Pallets in Olive Branch, Mississippi

BOX 01The junction

Olive Branch sits at the junction of US 78 and Mississippi highways 302 and 305, and its northern border is the Tennessee state line. US 78 runs about 22 miles northwest to central Memphis and becomes Lamar Avenue once it crosses into the city. MS 302 is known locally as Goodman Road and MS 305 as Cockrum Street and Germantown Road. I-269 and I-55 are the other interstates listed (Wikipedia).

The city had 39,711 residents in the 2020 census, the sixth most populous in Mississippi.

BOX 02Rail and the industrial park

A rail line from Memphis to Birmingham passes through Olive Branch and is used by BNSF. R.J. Corman's Tennessee Terminal does industrial switching in the Olive Branch industrial park, which interchanges with the BNSF mainline. Holiday Inn began a 3,000-acre industrial park in 1971, which is the origin of the district. Olive Branch Airport opened in 1973 with a 6,000-foot runway.

That mix is why a building here can receive trailers and boxcars on the same day.

BOX 03Distribution docks

Williams-Sonoma operates a 2-million-square-foot distribution center in Olive Branch, per a 2014 Area Development report. The area is also known for power-tool and medical-device distribution and 3PL warehousing.

A building that big takes in loads from many shippers, so its pallet pile is the textbook mixed load. Pallets in e-commerce buildings are mostly 48 x 40 stringers in Grade A or B, with some block pallets, and a share that arrive cracked.

BOX 04A request from Olive Branch

1. Give ZIP code 38654, or the one the pallets sit in.
2. Name the size, the count and the condition: sorted, mixed or broken.
3. Say whether it is a one-time pile or a weekly flow.

For the clean part of the pile, sell; for the rest, clear. The sister city to the west is Southaven, and the southern road to Byhalia has its own docks.

BOX 05Peak season and the pallet pile

A 2014 Area Development report on Williams-Sonoma's expansion says the existing distribution center was 2 million square feet, would add about 900 jobs to more than 650 existing ones and employs 2,000 to 3,000 seasonal workers in peak periods. The report is about a retailer's building, not about pallets.

The lesson for pallets is the seasonal swing it describes. A building that triples its workforce in the fall receives far more inbound freight in those weeks and ends up with far more empty pallets. The pile that forms in November is not the pile of June, and a request should say which one it describes.

BOX 06The beltway reaches the town

I-269 has an interchange with MS 302 by Olive Branch. The interchange makes the northern edge of DeSoto County convenient for trailers that want to bypass central Memphis.

Rail, highway and a small airport sit in the same area, which is why the 3,000-acre industrial park has lasted. A building here can be served by truck and by switching on the BNSF interchange.

BOX 07A seasonal request, written well

A good seasonal request reads: "About 800 mixed pallets, mostly 48 x 40, built up over October to January, about 15 percent broken, on an open dock, ZIP 38654." That is a count, a size, a damage fraction, a period, a place and a ZIP code in one line. Compare it with "lots of pallets," and the point is clear.

BOX 08Pallets and the shopping calendar

Retail distribution follows the calendar: back-to-school, the autumn build, the holiday peak, the January returns. A building that supplies stores has a different pile each quarter, and the pile grows when a program ends. January often brings returns, which means mixed pallets from stores arriving at a building that was built to ship, not receive.

"Holiday overflow" suggests clean 48 x 40s in large numbers; "January returns" suggests a mixed, damaged pile.

BOX 09From the dock door to the lot

Where a pile sits matters. Pallets stacked inside a building near a dock door are protected and easy to reach. Pallets on a lot are exposed to rain, and those on grass or gravel pick up moisture from below. Name the surface under the stack and whether anything covers it.

BOX 10Rail switching and the pallet

For a building on a siding, boxcar loads arrive alongside truck loads, and the pallets in boxcars are often built by the shipper for rail handling.

Rail pallets tend to be sturdier than those on truck freight, because rail cars bump in transit. A pile from rail freight is a different pile from one off a truck, and a request should say where the pallets came from.