As anyone who works in a warehouse can tell you, some things are harder to put away than others. From consumer goods to industrial supplies and everything in between, there’s a lot of items that come in awkward shapes, intense weights, weird sizes, or some combination thereof. And while everyone in warehousing probably dreads having to deal with these items, there’s things you can do to make them a little less painful. First of all you need to know what warehouse storage is the best option!

Below we have come up with a list of five of the most awkward items a warehouse may have to store and manage, and what you can do to get them put away safely:

Awkward Item: Piping

Solution: Cantilever Racks

Pipes, they’re long, they’re cumbersome, and they’re not going anywhere. If your warehouse deals in plumbing fixtures or industrial tubing, cantilever racks are a great way to keep them up off the floor and stored lengthwise. These racks tend to be safer than just leaning them against a wall (not that we’ve ever seen a warehouse do that), and they allow for easier retrieval of the pipes later.

Awkward Item: Giant Appliances (Washers, Fridges, Etc)

Solution: Bulk Storage & Pallet Racks

Most warehouse workers can agree that heavy items are the worst, and the larger the item gets the harder it is to deal with. If you work in a warehouse for any amount of time, the chances are good you’ll have to deal with some washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, and the like. A good way to handle these bigger ones is to bring in some forklifts and try to stash them on either bulk storage racks (if they can handle the load) or even use your pallet racks to keep these up and out of the way. The heavier-duty racks can bear the weight more easily than others (and you can avoid having to stack the items on top of each other) and this will make it much easier to get them where they need to go – so long as you have a little help from your forklifts, of course.

Awkward Item: Car Parts

Solution: Gravity Flow Racks

It’s a little vague, given as there’s a ton of stuff that goes into cars. The one thing they all have in common is that they’re generally bulky, oddly-shaped, and hard to deal with. Gravity flow racks are a quick and economical solution to storing car parts of a more…unorthodox shape, all while keeping them easier to retrieve and put away.

Awkward item: Hazardous Chemicals

Solution: Chemical-Resistant Plastic Shelving

Awkward items don’t always have to be heavy or cumbersome. A lot of storage facilities deal in hazardous materials that can’t be spilled or come into contact with too many other surfaces. These can be a chore to put away all on their own. By using chemical resistant plastic shelving you can make storing these products that much easier – just make sure you have the proper equipment to handle them in the first place!

Awkward Item: Paper Records

Solution: Bulk Shelving & Mobile Aisles

You may laugh, but a lot of industries are still required by federal law to keep detailed paper records of things like clients and transactions, and as anyone who has had to move their book collection knows, paper can get awfully heavy stored in bulk like that. Depending on the amount of records you need to store, bulk shelving can be an easy way to stash away any paper records you might have, or for more intense record-keeping you might want to consider mobile aisle storage similar to what you see in libraries or government storage buildings to maintain larger amounts of paper. It might not make sorting the paperwork any easier, but it’ll give you a place to keep it at least.

Hopefully one or two of these tips will help you sort through your most clunky storage needs. Don’t worry, we’ll be back again soon with an even more awkward list!

Get in Touch with Advanced Handling & Storage for Warehouse Storage

Get in touch with us today for more information and to get your awkwardly shaped items in storage! Call 0800 345 7088 or send an email to [email protected]

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