction in floor area requirements or increase in storage capacity is gained by the use of tiering devices ; and (2 ) how the use of tiering devices affects the costs of owning and maintaining a warehouse and the costs of handling commodities in and out of storage. To assist wholesalers planning to build new warehouses or to increase the capacity of their present facilities, a study was made to compare the requirements and costs of storage by the conventional method with three general types of tiering devices—self-supporting pallets, standard pallet racks, and drive-in pallet racks.