What is a Unit Load?

In supply chain logistics, a Unit Load is the standard configuration of a pallet. Instead of moving 240 individual boxes by hand, warehouse workers stack those 240 boxes onto a wooden pallet, wrap it in plastic, and strap it down. A forklift can now move all 240 items at once.

The Hidden Costs of Palletization

If you are a manufacturer selling wholesale to Walmart, Walmart will require you to ship your goods on specific types of pallets (often "Grade A" white wood or CHEP blue pallets). These materials are not free.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a severe lumber shortage caused the price of a standard 48x40 wooden pallet to skyrocket from $9 to over $25. This suddenly destroyed the profit margins of companies shipping cheap goods like bottled water, because the wood the water sat on cost more than the water itself.

Why Calculate Cost Per Unit?

If you sell high-value electronics and put $100,000 worth of laptops on a single pallet, a $27 pallet build cost is a negligible fraction of a penny per laptop.

But if you sell concrete landscaping bricks that cost $2.00 each, and you can only fit 50 bricks on a pallet due to weight limits, that $27 pallet build adds a massive $0.54 markup to every single brick. You must calculate this and build it into your wholesale pricing, or you will lose money on every B2B order.