Caution over this beetle appears to be well founded. It evidently has no known predators in the U.S. and is immune to safe insecticides. Availability of a product called a slip sheet from Lydall Southern Products is being widely reported as a possible solution. A recent story in the Journal of Commerce Maritime supplement detailed numerous case histories of companies that have been using slip sheets for years. A number of our clients use slip sheets and have been doing so since the 1980s.
Slip sheets look like a cardboard sheet but are much stronger.
They are significantly less expensive than pallets and take up less room. However, for those types of cargo that are suited to the slip sheet system, they may merit investigation. Visit Lydall s Web site for more information. For information from the USDA on this pest, click here.