Small businesses are increasingly relying on pallet shipping to ensure they deliver goods fast and efficiently. Pallets are stable and sturdy platforms on which you can ship a wide range of items from mechanical parts to fresh produce. While this delivery option has been around for some time, many new small businesses have no idea of how the delivery process works.
Pallet delivery has become the most common form of distribution across the world due to its simplicity. Below, we’ll provide a step-by-step guide on how the pallet shipping process works.
Contact a Pallet Transport Courier
As a small business owner, the first step is to find a delivery service that can meet your needs. You have to contact different pallet transport companies and find one that can handle your orders. If they can comfortably meet your pallet shipping requirements, let them know what orders need to be picked up and delivered to your customers.
You can always contact them via phone, email or an online portal. Choose a company that has invested in a real-time portal that manages the entire pickup and delivery process to make your work easier. The volume of goods that your customers order will often determine how many scheduled collections you will have.
Order Collection
Once you’ve contacted a pallet shipping company, they will then plan how to collect your orders at a specific time, place and date of your choosing. Note that some companies will charge you more for order collections during the weekends or on holidays.
It’s important always to check the rates they charge for collection before placing your orders as well as other key considerations, to ensure the service is affordable and reliable.
Order Distribution
After your orders are collected, the pallets often go to a distribution warehouse where they are consolidated into designated routes for the delivery drivers. Reliable shipping companies have in place strict loading and safety protocols that ensure your pallets are loaded onto trucks carefully.
The pallets are also secured safely inside the delivery trucks to avoid damage to goods in transit. Just like other shipping options, the distribution trucks will leave the warehouse on schedule to ensure that your pallets arrive at their destination on time.
Order Tracking
To streamline the pallet delivery process, many delivery companies offer a tracking service to their clients. Again, that is usually offered on an online platform or a mobile app where you can click to check on the progress of your order. Some companies will contact you directly and let you know when your order is delivered while some provide a GPS map to track your order.
Order Delivery Timelines
The time it takes to deliver pallets depends on your requirements, the service level you pay for or the distance to the delivery destination. Most pallet shipping companies will strive to deliver orders with 24 or 48 hours. However, if you’re shipping pallets abroad, especially where air, ocean and rail transport becomes part of the delivery process, it can take longer.
Pallet Distribution Networks
As you can imagine, it’s hard for a shipping company with only one base to efficiently make 24-hour pallet deliveries all over the country. This is why it’s important to work with a company that has an established pallet distribution network comprising of hundreds of trucks and drivers in different locations.
Such networks mostly comprise of a number of distribution companies working together to try and provide the most comprehensive, efficient and cost-effective order delivery solutions to their customers. Bigger pallet transport companies also open transport hubs in strategic points around the country to make things easier and more convenient for customers to get their orders.
The Bottom Line
Understanding how pallet shipping works is just one part of what you need to do when it comes to delivering goods to customers. Small businesses need to invest in a portfolio of order management and fulfillment applications to deal with supply and delivery challenges.