Dave Nicklin
The humble pallet really ought to have its value shouted from the rooftops. It has changed the face of transportation and made life easier for everyone across the world. Imagine life without it. Below are a few snippets of pallet history so you can see how we came to use them, and where they came from. If you are looking at transporting goods and need advice on the right pallets for you business Nicklin can steer you in the right direction.
It is hard to imagine a world without the pallet. Its impact has been astounding and it has enabled the transportation of goods across the world in record numbers. To realise the difference they have made consider that in the 1930's 13,000 cases of canned goods would take 3 full days to unload, but by using pallets, this unloading will now take only 4 hours.
It seems that the pallet got its' more modern name from the Sixteenth Century, originating from the Middle French word “pallette”, meaning small shovel.
The reliance on pallets for transporting goods longer distances really took off alongside the invention of the fork lift truck. This provided a reliable and efficient way of lifting and moving pallets on and off transport such as boats and trains and streamlined the whole logistics process.
Despite their early origins, pallets only really came into mass production in the Twentieth Century. The 1920's saw a range of patents being put forward for what were then called “skids” and by the 1930's they were in full production.
It seems that pallets have been around forever. The first forms of pallets (then called skids) can be traced back as far as the First Millennium BC - in Mesopotamia and Egypt.
Trading since 1913, we are one of the UK's longest established and most experienced providers of bespoke timber and corrugated transit packaging products and services. Our product range includes; ...
