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Just about everything in your home traveled on a wooden shipping pallet.
In our worldwide economy, the humble pine pallet is the way that goods move around the globe. Demand for pallets is so great that American manufacturers including many in Minnesota churn out nearly 1 billion of them every year.
And right now, it s not enough.
A worldwide shortage of pallets threatens to put a crimp in the flow of consumer goods, from tomatoes to toothpaste to toasters. Prices have doubled in the past year, and makers can t keep up with demand. I think it s a perfect storm, said Al Raushel, one of four brothers who own Savanna Pallets in McGregor, Minn. One of the Midwest s largest pallet manufacturers, Savanna turns out more than 10,000 pallets a day.