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If you need pallets and you’re looking for a pallet provider, you may be wondering where to begin. Lucky for you, we at Kamps have put together a quick guide of information to help you get started!

First, if you’re looking to purchase, know what size pallet you need. If you don’t know what size you need, let us know what you are trying to ship, the dimensions of your product, and how much it weighs.

Second, know how many pallets you need! If you are looking for a quote, know the weekly or monthly volume of pallets your company consumes. We will be able to quote a full trailer load or less than a trailer load (LTL) based on your needs. We also allow our customers to use their own trucks to pick up orders.

Next, will you be shipping your pallets within the US or out of the country? If it’s out of the country, you will need the pallets heat treated. This is an international requirement put in place that helps prevent insects and pesticides from being spread across borders.

More details: Will your pallets need to be built 2 way or 4 way for forklift accessibility? Will your forklifts need to enter the pallets from the all four sides or will the front and back only be sufficient? If you aren’t sure, check with your warehouse manager.

Next, there are 3 main types of pallets; reconditioned, remanufactured, and new. We will help you determine what pallet type you need from the information you provide us above.

Where is your pallet going? For example, if you are a food manufacturer and shipping your product to Kroger, Whole Foods, or even Meijer, they may have special pallet specifications that other companies do not. Please share any pallet specifications you may have with you sales consultant to make sure your pallet is compliant.

Reading this, you may not have answers to all of the above questions. That’s okay; that’s why we are here. A Kamps sales consultant will be able to point you in the right direction and cannot only get you pallets you need, but get you the pallet that will best fit your needs.

Kamps is proud to supply the pallet industry and serve customers across the nation. As we’ve noted before, the pallet is “the single most important object in the global economy.” Our lives would not be the same without pallets! From start to finish, pallets are a crucial part of the way our economy works. Given this, we’d like to offer our version of the A-Z Challenge, pallet style.  Here it is:

A is for A Grade Pallet, the highest quality recycled pallets.

B is for Block Pallet, a type of pallet with blocks between the pallet decks.

C is for CorrLoc, a safer, easier, environmentally neutral product transport.

D is for Deckboards.

E is for Economic Impact which pallets have – over $31 billion dollars’ worth of economic impact!

F is for Forklifts and Forklift Safety.

G is for Green Scorecard, how Kamps tracks our recycling efforts.

H is for Heat Treated Pallets, a form of pest control for wood pallets.

I is for Inner Deckboard.

J is for Joint.

K is for Kamps Pallets, of course!

L is for Logistics. Investing in transportation is investing in customer service!

M is for Mulch. Wood chips have so many uses.

N is for National Wood and Pallet Container Association, the largest organization of wood packaging professionals in the world.

O is for Our Story, learn about it here.

P is for PDS: Pallet Design System, a program that creates pallets to fit every customer’s needs.

Q is for Quality.

R is for Reconditioned Pallets (our specialty!).

S is for Skid: a pallet without bottom deck boards.

T is for Two-Way Pallet.

U is for Unusable Pallets are transformed into mulch for landscaping.

V is for Vendor Relationships.

W is for West Michigan where Kamps Pallets began and our HQ is located.

X is for X, used for describing pallet dimensions, 48 X 40.

Y is for You. Thank You for supporting our family owned business since 1973!

Z is for Zipper Top.

You may think pallets are simple, but there is a whole A-Z of information about them and how they impact our world. Pallets change and develop over time as do how we use them. This is our snapshot today. Who knows where the pallet will go in the future, transporting the products we will design and create?

Between working full time, caring for kids, participating in family or social activities, and volunteering, exercise can be the first thing people put off. The day only has so many hours. Unfortunately, many Americans spend the bulk of their work week sitting behind a desk or otherwise being inactive. According to statistics gathered by the Department of Health and Human Services, less than five percent of adults participate in 30 minutes of physical activity each day and only one in three adults receive the recommended amount of physical activity each week. A lack of exercise affects your metabolism and leads to weight gain over time.

Because we spend so many of our awake hours at work, practicing healthy habits at work is so important. This is why companies that care about their employees promote and prioritize employee wellness.

Here is some tips our Kamps team recommends to prioritize health and wellness at work.

1. Get up and move! Set an alarm every hour or so to get up and take a few laps around the office, or on your lunch break grab your tennis shoes and take a 30-minute walk outside. You can also relocate items such as trash bins or printers to the center of your office to encourage and your co-workers and yourself to get up and walk more frequently.
2. Hydrate! Water, water, water! Make sure your office or workspace has water available at all times by providing water in bottles or water coolers to employees. Regular water breaks help keep energy levels and brain function up.
3. Change the snack standard – Pizza, donuts and bagels are the most common items people order for birthdays or office meetings, but why? Help influence the mindset in your office building by bringing in fruit or other healthy snacks to munch of during a meeting or to celebrate an office birthday.
4. Walk your meetings – Who said meetings have to be at table? If you have an upcoming meeting, try going for a walk around business instead of sitting down in a conference room.
5. Offer incentives – with the New Year coming up, run a fitness challenge or offer employees a stipend for a membership at a local gym. This could be the extra push they need to get moving and add exercise to their lives!

The World Health Organization guidelines recommends 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week. When you divide it out, that’s 30 minutes, 5 times a week – which sounds pretty doable! By implementing some or all of the above tips, you can improve employee wellness help the people around you get more of the exercise they need to stay well or become healthier in 2019.

Grocery stores, distribution centers and manufacturing plants all use pallets to handle food and beverages. To ensure the process of moving products between warehouses and locations is quick and standardized, the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) has established a set of guidelines for all food industry pallets.

These GMA pallet guidelines contain detailed dimensions and specifications, as well as quality classification parameters.

What are the specs of GMA pallets?

Pallets manufactured to GMA specifications are typically referred to as GMA pallets. A GMA pallet is one of the six most common size pallets, and is by far the most popular size in the US. A GMA pallet has:

• An overall footprint of 48” by 40”
• A minimum load-bearing capacity of 2,500 pounds
• Four-way forklift entry with two notches on the side
• Top and bottom deck boards that are 5/8″ thick
• A 5 1/2″ x 40″ board on each end of the pallet top, and five 3 1/2″ x 40″ boards in the center
• A 5 1/2″ x 40″ board on each end of the pallet bottom, and three 3 1/2″ x 40″ boards between the notches

What are the different grades of GMA pallets?

The GMA pallet is a recycled pallet categorized into two grades: A and B.

• Grade A or #1 is the highest quality recycled pallets. These are products that are in excellent condition, with no stringer repairs and only minor discoloration. Many recyclers use subdivisions within the category to distinguish between pallets with a cleaner appearance, such as food grade or premium grade.
• Grade B or #2 pallets show indication of more extensive use than Grade A pallets. They may be worn and discolored, or have broken stringers that have been repaired with companion runners. Grade B is very popular due to the lower cost than a Grade A pallet.

At Kamps, we sort, repair and deliver thousands of GMA pallets every day – you could say it’s our specialty. Our first and main location, in Grand Rapids, Michigan is home to many food processors and manufacturers, as well as grocery stores and restaurants. Our clients rely on Kamps to provide the pallets that keep this food chain moving so that fresh and packaged food gets to their customers on time and in good condition. We take this responsibility very seriously.

If your business uses GMA pallets and you would like to discuss which grade pallet would best meet your needs and your company’s budget, call us. We’d love to go through your options and supply you with a great pallet at a great price.

Whether we want to accept the fact that another winter season will soon be here, preparations for snow, slush, and wet conditions are already taking place at Kamps Pallets. Kamps has always been committed to safety in our plants and to forklift safety in particular. Although not all of our customers nationwide will be affected by the wet winter season, many of our plants are reacquainting staff with safety measures for when the cold and snowy weather could hit.

What potential winter weather challenges could arise?

• Machinery – Forklift and van trailer brakes lock up in inclement weather in unpredictable ways. Both truck and forklifts find it hard to operate in heavy snow as well. This can make the loading dock a more dangerous place.
• Timeliness – Most pallet yards have outdoor storage and working areas. Employees naturally want to get their work done fast to get out of the cold, but rushing can lead to mistakes and accidents.
• Poor road conditions – Combine trucking with bad weather, and you will have delays. No one is happy when deliveries and pick ups do not operate on schedule because at the end of the supply chain a customer is inconvenienced.
• Wet Pallets – Snow and rain can create a big headache in an outdoor yard. Wet pallets are more challenging to work with in every aspect of our process.

How does Kamps overcome the challenges of winter weather and bad traveling conditions? With planning and discipline. Although the first snow of winter is always a bit of a shock for everyone and requires a learning curve, outlining the proper safety procedures, creating a winter safety checklist, and clearly communicating potential challenges or delays helps us conquer the winter season and keep deliveries on time. It also  allows our customers to continue operating as normal.

Winter can be a challenge, but we don’t have to let the winter blues frustrate or overcome us. With the right planning and training, we will conquer this winter as we have all the ones of the past.