Black Friday has come and gone, and this weekend marks the beginning of December. Many families mark those moments for when they begin thinking about Christmas preparations, but for the pallet industry, Christmas starts much sooner.

When most people are thinking of Halloween costumes in October, pallet manufacturers are working overtime to support the retail pallet market. Since most stores start putting up their Christmas decorations, gifts and novelties after Halloween (or even before!) they need those items before any of us are ready to look at wrapping paper or untangle our lights.

One of Millwood’s many unit load experts suggests that there is around a 12% increase in demand when fall hits and stores begin shipping their holiday hauls. He and many others at Millwood prepare themselves each year for the logistics and supply turmoil that happens every holiday season.

One year, a customer in the printing industry was working on Christmas catalogs, much like the ones you might receive in the mail reminding you to order cookies for coworkers or a fruit basket for your neighbor. They were in such high demand, that they needed to order an emergency 120,000 pallets over the weekend to continue production the following week.

As we continue to assist businesses small and large in their holiday preparations, we hope you remember the long journey many items take to reach you in your neighborhood department store.