Pallets for distribution and fulfillment in the Mid-South

BOX 01Why Memphis

The metro is a distribution center because of how freight reaches it. The Greater Memphis Chamber names four ways: air, road, rail and river. A building with access to all of them can receive from one mode and ship by another, so a pallet is handled several times before it leaves the metro.

Examples of scale: Medline's Southaven medical-grade distribution center is 1.2 million square feet and opened at the end of 2021 (Medline newsroom). It is named as an example of a building size, not as a customer.

BOX 02Where the numbers go

A 53-foot dry van is the unit these docks measure in. The arithmetic assumes an interior of 630 by 98 inches, which fits 26 pallets of 48 x 40 loaded lengthwise and 30 loaded crosswise, with the work shown on the pallets per trailer guide. A dock turning 20 trailers a week handles 520 to 600 pallets in either direction.

BOX 03The build-up problem

A fulfillment building produces pallets in a rhythm: a wave of inbound loads, then a pile. Because carriers swap pallets and shippers send odd ones, the pile is never uniform. The honest description of one is a count, a size mix and a damage fraction. Put those in the request and the buyer can place it.

See Southaven, Olive Branch and Southeast Memphis for the three places this is most visible.

BOX 04Buying for a distribution dock

Steady outbound supply is a truckload question: truckloads. One-off needs, such as a peak season, are a normal buy request with a date.

BOX 05Peaks, valleys and the pile

Fulfillment buildings run in waves. A retail building may receive most of its freight in the autumn and hold much of it in the spring, so the pile of empties follows. A request from such a building should say whether it describes a peak or an ordinary week.

The count is easier to set from the trailers: trailers received, times pallets per trailer, minus the pallets that left again with outbound loads. The difference stays on the lot. It is not a precise method, but it gives a number that is honest about its source.

BOX 06What a buyer reads in a distribution pile

A buyer looks first at the size mix, because a pile of 48 x 40s is the easiest to place. Next they look at the damage fraction, because it decides the split between sale and clearing. Third is the build: stringer or block. Last is any stamp or mark.

BOX 07A distribution request, written in full

A well-formed example: "Cross-dock in 38118 turning about 25 trailers a week; steady mix of 48 x 40, roughly 70 percent Grade B or better, 15 percent cores, 10 percent odd sizes, 5 percent scrap; the cores are for clearing and the rest for sale." Six numbers and a purpose, in a single sentence.

That is all most requests need.

BOX 08Cross-dock, fulfillment and storage compared

The fulfillment center is the notable one: goods leave as cartons in parcels, so the pallets they arrived on stay behind. A busy center accumulates the most empties of any building type.

BOX 09Pallet pools and owned pallets

Distribution buildings often handle two kinds of pallet: those the building owns and those in a pooling program. Pool pallets, usually branded and color-coded, belong to the pool and are returned to it. Only owned or unbranded pallets belong in a sell or clear request. Check before listing.

FAQStraight answers