They’re pretty unassuming objects, but a shortage of the humble wooden pallet is set to muck up the supply of fresh food and groceries to the supermarket retailers towards the end of the year, Coles boss Steven Cain warned yesterday. He dubbed it ‘pallet-gate’, and says lockdowns in NSW and Victoria, wood shortages, and panic buying during the last couple of years means pallets – which are essential to transport goods from the supplier to the retailer – are few and far between. It’s such a problem that it has seen Coles and Woolworths lower their competitive force fields to join with the Australian Food and Grocery Council to create a ‘pallet taskforce’ to get them back into circulation. If you see one, maybe let your local store manager know…