Mixed pallet loads: what a dock collects in a month

BOX 01How a mixed load forms

Inbound freight rides on whatever pallet the shipper used. Over a month, the dock behind a distribution building collects 48 x 40s from one supplier, 42 x 42s from another, a few Euro pallets, some block pallets, and some pallets that cracked on arrival. Nobody sorts them as they come; they pile up. That pile is a mixed load.

In the DeSoto fulfillment belt and the Southeast Memphis warehouse corridor, the pile is a constant, which is why distribution docks are the main sellers of mixed loads.

BOX 02How a buyer reads it

A buyer prices the sorting. They subtract the work of separating sizes and grades from what the best pallets are worth, and what is left is the offer. A mixed load with a lot of 48 x 40 pallets is worth more than one with a long tail of odd sizes.

• Share of standard sizes: the more 48 x 40, the better.
• Share of sound pallets: the fewer broken, the better.
• Access: a pile on a dock beats a pile in a trailer.

BOX 03Describing yours

Give a rough count, the sizes you can name, and a guess at how much is sound. Say if it is stacked or loose, indoors or out. If most of it is clean 48 x 40, say so first. If you want the whole pile gone, a clear request is the right box; if you would take money for the sound ones, sell. Dock check can help describe it.

BOX 04Why sorting changes the answer

A mixed load is read as the sum of its worst and its commonest parts. A pile of 300 pallets that is 200 clean 48 x 40, 60 of other sizes and 40 broken is not a 300-pallet pile of one kind. Told as three counts, it is a pile with a sellable core, a small set of odd sizes and a set of cores.

The same pile told as "mixed pallets, 300" tends to be read as the least favorable version. Splitting it costs a few minutes with a clipboard and changes how the request is read. See pallet cores and the grade guide for the language.

BOX 05The mixed-load sentence

A one-sentence template: "[count] pallets: [n] [size] [grade], [n] [size] [grade], [n] cores, [n] scrap." Filling it in forces the sorting that a buyer wants. Even a rough version, such as "about 200, mostly 48 x 40 B, some others," is better than "mixed."

BOX 06Mixed loads and trailers

A trailer of mixed pallets is harder to load than one of a single size, because the pallets do not nest. A loader may fit fewer. This is why buyers who need a full trailer prefer sorted stock, and why a request for a trailer of one size is easier to meet than one for mixed.

BOX 07Sorting by size first

The most useful single sort is by size, because most buyers want one. After size, sort by grade. After grade, set aside cores and scrap. Three passes, each quick, turn a mixed pile into a handful of clear stacks.