Plastic pallets

They're more expensive, and harder to get back from the receiver (without making special trips).

 

Having seen what some forklift operators are capable of.

Having to replace them constantly would be a huge deal breaker.
Now, for a company like RFS (Reinhart Food Services), to have plastic pallets to load and unload on their own trucks might make sense.
OR for some other companies that do their own delivery or have facility transfer trucks this might make sense.
But for others that ship by common carrier, and may never see those pallets again, wood is the cheapest way to go.

 

Most pallets only go one direction through the supply chain. My company receives lots of freight on pallets. We do occasionally pass those pallets along to our own customers, but most of them end up in the burn pile. They never go back to the companies that shipped them to us.

 

My employer has a select few suppliers who have a charge attached to their pallets. We receive a credit for all pallets returned to these suppliers.

However, as you have said, the vast majority of the palatalized items that we receive in a week. Are shipped on junk pallets that we resell to whomever wants them or we burn the worst of the lot.