Pallnet shuts ‘temporarily’
With only a few operational weeks under its belt, the pallet company has shut its doors for a radical restructure.
Pallnet, which launched only last month, says it will radically restructure its operation, after temporarily closing its doors last week.
No pallets moved through the Oldbury hub on Thursday night two weeks ago. Staff were sent home early and members were told that they would be paid for running their vehicles empty.
In a statement to members chairman Roger Ferguson said: ‘We have… come to the conclusion that there is very little commitment from the membership as a whole with just a few members providing any meaningful support.
‘We have concluded that free membership originally offered has not worked. Therefore we intend to radically restructure the network based on the strong a mutual contractual commitment including input and service levels.’
Ferguson’s attack on commitment has been refuted by members. Stuart Charter, MD of Bedfordshire-based Astech Logistics says: ‘We put 100% commitment into the network. We always sent a vehicle up to the hub even though it often came back with only one pallet and cost us money through empty running.’
Charter says he was contacted by Ferguson and asked to pay £5,000 to become a shareholder member. He says: ‘I wouldn’t touch Pallnet now and I can’t see anyone else putting money into a company which has already failed.’
Pallnet, which offered six- month membership for £1, is reported to have moved fewer than 1,500 pallets since its launch in January 30.
