If you’re in charge of warehouse inventory, there’s a good chance that you like to see things in order. You take pride in knowing where absolutely every pallet is at every moment, and that once the call comes in for a product you know exactly where it is on your industrial storage racks.
But knowing where everything is at any given moment also means that you know where the problem pallets are. In almost every warehouse there are those pallets that simply shouldn’t be there anymore, the ones that hold items that a warehouse manager just doesn’t know what to do with. These pallets stick around while the inventory on dozens of other industrial racks come and go.
It’s these specific pallets that need to be dealt with, and the sooner you get them off your storage racking, the better. Here are some of the reasons you should just go ahead and move them along in your efforts of warehouse optimization, despite the extra effort it’s going to take.
It Frees Up Physical Space
The primary reason to get rid of old pallets of unusable materials is so that you’re freeing up physical real estate within your warehouse. That pallet taking up space on your industrial shelving unit is going to get in the way eventually, no matter how far away you’ve tucked them in the back. Once you fill up your warehouse to the brim, it’s time to look into a new warehouse racking system…but there’s no reason to do so if you are keeping stuff you simply don’t need. Did you find a pallet of flyers from the last trade show? Don’t give it a second thought before recycling them. Have a pallet of paperwork that’s just a fire hazard now? It’s worth the few bucks to get them shredded and out of your warehouse.
Sure, it’s possible that you don’t need every inch of your warehouse space today. But when you do have a huge influx of inventory, wouldn’t you rather see an empty space in your pallet rack shelving than deal with the problem when the new inventory is on its way? This brings us to the following point…
It Frees Up Mental Real Estate
It’s not just physical real estate that you have to deal with when it comes to old inventory on your pallet racking system. It’s also the mental real estate that it takes. If you’re in charge of the warehouse inventory, you are likely always running into the outdated products and thinking “I really should do something about that.” A month passes, and dozens (if not hundreds) of storage racks are used over and over, and you still see that unmoving inventory and think “I really, really should do something about that.”
After a while, keeping something around for long past its purpose starts to feel like a failure. It didn’t sell, and it’s being ignored (but stays in the back of your mind) month after month. It’s best to just move it along in some way so that you never have to think of it again.
How can you move it along? Sell it! “But it hasn’t sold in all this time,” you might say. “I’d love to sell it, but it just won’t go.” Well…
It Could Get Some Cash
It might be time to cut your losses. Sure, it hurts to sell something for pennies on the dollar, but sometimes it’s just worth it to free up the physical and mental space that the unsellable pallets are taking up. In today’s world of internet sales and easy pallet shipping, finding a buyer for just about anything shouldn’t be a problem. It’s better to sell it for cheap now than to have it forced outside when you need every available industrial shelf for new product; a single rain could turn your product into trash.
The toughest part of selling it might be getting someone else to sign off on it. While you might want it gone, it might be difficult to get someone who doesn’t work in the warehouse to agree to let something go: “It might sell someday” they say. But bug them enough times and we bet they’ll cave, giving you that space back in the warehouse.
Tax Write Off
We’re no tax experts, but we know that keeping product around that isn’t moving can be a tax liability. But when you get rid of it, it could become a tax write off. You’ll get some credit for it if you give it away or pitch it, and you’ll also be freeing up warehouse space.
It Could Be Dangerous
Sometimes it can be difficult writing these articles to speak to everyone who might be reading them. After all, while some customers are using our industrial pallet rack shelving to store stuffed animals, others are using them to store antifreeze. It’s great that our storage racking is so flexible in terms of what they can be used for, but we’re certainly not going to suggest that one of our customers should get rid of that pallet of stuffed animals for environmental concerns.
But if there is something that could be potentially dangerous, it’s best to get rid of it. And even if it’s not dangerous, there are other reasons to move it along. Maybe it could cause a big mess if it ever fell, or leaks could lead to slip and fall hazards. Why have anything around that could cause you problems in the future?
Make The Most of Your Industrial Storage Racks
The fact is, there aren’t many warehouses in the world that don’t have some skeletons sitting around, waiting to be swept away. It’s always a good idea to free up space whenever you can, and it’s better to do so during your next downtime instead of during an emergency situation. When you’ve gotten to the point where you’ve gotten rid of your unneeded product and still need some space, RMH Equipment and Engineering will help you get your next warehouse management system up and running. Contact us right here to get the process started.
