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Sheet 04 · ranges

Sheet 04 · ranges handled

Ranges carried, grouped by how they behave on a deck

A wholesaler’s ranges are usually listed the way a shop would list them. They are listed here the way the unit has to handle them.

A dense ceramic case and a nested plastic crate are the same word on an order and nothing alike on a pallet.

Why the ranges below are grouped by behaviour and not by aisle

How they arrive

Every range is bought on a written specification agreed before the first order: outer construction, inner count, case marking, unit load and dunnage. The specification is what the bench checks against, so a delivery that does not match it is a specification query at the bench and not a judgement call by whoever is unloading.

How they build

Each range also has a build note: which tier it belongs on, whether it can be interlocked, whether it takes a corner board and whether it can carry weight above it. The build note is what keeps a mixed pallet standing, and it is read in the lane rather than remembered.

05

Fragile and dense: tableware, glassware, cookware

Cookware and bakeware arrive heavy and square, which makes them the easiest cases in the unit to stack and the worst to drop. The specification and the build note for the whole family read across one row at a time.

Dense ranges: what the bench checks, and what the lane does with it
Specified At the bench In the build
Outer01 Double wall, taped top and bottom, corner boarded on the pallet. Carries what sits above it, so it takes the bottom tiers of every mixed pallet.
Inner02 Divided inner cartons; the divider is part of the specification. Not interlocked: a glassware case turned a quarter puts its weight on a divider rather than on a wall.
Marking03 Case code, inner count, gross weight, fragile mark on two faces. The fragile face is turned outward so the mark is readable on the built pallet.
Protection04 Column stacked, no interlock, slip sheet between tiers. Slip sheet between a ceramic tier and whatever is next; corner board on every vertical edge before the wrap.
Check05 Shake test by hand on the bench; a rattle is a damage line. The pallet is counted on the floor, never on the truck. Where a drop is all one dense range the pallet is built lower than the booking allows: the limit is the bottom case, not the roof of the vehicle.

06

Light and bulky: storage, organisation, kitchen tools

Nested storage boxes, baskets and crates arrive as few cases taking a great deal of room, which makes the pallet count on the delivery note the figure to watch rather than the case count. A nest packed one short is invisible until the cases are opened, so the inner count is read on the bench on a sample case of every new code. Kitchen tools arrive light, often on hanging cards inside a printed outer, and a bent card is a damage line even where the tool is sound.

  • Build note 01

    Upper tiersposition

    Never under a dense range, whatever the order sequence says.

  • Build note 02

    Wall strengthpattern

    Interlocked where the case has it, column stacked where it does not.

  • Build note 03

    One light tiercompression

    Nothing stacked on a nested crate case beyond that.

  • Build note 04

    An extra turnwrap

    Light cases walk under a loose wrap, so the top tier takes one more.

A board top sheet goes on any pallet finishing with a printed card range. A light pallet fails by leaning rather than by crushing, so the wrap is what holds it and the wrap is what is checked before the plate goes on.

07

Long and awkward: brushware, mops, airers, refuse sacks

Long goods do not fit a deck and are not pretended to. Two shapes come in that a standard footprint cannot hold, and they are handled in opposite directions.

Banded, and strapped down in · 07

A banded bundle of handles strapped to a pallet, overhanging both ends A bundle of long handles lies along a timber pallet and overhangs it at both ends. Two straps pass over the bundle, each one running across an angle board so the band cannot cut into a handle. Overhang Overhang
Brush and mop handles arrive banded in bundles rather than cased, and the band count is counted as a case figure in its own right. Airers arrive flat in long outers that overhang any standard footprint, so they are received, counted and stored as long goods and are built last.

Baled, and kept on top out · 07

A bale riding on the top tier of a mixed pallet A compressed bale sits on the top tier of a pallet of cases, bound by two bands. A crossed-out arrow below it shows the bale is never placed under the load. Never under weight
Refuse sacks and other compressible consumables arrive in bales. A bale is counted and then left alone, because a cut bale cannot be re-counted without opening every roll in it, and a bale under weight takes a set and does not come out of it.

Both overhang a deck; one is strapped down, one rides on top

Long goods are strapped to the pallet rather than wrapped to it, with the strap over a corner board. Where a drop takes both long goods and cased ranges, the long goods travel as their own unit with their own plate: a pallet with a handle sticking out of it is a pallet nobody can put a second one beside.