Cost guide · 9 min read
Reducing pallet costs: where the money actually leaks.
Last reviewed January 2026
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- Buy, sell, recycle or remove: tell us which way it flows
- Add the size, grade and quantity if you know them
- A partner supplier follows up
- Availability depends on partner suppliers
Unsorted
Mixed used pallets, before anyone has sorted them by grade.
Ranked by return
The five leaks, largest first
- 011. Emergency purchasesRunning short on a Friday and buying whatever anyone will deliver, at whatever price. At many sites this is the largest avoidable cost, and a small planned buffer removes most of it.
- 022. Loss ratePallets that leave and never come back. Most operations have never measured this. Count out and count in for one month; if the gap on a returnable fleet is large, that is your biggest number and no unit price will touch it.
- 033. FreightOften a large share of delivered cost, and mostly a function of distance. A supplier nearby with a higher unit price can beat a distant one on delivered cost. Always compare delivered, never FOB.
- 044. Double handlingEmpties moved to make space, then moved again to load out. Every touch is forklift minutes nobody budgeted. A fixed collection slot and a defined staging area removes most of it.
- 055. Grade mismatchBuying Grade A for one-way outbound, or Grade B for racking. The first wastes money, the second causes damage. Both are common and both are free to fix.
The thing to notice
None of these is the unit price
Eliminating emergency purchases, capturing the value of your empties, repairing instead of replacing and cutting removal volume can all lower total spend without the unit price moving at all.
Unit price is the most visible number and the most negotiated, and it is usually the one with the least room in it. Pallet margins are thin, and a supplier who cuts the price sharply is going to find it back somewhere, usually in the grade.
The costs that actually have room in them are operational, which means they are yours to fix rather than your supplier's. That is inconvenient but it is also good news: they do not require anyone else's agreement.
Questions
Cost questions
How do I measure loss rate?
Count pallets out and pallets in for one month, adjusting for stock on hand. The gap divided by outbound units is your loss rate per cycle. Almost nobody does this and almost everybody is surprised.
Is a buffer worth the working capital?
Almost always. A buffer of two weeks' usage costs you the carrying cost of that stock and saves the spread between planned and spot pricing, which in a tight spring can be large.
Should we switch to a pooling arrangement?
Depends entirely on your flow pattern. Pooling converts a capital cost into a per-trip cost and shifts the loss risk. Sometimes better, sometimes far worse. See pooling vs buying.
Where should we start?
Add up twelve months of pallet purchases, removal invoices and freight. Most organisations have never seen those three numbers on one page, and the exercise usually identifies the answer on its own.
Is repairing worth it, or should we just replace?
Repair wins wherever the unit comes back to you, because one repair avoids a replacement purchase and a removal at the same time. The test is your loss rate: if units rarely return, there is nothing to repair and that money belongs in buffer stock instead.
Start with the total.
Twelve months of purchases, removals and freight on one page. Then describe what you use in the form and a partner supplier follows up.