STUDENTS' CORNER - 82

Now, we can move on to some other kinds of warehouses in use.

Special Commodity warehouse

As the name itself suggests, for some particular commodity, a particular type of warehouse may be necessary.  Storing being one of the main functions of a warehouse, the warehouse for a particular commodity must be so built that the product stored is not spoilt since the stored commodity is meant for sale.  Without storage tanks, storing petrol cannot be thought of. And to store grains, you need an elevator to scoop up grains from lower level and deposit them in a silo or in some other storage facility.

And to store tobacco, a warehouse must have barns; a barn is a large shed where things like tobacco can be stored and protected from damage. 

All such facilities must be available in respective warehouses. In a way, a warehouse is a business-promotion measure. For example, you store grains purchased at some market price and you normally sell them at a 5% profit. It so happens that due to some microeconomic factors, if your salesman says that there is a reliable prediction that the price is likely to go up after sometime. Naturally, a business man will not like to miss the opportunity; he must keep the grains undamaged for some time till the market reaches the predicted rate. It can be seen now that warehouses play a very crucial role in the business promotion.

Cold Storage or Refrigerated Warehouses

Refrigerated warehousing

This kind of refrigerated warehouse is used for storing perishable commodities like eggs, fruits, vegetables, fish and fresh meat, so on.

The great advantage of a refrigerated warehouse allows the perishable commodities to be stored for a very long time which facility in turn makes it possible that those commodities are made available throughout the year, not necessarily seasonal accessibility.

With the media creating keen health awareness among the people, they prefer to include in their diet some fruit and they would very much like to have the fruit supplied to them all round the year even though under normal circumstances that fruit may be traditionally available during some season.

A very large warehouse, sometimes, may set aside a part of the building for cold storage. The large warehouse generally has other provisions for administrative buildings, restrooms, rooms to keep equipments, so on.