I hadn’t even begun negotiating when it happened.
Both factories, eager to break into the UK market, saw my project as their golden ticket — their first UK demo site. And before I could even open my mouth, they were already competing with each other.
Emails flew back and forth like a ping-pong match.
Prices dropped like dominos.
And there I was — a spectator at my own negotiation.
By the time the dust settled, I could hardly believe the outcome. The total price had fallen so much that I decided to upgrade my order. Instead of 1,000 pallet positions, I went for 1,400 — a 40% boost in capacity — and still kept the total cost at around £60,000, plus roughly £40,000 for installation.
A hundred thousand pounds all in — about the same as a traditional 1,000-pallet system, but mine would need only half the space.
For a brief, glorious moment, I felt like the cleverest warehouse manager in Britain.
Here’s what we had achieved — or so I thought:
- Warehouse space cut in half — from 20,000 to 10,000 square feet, saving roughly £150,000 a year in rent and business rates. My investment would be fully paid back within eight months.
- Pallet capacity up by 40% — giving us plenty of headroom for growth.
- A cutting-edge racking system — at the same cost as a conventional one.
For the fifteen weeks that followed, while we waited for delivery, I could hardly contain my pride. I told colleagues, friends, customers — even suppliers — about my “remarkable success.” I must have sounded insufferably smug.
Then the big day came.
The trucks rolled in. The first container door swung open.
What I saw inside sent my excitement crashing straight to the floor: the packs of steel racking are dead heavy and very long.
Next Chapter: How to Unload 5-Ton Packs of 8m Steel Racking
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