Pallet Supply USA

Service

Pallet removal before it becomes a fire marshal problem

We remove accumulated pallets from docks, yards, retail backrooms and job sites — on a fixed schedule or on call. Where the load has resale value you get paid; where it does not, removal is priced flat with no per-unit surprises.

Response
2–5 days
Trailer drop
Available
Routes
38 states

Request a quote

Price this, properly

Send the quantity and we'll quote your actual lane — not a national average.

We reply here — no phone line exists at this company.

U.S. or Canada only — format (404) 555-7842.

Two-letter code or full name.

U.S. ZIP 30318 or Canadian M5V 2T6. Checked against the state you enter.

Whole units. An estimate is fine.

Unsure? Leave it — our grader will recommend one.

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01The three collection models

ModelHow it worksBest forRelative cost
Scheduled routeFixed day, fixed frequencyPredictable weekly volumeLowest
Trailer dropEmpty trailer parked, swapped when fullHigh volume, own forklift, space to parkLow
On-callRequest and we despatchIrregular or seasonal accumulationHighest

Most sites start on-call and move to a schedule within a quarter, because the arithmetic is unambiguous once the volume is known. A trailer drop is the cheapest of all if you have the yard space and a forklift, because it removes despatch cost entirely.

02Why the fire code cares about your pallet pile

Idle wood pallets are one of the highest fire loads found in a commercial building. Stacked, they form vertical flue spaces that accelerate flame spread dramatically — a stack burns far faster than the same wood laid flat.

  • Most adopted fire codes limit indoor idle pallet storage to roughly 6 feet high, or restrict it to designated sprinklered areas.
  • Outdoor stacks typically require clearance from buildings, property lines and combustible storage.
  • Insurers frequently write specific pallet-storage conditions into commercial policies.
  • Plastic pallets carry a higher fire load than wood and are often restricted more tightly.

03Sites we collect from

  • Distribution centres and 3PLs — high volume, scheduled routes, usually revenue-positive.
  • Manufacturing plants — mixed inbound sizes, often with recoverable odd stock.
  • Retail backrooms — small volume, high frequency, space-constrained. Route density is everything.
  • Construction sites — brick, block and material pallets, frequently damaged and often the odd sizes nobody wants.
  • Grocery and food service — fast turnover, contamination screening required.
  • Agricultural operations — seasonal spikes, remote locations, planning matters.
A short stack of six different used pallets showing the variety of construction and branding, including a blue CHEP pallet and a PECO-stamped pallet.
Six pallets, six conditions. The blue CHEP and the PECO deck in this stack belong to pooling companies — we sort those out and return them rather than buying them.
Rear of a trailer loaded floor to ceiling with stacked used pallets, lift gate down, at a yard on a wet day.
Freight is 30–50% of what a recycled pallet costs you. A trailer prices the same whether it leaves three-quarters full or full.

By the numbers

The figures worth remembering

Four numbers that decide most of what follows on this page.
Working days to collect in route territory
2–5Working days to collect in route territory
Cheaper per unit on a scheduled route than on-call
30–45%Cheaper per unit on a scheduled route than on-call
Typical indoor idle-storage height limit
~6 ftTypical indoor idle-storage height limit
Pallets in a 40-yard roll-off
~120Pallets in a 40-yard roll-off

Rules of thumb

Carry these in your head

  • 01The safest pallet stack is the one that left last Thursday.
  • 02A trailer drop removes despatch cost entirely.
  • 03Construction pallets rarely pay, and recovery still beats a roll-off.
  • 04Tell us if a dock is blocked — we would rather reshuffle than have a driver arrive at a crisis.

Before you order

The decisions we will ask you to make

A quote turnaround is limited by how many follow-up questions we have to ask. Working through this list removes nearly all of them.
  1. 01

    Collection model

    Scheduled route, trailer drop, or on-call. Most sites start on-call and move to a schedule within a quarter.

  2. 02

    Trailer parking

    A drop needs somewhere safe to park a 53-foot trailer for a few days.

  3. 03

    Loading equipment

    A drop needs your own forklift. Live loads can use our labour and a lift gate, at a cost.

  4. 04

    Access constraints

    Low bridges, weight-restricted roads, tight turns, residential zoning.

  5. 05

    Your insurance conditions

    Frequently stricter than the fire code, and the declined claim is the real risk.

  6. 06

    Plastic separated from wood

    Plastic carries a higher fire load and is often restricted more tightly.

What goes wrong

Expensive mistakes, and the fix for each

Every one of these turns up in ordinary purchase orders. All of them cost multiples of whatever they appeared to save.
01

Letting the pile grow to code limits

Stacked pallets form vertical flue spaces that accelerate flame spread dramatically. A stack burns far faster than the same wood laid flat.

FixNominate a written internal maximum that someone owns, and book a scheduled route.

02

Assuming removal costs money

Most loads have enough recoverable value to pay for their own removal and often pay you as well.

FixAsk for the net position before assuming a haul charge.

03

Only checking the fire code

We have seen sites in full code compliance that were in breach of an insurance condition limiting storage to a nominated bay.

FixRead the policy's storage conditions. Twenty minutes, once.

Side by side

The three collection models

ModelHow it worksBest forRelative cost
Scheduled routeFixed day, fixed frequencyPredictable weekly volumeLowest
Trailer dropEmpty trailer parked, swapped when fullYard space plus own forkliftLow
On-callRequest and we despatchIrregular or seasonal accumulationHighest

Against our interest

When this is the wrong answer

We would rather lose the order than sell you the wrong thing. These are the situations where this page is not what you need.
  • 01

    Sites that could be selling instead

    If the pile contains a decent share of 48x40 stock, this is not a removal job — it is a sale, and it should pay you.

  • 02

    Mixed general waste

    We collect wood packaging. A skip of mixed construction waste with pallets in it is a different service and a different contractor.

  • 03

    Emergency same-day clearance

    Two to five working days is realistic in route territory. If a dock is genuinely blocked we will prioritise, but same-day is rarely deliverable.

What moves the price

Cost drivers, and roughly how much each one is worth

A quote is not a list price with a discount applied. It is these variables added up, which is why two quotes for nominally the same thing can differ so widely.
Indicative. Your lane, volume and specification decide where inside each range you land.
DriverWhat it isRough effect
Collection modelScheduled route, trailer drop or on-call despatch.30–45% per unit
Recoverable value in the loadDetermines whether the job is net positive or net charge.Decides the sign of the invoice
Loading capability on siteYour forklift, or our crew and lift gate.Labour and equipment
AccessLow bridges, weight limits, tight turns and residential zoning all change the vehicle.Can force a smaller, costlier truck
Indicative. Your lane, volume and specification decide where inside each range you land.

Due diligence

Questions to ask any supplier

Us included. The answers tell you a great deal, and so does how quickly they arrive — a yard that has these documents ready is a yard that has thought about them.
  1. 01

    “Will this load pay me, cost me, or break even?”

  2. 02

    “Can you drop a trailer, and how long can it stay?”

  3. 03

    “What notice do you need for a collection?”

  4. 04

    “Do you take the odd sizes and the broken ones?”

  5. 05

    “Will I get documentation of tonnage and outcome?”

The rulebook

Standards and authorities that actually apply

Plenty of pallet marketing invokes standards loosely. These are the real documents behind this subject, and what each one does and does not cover.
International Fire Code

Contains the idle pallet storage provisions most US jurisdictions adopt — indoor height limits, designated areas and outdoor clearances.

NFPA 13

Sprinkler system design standard, which addresses idle pallet storage as a specific high-challenge commodity.

Your insurance policy conditions

Frequently stricter than the adopted code, and the declined claim is the real risk rather than the fine.

Worth twenty minutes of reading.

OSHA general duty

Housekeeping and egress obligations that an accumulating pile can put at risk.

Vocabulary

The terms used on this page

Defined the way the trade uses them, not the way a dictionary would.
Core
An as-collected used pallet — unsorted, unrepaired and ungraded. Raw material rather than a product, and priced accordingly.
Grade C
Structurally sound but cosmetically rough. Suitable for floor-stacked storage and one-way freight; never for racking.
Pooling
A rental model where a third party owns the pallets and charges per trip. CHEP, PECO and iGPS are the major North American pools.
All 42 terms

From the journal

Longer reading on this subject

Written by the people who grade, repair and haul the wood — including the articles that argue against buying from us.
Operations6 min readDana Whitfield

Idle pallet storage and what your fire code actually says

A stack of empty pallets burns very differently from the same wood laid flat. Most operations know this vaguely. Fewer know what their own policy says about it.

Read
  • safety
  • fire code
  • storage

Questions

Answers to what buyers actually ask

Straight answers, including the ones that cost us the sale.

Do you charge to remove pallets?

Only when the load has no resale value. A mixed load with a good share of 48x40 stock usually results in a payment to you. A pile of broken odd sizes on a remote site will carry a haul charge. We quote the net before the truck is booked.

How quickly can you collect?

Two to five working days in our regular route territory, faster if a dock is genuinely blocked. Tell us if it is urgent — we would rather reshuffle a route than have a driver arrive at a site in crisis.

Do I need a forklift?

For a trailer drop, yes. For a live load we can bring labour and a lift gate where the site cannot load, which costs more but solves it. Say so at quote stage rather than at the gate.

Will you take pallets from a construction site?

Yes. Construction pallets are usually damaged and often odd sizes, so they rarely generate a payment, but they are entirely recoverable as fibre and we would much rather have them than see them dumpstered.

Should we book scheduled collections or call when full?

It depends on how predictably pallets accumulate. Above roughly a trailer a month a fixed schedule is cheaper and stops the dock filling up; below that, on-call avoids paying for half-empty trips. We usually start on call, measure the real rate for a quarter, then move you if the numbers say so.