Square containers about the size of 40 x 48 pallet, 3 feet high, are used to treat and store the cherries. Exactly 800 lbs. of brine and 900 lbs. of cherries are put in these containers and allowed to soak for 8 hours. They are rinsed several times before shipping to canneries.

The processing plant is a cooperative operation that services several area ranches during the harvest season. The cherries are sorted by size and weighed, whereby the ranchers are paid accordingly. A fork truck is used to move product around the floor to the scale.

Now, the pallet truck scale is moved to the product. There is no longer any need to add or remove cherries from the containers as before, to be exact. The filling process is performed with the pallet truck scale under the container. This removes any possible damage to the cherries that can occur from handling.

The pallet truck scale has replaced 2 fork truck drivers for 8 hours a day, for a total savings of 16 man hours. The picking season is from May through November or seven months out of the year, five days a week. At $ 5.00 per hour there is a savings of $ 400.00 per week, or $ 11,200.00 during the 28 week season.