A family owned and operated and business, Larson Pallet Company has been a trusted and respected supplier of pallets, crates, and wood products in the Bay Area for over a century.

With Santa Clara Valley roots that extend 100 years back into the 19th century, the Larson family began manufacturing wood ladders for the orchard ranchers who developed the area. Once known for the quality of its apricots, cherries, prunes and walnuts, agriculture gave way to silicon chips, computers, telecommunications and networking equipment, a flood of people, and other industries to support it all.

Founder Charles Larson worked for years at his dad's Larson Ladder Company, always looking for a product that would be a synergistic and logical complement to the ladder operations — a manufactured product to optimize the use of wood that was a byproduct in making ladders. A tour of duty in the Pacific during World War II, brought him face to face with the efficient use of pallets for shipping. It was then that Charles had his epiphany. Upon his return, he started the pallet division of Larson Ladder Company.

In 1968, Larson Ladder Company was sold, and Charles left to start the Larson Pallet Company, then called Palletfax, to service the pallet needs of Container Corporation of America (CCA). The Company quickly earned a reputation for manufacturing small orders with very little lead time and for recycling and repairing its pallet inventory.

From small beginnings the company grew to be the pallet provider and recycler to four companies in 1975 (the year David & Susan Larson joined Charles)— International Paper, Keystone Steel and Wire, E.S.B., and CCA. The company's strength was clear — SPEED & SERVICE. But the Valley was showing signs of significant change — names like Apple Computer and Intel were making history. They and other companies in what was now dubbed SILICON VALLEY produced specialized products with special needs, and we became the custom manufacturer of choice for their pallet and packaging needs.

Larson Pallet Company soon outgrew its leased site in Campbell. Wishing to be centrally located among our customers, and thinking a rail spur was paramount to most efficiently source raw material, we purchased and customized a plot of bare land in a very empty business park in Milpitas.

We opened our beautiful new facility on the Monday after Thanksgiving in 1979, as Larson Pallet Company, the full-service supplier of pallets to Silicon Valley.

Our Milpitas site of 4.5 acres and 30,000 feet of manufacturing under roof allowed us to serve continuously more customers. The first automated assembler was installed in 1984 to support the manual assembly teams. Capacity grew in all operations —cut-up, assembly, shipping and recycling.

Over time, demand for ever more recycling capacity and our concern for the environment led Larson Pallet to offer more disposal and recycling services. We installed a large wood grinder to reduce the solid wood waste stream away from landfills and into products that reuse the fiber, such as landscape mulch, boiler fuel and particleboard.

With the 21st century upon us, it gives us great satisfaction to think our story of Quality, Service, Professionalism and Value is a vital part of over 100 years of history of Silicon Valley and the Bay Area. We've worked with most of the companies in the Bay Area throughout the years, constantly refining our business, and gaining the experience that makes us who we are today. May the roots continue to grow ever deeper.

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