Pallets in Germantown, Tennessee

BOX 01The suburb

Germantown is an eastern suburb of Memphis, about 16 miles east of the Mississippi River at an elevation of 318 feet. It had 41,333 residents in the 2020 census and an estimate of 40,128 in 2024, the 23rd most populous city in Tennessee. The median household income was $149,920 in the 2024 survey cited by Wikipedia.

Germantown is not an industrial town. The Wikipedia page lists civic venues rather than employers: the Germantown Performing Arts Centre, the Germantown Athletic Club and an annual festival.

BOX 02Why it has pallets at all

Any town with stores has pallets. Grocery, hardware and home stores take deliveries on pallets, and their back docks and loading aprons collect the empties. Small distributors and offices tucked into business parks add a few more. The result is a trickle: 20, 50, 100 pallets that no one planned to keep.

• Store back docks: mixed 48 x 40, a few broken.
• Light distribution: clean, sorted stock, usually Grade A.
• Business parks: whatever came with the last equipment delivery.

BOX 03Best fit: a short, plain request

A small pile is not worth a long story. A good request here says the count, whether the pallets are 48 x 40, and the ZIP code, and mentions anything wet or broken. Pallet removal is the closest page, and retail and small business describes who has this problem.

If you are buying a few for outbound, say so, since used pallets in small counts are a normal request.

BOX 04Around it

Cordova lies to the north (Cordova) and Collierville to the east (Collierville), where the bigger plant docks are.

BOX 05What to leave out of a small request

A pile of 30 pallets does not need a spreadsheet. Give the count, the size, the condition in a few words and the ZIP code. A line such as "about 30 pallets, 48 x 40, a few broken, behind the building, 38138" is a request.

The extra detail that does help: whether a truck can reach the stack, whether it is on a public street or a private lot and whether anyone must be present.

BOX 06Counting pallets you cannot move

If the pallets are heavy to move, count the stacks and multiply by the height. Ten stacks of eight pallets is 80, close enough for a request.

BOX 07Civic life and commerce

Germantown's identity is residential, with civic venues and an annual festival. Its commerce is shops, banks and offices on a handful of main roads. Pallets there arrive with shop deliveries, and the empties are a small, regular nuisance more than a freight problem.