Pallets are a necessary commodity in the logistics industry and are often bought and sold through pallet recyclers — many of which are small mom-and-pop businesses driving pickup trucks around town, picking up pallets and refurbishing them for sale. 

As the first of its kind, PalletTrader has stepped outside of the box and is changing how pallets are traded and sold. The platform launched in October 2022 and functions as an online marketplace meant to connect pallet buyers and sellers in order to remove inefficiencies. The company has already had great success during its first six months operating in the market. 

“The feedback has been great. Most of the time it’s: ‘Why didn’t someone else think of this earlier?’” said John Vaccaro, president of Bettaway Supply Chain Services and founder of PalletTrader. “A lot of people are so intrigued that there is something out there like this.”

Vaccaro sat down with Isaiah Buchanan, assistant producer at FreightWaves, to discuss the success of the company thus far.

Vaccaro added that while PalletTrader is specific to the U.S., he has already had companies in other countries reach out regarding use of the platform in locations across the globe.

“It seems as though the rest of the world has the same pallet problems and is in need of a solution like PalletTrader,” he said.

As far as growth is concerned, Vaccaro is pleased. As the first marketplace-type solution, he was confident the company was already at an advantage, but he’s been pleasantly surprised at the growth curve over the last six months as the company has continued to exceed goals.

“We set out a goal of 523 sellers on the platform by the end of 2023 and we are nearly halfway there,” he said. “We’ve processed over 800,000 pallets to date — well on our way to our goal of 1 million.”

Although the economy is softening and retail and industrial freight is slowing, PalletTrader has not been fazed. The platform was created for success in both an up and down economy, according to Vaccaro.

“PalletTrader accommodates the needs of everyone, no matter the economy. It gives our sellers a way to quickly change pricing or adjust to market conditions and our buyers easy access to fairly priced pallets,” he said.

After considering all the feedback over the last six months, PalletTrader will be announcing its latest feature, PalletTrader Plus, this summer. It’s designed for those who liked the idea of the platform but lacked the manpower and/or resources to utilize it themselves. PalletTrader Plus will offer outsourcing options similar to that of outsourcing freight through transportation management solutions.

After this, there is a goal to launch an open API source that will assist with the integration process, particularly for larger companies, and plenty more milestones to come down the road.

To learn more about PalletTrader, visit its website.