Sell desk: value
What are used pallets worth?
Used pallets are worth what a buyer can do with them, which depends on size, grade, count, moisture and whether the stack is sorted. There are no prices here because the number belongs to the stack.
The five things that move the number
- Size. The 48 x 40 is the most common wood pallet size in North America and the easiest to place. Other sizes have fewer buyers.
- Grade. Grade A has had no repairs, Grade B has repairs, Grade C has several and poor appearance. Each step down is worth less.
- Count. A trailer load is a different offer from a dozen pallets.
- Moisture. Wet or mouldy pallets have to be dried or replaced before they can go to food or pharmaceutical loads, which cuts what a buyer will give.
- Sorting. A stack sorted by size and grade saves the buyer labor.
Why Orlando is different
A Florida summer is hard on stored stock. Orlando gets roughly 8.05 inches of rain in June, 7.46 in July and 7.69 in August, against about 1.79 in November. A stack that was Grade A in May can be cores by August, so timing matters as much as grade.
Reading your own stack
Use the grade sheet on a typical pallet from the stack. If most read Grade A or B, say so. If most read as cores, say that too: cores have value to a recycler, just less than sound stock.
Questions, answered
Are cores worth anything?
To a recycler, yes. A core is raw material for repair, remanufacture or grinding. A broken stack with no sound frames may have no resale value.
Is it better to sort before selling?
Often. Setting aside the Grade A and B pallets of one size and keeping the cores in a separate pile makes the stack easier to price.
Does heat treatment add value?
Only for buyers who ship across borders that apply ISPM 15. For everyone else it makes no difference.
A worked example, without prices
Take 260 pallets, which is ten trailers of 26. If 150 are sorted 48 x 40 in Grade A or B, 60 are the same size in Grade C, 30 are another size and 20 are cores, then a buyer sees four different lots, not one. The first lot goes back into use, the second is a rougher product, the third needs a different buyer and the fourth is raw material. The number belongs to the mix, which is why no price is published here.
What drags the value down fastest
- Standing water in the stack, which adds weight and raises moisture past the 20 percent line.
- A leaning stack, which suggests broken stringers underneath.
- Mixed builds in one pile, since block and stringer pallets are priced separately.
- Pooled or branded pallets that belong to someone else.
What a buyer checks first
Buyers start with what can be seen in a minute: the size stamped or measured on the first pallet, the pallets at the top and bottom of a tower, and the end of a stringer where a crack would show. A moisture meter, which reads wood by electrical resistance, takes a few seconds per pallet and settles an argument about dryness faster than any description. A buyer who finds pooled pallets in the stack removes them from the count before anything else.
Lots, not a single number
The worth of a stack is the sum of its lots. Sound 48 x 40 stock is one lot. Other sizes are another, each with its own list of interested buyers. Grade C and cores form a lot for repair and dismantling. Broken pallets are a lot with no resale value. A seller who offers the lots separately gets four answers where a bundled offer gets one lower one.