Plastic pallets delivered in Idaho

Potatoes go in the freezer

Idaho grows more potatoes than any other state, and much of the crop is processed into frozen fries, hash browns and dehydrated flakes rather than sold fresh. J.R. Simplot is based in Boise, and Lamb Weston, one of the largest frozen potato companies in the world, is headquartered in Eagle. Their plants and others sit across southern Idaho from the Treasure Valley to Aberdeen, American Falls and Rexburg.

Fresh potatoes are stored for months in climate-controlled cellars and packed in sheds for grocery shipment. Frozen product leaves the plants for cold storage warehouses, often held well below zero.

Freezer pallets must not crack when a forklift bumps them in the cold. HDPE keeps more impact strength at low temperature than many polypropylenes, though PP copolymer grades also do well. Ask the maker how the exact model is rated for freezer use, and send your freezer temperature with the quote request.

• Cold storage plastic pallets →
• HDPE vs polypropylene →

Milk, cheese and yogurt in the Magic Valley

Idaho is one of the top milk-producing states, and most of its dairies are in the Magic Valley around Twin Falls, Jerome and Gooding. Chobani runs one of the world's largest yogurt plants in Twin Falls, and cheese and whey plants process milk throughout the valley.

Dairy rooms wash down constantly and hold product in coolers. A solid, smooth HDPE deck is the usual answer, since it drains, takes sanitizer and has nowhere for milk solids to hide. The 40x40 footprint is the traditional dairy size, though plants that ship into grocery distribution use 48x40. The maker's paperwork for the exact model covers food-contact use; 21 CFR 177.1520 governs the resin.

Sugar beets are the Magic Valley's other big crop. Amalgamated Sugar processes them at factories in Twin Falls, Paul and Nampa during a long winter campaign, and bagged sugar leaves on 48x40 pallets bound for food makers and grocery warehouses.

• Plastic pallets for dairy →
• 40x40 plastic pallets →

Interstates and regions

I-84 is southern Idaho's main road, running from Oregon through Boise, Nampa and Mountain Home to Twin Falls and on toward Ogden and Salt Lake City. I-86 branches east to Pocatello, and I-15 runs north from Utah through Pocatello and Idaho Falls toward Montana. In the north, I-90 crosses the Panhandle through Coeur d'Alene between Spokane and Montana. US 95 is the main highway linking north and south Idaho, and long stretches of it are two-lane mountain road.

Micron and the Boise clean rooms

Micron Technology, the memory chip maker, is headquartered in Boise and is building a large new fab on its campus there. Suppliers of chemicals, gases, wafers and tools ship into areas where wood is kept out to control particles.

Cleanroom pallets have smooth, closed decks with few seams or crevices, so they can be wiped down before going past the dock. They are generally lighter duty than a rackable, so check the dynamic load against the tool crate.

• Cleanroom plastic pallets →

Lewiston, the inland seaport

The Port of Lewiston, on the Snake River where it meets the Clearwater, is the farthest inland seaport on the West Coast. Barges carry grain and other cargo down the Snake and Columbia to export terminals on the lower river. Lewiston also has a large paper and pulp mill.

Barges reach Lewiston through eight locks on the lower Snake and Columbia dams. The town also makes ammunition, and cartridge cases packed in cartons are small but very dense, so a pallet carrying a full stack of them needs a dynamic rating checked against the real weight rather than the carton count.

Getting pallets there, and selling them back

A truckload ships on a 53-foot dry van, about 52.5 feet long inside, to your dock. Nestable models fit the most per trailer: Rehrig Pacific's published heavy-duty nestable 40x48 ships 1,200 to a 53-foot van. LTL serves Boise, Twin Falls, Pocatello and Idaho Falls regularly; north Idaho often routes through Spokane.

Processing plants retire cracked pallets after each season. Send the count, footprint, resin code, condition and pickup ZIP, and we answer with an offer to buy them as pallets or as regrind.