Nuts & Bolts White Wood Rental Issues
Steve Mazza of Bett-A-Way (BPS) answers some key questions asked by MaterialsHandling.Net about its white wood rental programs.
MH.NET: How much have customers saved with your program? BPS: Our customers annual cycle cost is 30 to 40% lower than standard white wood pallets and rental programs.
MH.NET: Is the billing process complex or difficult to reconcile? If not why? Some rental pallet bills are nightmares according to some customers. How have you simplified it? BPS: Our billing is straight forward and simple to reconcile. It has fewer components, and for some customers, we track and report on their distributor returns. This includes communicating credits.
MH.NET: What if the downstream DCs are not cooperative? BPS: As a provider, we believe it is our responsibility to provide a simple, no-hassle method to return pallets. We can provide drop trailers or supply an 800#, we can even call on a regular basis. The one thing we cannot do is retrieve pallets from an uncooperative receiver.
MH.NET: Explain what criteria you use to decide if a pool can be developed for a customer? Geographic region? # of locations? Types of products? Dwell times? BPS: We can establish pools in any geographic region of the USA from 2 to 2000 locations. The key is getting the right system to fit your system. BPS can run closed loops, semi-closed loops, or open networks with co-operative participants. Type of pallets, products or dwell times can all be accommodated based on the model. That model can be customer owned managed pool, which eliminates dwell times, one-way rental, or a buy/sell agreement. Each model differs based on the customer’s network components and pallet requirements.
MH.NET: Do you charge lost pallet, transfer fees, etc.? BPS: We do not charge transfer fees. Lost pallet charges depend on the model. In a rental or lease system, someone is responsible for the core. In a managed pool for the customer, it works differently. Some of our customers implement a deposit structure with their receivers, some will offer a credit or buy back when the pallet is returned. In all cases, we provide the network for retrieval, the back office reporting to manage the customer service end and the communication of credits back to our customer.
MH.NET: Who handles the shipping, you or your customer? BPS: BPS handles all aspects of transportation.
MH.NET: Will you supply a block pallet? Yes, we can.
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