Why Shouldn’t I Buy Second Hand Pallet Racking?

While it may be true that pallet racking is a huge expense for a business, and sourcing it second hand can be cheaper initially, doing so poses greater risks in the long term, and can end up costing your business more than just money.

The largest, and most significant, risk when investing in used pallet-racking is in terms of its safety. When considering pre-used pallet racking it is hard to know exactly what condition the racking is in, and how much damage it has been through in the past - beams can hide a lot of defects and strains. Pallet racking can collapse if it has become weakened by overloading and this poses a serious risk to a company’s products, as well as their employees lives. Pre-used pallet racking will have a much shorter lifespan than new pallet racking, requiring repairs or replacements more often, and thus increasing its cost over time.

Another danger with using second hand pallet racking is the potential for parts to become obsolete. In a constantly growing and developing industry, there is potential that old racking may have already been phased out, thus negating any possibility of repairs or replacements in the event of damage.

Used pallet racking will often no longer be under guarantee, and will not be eligible for a new guarantee, meaning any damage caused by defects will be entirely up to you to repair, and will add to the cost significantly. SEMA, the Storage Equipment Manufacturers Association, only allows their approved installation companies to work with new products, and will not provide an installation guarantee on second hand pallet racking. This inability to get a guarantee or to have a SEMA approved installation severely increase the risks, and costs, that may come from second hand pallet racking.

One of the most significant advantages of pallet racking is their versatility; different styles can be positioned to work in conjunction with each other, and they can always be expanded upon and redesigned to fit your ever changing needs. Buying second hand decreases your options of redesign as it could prove very difficult to find the same pallet racking again, and may in fact mean that when redesigning or upscaling you have to start again completely - significantly adding to the cost. Buying used also means that it has not been designed to fit your warehouse and therefore will not optimise space as effectively as new pallet racking would.

It is hard to ensure full transparency when securing used pallet racking, and it can very easily leave you with broken, overused racking that is impossible to repair or expand on. While saving you money in the short term, the hidden expenses that can come with buying used pallet racking add up very quickly. Not only do these expenses need to be considered, but also the fact that there is a significant decrease in the safety of used pallet racking which poses huge risks for your employees safety and wellbeing.

Rather than risking money and lives on unverified racking, stick to a SEMA approved distributor and installer such as DC Space and Storage Solutions to ensure your warehouse remains efficient, effective, and most importantly, safe.