A Secondary Market for Heavy-Duty Shelving?
Yesterday we received a call from a flooring contractor that purchased a used E-Z shelving system at auction. From the pieces he acquired he was able to fashion storage shelving for his box truck, supporting the carpeting and materials that he transports to job sites. He contacted us to inquire about purchasing more shelving for a new 18-foot truck.
That makes the third time this month we’ve heard from an E-Z user inquiring about additional shelving after discovering it second-hand.
Why is E-Z Shelving so appealing for re-use? Allow us to submit a few reasons:
First, E-Z Shelving easy to uninstall, transport, and re-install. If you can use a screwdriver and a wrench then you can handle the dis-assembly of the individual components. For transport our uprights, brackets and shelves stack nicely in a truck or van. A general contractor that called us recently first installed our shelving in 1975 – at 16 years old – and recently completed his third dis-assembly, re-location and re-installation of the original components.
Secondly, the system is versatile, but easy-to-understand. Without the benefit of guidance from one of our specialists, our new flooring contractor/friend figured out how to mount E-Z Shelving to the interior of his box truck. He attached DIY edge stops to the punching on our shelves to secure his cargo (see information on E-Z’s seismic lips here).
Thirdly, our heavy-duty shelving is hard to kill. It takes quite an effort to deform our components to the point that they can’t be re-used. The flooring contractor told us he routinely steps on his fully-loaded bottom shelf to reach the top one. That’s an additional 300-400 lbs/sq. ft. of concentrated, dynamic loading at shelf edge. Unlike his creativity with the edge stops, we can’t condone using our shelving as a step-stool (our systems are designed for static loading), but his admission does illustrate the extent of the force our cantilever systems can distribute without failing. In talking to customers that found our product “on the secondary market”, their amazement at its durability is a recurring theme.
One more point that’s fair to make: Some products are designed to be “green”. E-Z Shelving is built-to-last and just happens to be as green as it gets. In the context of conserving our resources and protecting our environment, a product that endures decades of use and re-use is preferable to a product that must be recycled. But rest assured that 100% of E-Z Shelving’s aluminum and steel components can be recycled if necessary.
Would you like a quote for a heavy-duty shelving system that’s built-to-last? Request a quote on our quote page.
Did you purchase E-Z Shelving second-hand? Share your story here!