Expanding into Pallets: Tips for Competing in a Competitive Market & Finding Hidden O

Well, I've expanded into pallets recently...in an area that is very competitive for both scrap and pallets. I have actually lucked into a place that gives me about a hundred a week....in all honesty...I think I make much better money with pallets than scrap...but I still scrap.

I'm obviously going up against established route holders, but I am approaching this more as a business than a "chuck with a truck"...The pallet guys I've seen, while nice, don't exactly put off the best image for themselves. I'm working on getting a simple website, biz cards, and then approaching every outlet I can until I max out on what I can handle. Clean cut, dressed like I am respectable, friendly, professional, and timely...that's what I want to do here. I know the warehouse manager wants someone who looks and acts like someone he can introduce to his boss...and project as a quality person to be in or around their business. I can go freelance and hit the alleys, but I'd rather find a few bigger stops than a hundred small ones. If I have to pay a bit, I'll weight that. I'd consider getting rid of oddballs for a fee if they are serious, but this current pallet furniture buzz makes it pretty easy to dispose of them curbside.

I've spent quite a few hours driving around town, seeing where might have some pallets in bulk and where and I might be able to stop on the way and pick up a few curbside on the way. If I can get this danged garage cleaned out, I can even see myself quickly repairing and maybe having a small stack to sell at better prices rather than just dropping them off at my reseller.

My biggest question is...where are some hidden gems I'm not seeing or thinking about? For instance, someone mentioned food banks...our local one happens to have CHEP's under lock and key...but that is just an example of where to look.


Thanks all!

You might check with a seed dealer that supplies corn, soybean and milo seed to farmers. When I am in need of pallets I am usually able to obtain some excellent pallets from some of the seed dealers in my area.

wood pellet dealers

Any large shops. Either they are looking to buy them or get rid of them. We pickup/sell over 500 pallets a week from just 1 supplier!

Funny I saw this. My friend was telling me this week he gets hundreds of pallets a week from the ball field. The stadium manager just wants them gone and quickly. He now gets all the metal from them too because he gets it done quick. They even gave him a key to get them at night after the game.

Look for places that move a lot of product fast with little room and no warehouse.

Eric

Check with the lumberyards. Ours always have free pallets out front.

Professionalism is everything. I would recommend keeping separate cards for pickups, and resale. Putting them together could send mixed messages....

Try the farm and garden places, too.

I've had pretty good luck getting pallets from them--I don't resell them, no market out here in the sticks--but I use them on the farm to store stuff offa the ground. Probably got a hundred--and they wanted me to take more.

Jon.

You definitely got the right attitude. Professionalism is key in any business. All the above suggestions are great. Ride around any industrial areas, stop in leave a card.
In my experience with pallets, the better shape they are in the better price you get.
Think about repairing damaged ones. Businesses that will supply you with free pallets want you to take everything, not just 40by 40 or 40by48. They want them all gone even broken. Which you can use for repairs.
My biggest problem was finding a steady buyer(s).
To much space to stock them ,for me.

The crappy ones are great for bonfires, or cut them up for kindling. Especially the hardwood ones.

Maybe talk to people that sell firewood. A lot of people like to stack fire wood on pallets

My local newspaper company has them out all the time. Autoparts store(NAPA, advanced etc) is another place worth looking into. I got a good hookup with a local busy HVAC company where i get all their scrap and pallets. However there is a lot of odd ball ones dealing with the hvac stuff. Grocery stores are normally a no go because the wholesaler who delivers the goods there picks them up for return on the next trip, doesn't hurt to ask though.

If your ever bored one day, just follow trucks. Shipping is 100% reliant on pallets. You may be surprised where these trucks drop off loads

Well, I got the biz cards ordered Friday, so hopefully in just over a week I will have them in hand. I've been going around town both searching for pallets and taking mental notes of both actual and potential pallet locations...lots of areas that I didn't even know existed around town. Talking with my pallet buyer, his suggestion is to head to some of these outlying communities...the city here has a handful of hardcore pallet guys, (though nothing like the scrap metal hustlers) but apparently a good run down any number of highways could yield good results in bulk over the course of a day. I'm still going to stop in and make those connections around town and hope for some solid leads. I'm not quite at the carrying capacity for a hundred pallet load, but, if I could get a solid lead on a hundred more pallets per week, it would basically pay for a decent truck and trailer. Plus, there are hundreds of "tear down" pallets around town that, while they yield much less $, could be good to just to pay for fuel, etc...esp if I can get a high capacity truck/trailer.

With scrap prices in the toilet like they are I'm seriously considering doing pallets and putting more emphasis on that until metal prices come back up (whenever that may be), I have a flatbed utility trailer that I can strap a whole bunch of pallets to, in addition to carrying some in the back of the truck. I found a few places in my area and am planning to call them Monday for more info.

I used to pick up pallets as well..some of the best places to get quanity is some of the bigger farms..they just tend to burn them

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My friend was telling me this week he gets hundreds of pallets a week from the ball field. The stadium manager just wants them gone and quickly. He now gets all the metal from them too because he gets it done quick. They even gave him a key to get them at night after the game.

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Is that a semi-pro ball field cause I can't imagine a college field moving that much stuff on pallets???

Commercial construction companies generally go thru a lot of pallets of all sizes. If you can find the shop supervisor they would probably be the one to talk to, also if can run down the foreman at a lay down yard at a commercial site you could probably get a steady thing going.

Our local Wal-Mart allows you to take any pallets that are not blue, they reuse those. There is always a nice assortment of wood pallets. I once tried the pallet art thing, I was going to make a wine rack, yea right. Pulling apart a pallet is like trying to move the moon. Maybe I am just weak, but I took my pallets back to wal-mart's stacks, lol. Not for me.

Here's a question for you all...how much do you pay for #1 and #2 pallets if you need to get them from a seller? The more I get involved, the more I realize that I may be better off doing what I don't want to do...rebuilding them...

If I can get a steady stream of both buyers and pickups, the profit goes way up...plus since I plan on concentrating on cities outside of the metro, being loaded coming and going makes more sense financially...Heck, I could even probably afford to pay a part time guy $1 per pallet to rebuild them...

I have looked at some of the ideas mentioned here and have actually pursued a couple...

Got the business cards last week and have handed out a few but I've been stretched on time so I haven't had the time to really go work them...also got a website up.... Ironwood Pallet Management

The last two people who mentioned the craigslist ad also mentioned going to the site, so I feel that it helps validate me in their mind.

If you have a buyer and don't mind a learning curve (and don't live in the Ozarks ;-) I'd look at pallets for some extra money to supplement the scrap.

nice, I like the new website. best of luck to you! We have a huge dumpster here at work, we pay to have them disposed of.. tempted to dabble in pallets myself.

I also like the web site. I like web sites that have a way to contact and send a messge directly. Mike