Service 01 — Buying
Buy used pallets that were graded by a person, not a policy.
Price a load of recycled stock
Give us the quantity, the size and the ZIP. You'll get a written quote with the grade, the freight and the pickup window — not a sales call.
- Written quotes, usually inside one business day
- Loads from 100 pallets to full 53' trailers
- We buy as readily as we sell — tell us which way it flows
Segregation
Sorted by type, not by convenience. Pooled units go back to the pool; plastic runs a separate stream entirely.
The honest version
Why used pallets get a bad reputation
It is almost never the wood. It is the sorting.
A used pallet that fails on your line usually failed for one of four reasons: a cracked stringer nobody caught, a deck board nailed on short, moisture that pushed the unit past 19% and started to soften the fibre, or a footprint that was 47¾ inches instead of 48 and jammed the racking. All four are sorting failures, not material failures.
The economics of pallet recycling push against careful sorting. Grading by hand costs labour; grading by eye at speed costs nothing until the load arrives at your dock. Plenty of yards choose speed, ship a mixed pallet as a Grade A, and let the customer absorb the difference.
We grade against a written standard, we publish that standard on our pallet grades page, and we will take back anything that does not match it. That is a costly promise, which is exactly why it is worth making — it is the part of this business that is hard to fake.
What we keep moving
Stock we hold in depth
| Footprint | Grades held | Typical use | Lead time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 48" × 40" GMA | A, B, remanufactured | Grocery, CPG, beverage, general freight | Same or next day |
| 48" × 48" | A, B | Drum loads, chemical, wide industrial | 1–3 days |
| 42" × 42" | A, B | Paint, telecom, drums | 2–4 days |
| 36" × 36" | A | Beverage, retail display | 2–5 days |
| Euro 1200 × 800 | A, B | Export, automotive, pharma | 3–7 days |
| 48" × 45" | A | Automotive tier suppliers | 3–7 days |
| Odd and custom sizes | Reman, new | Whatever your load needs | 5–10 days |
Before you order
Five questions that decide which grade you actually need
- 01Does it go into a rack?Racked storage is the load case that breaks pallets. If it racks, you want Grade A with full-length, unspliced deck boards and no repaired stringers under the fork openings.
- 02Does it leave your building?One-way shipments to a customer who will not return the pallet rarely justify Grade A. Grade B does the job and the money stays with you.
- 03Does it touch food or pharma?Then you need clean, dry, odour-free stock with no visible staining — and you should ask us for the collection source, which we can give you. See food and beverage.
- 04Does an automated system handle it?AS/RS and automatic conveyor lines are unforgiving about bottom-board placement and overall height. Tell us the tolerance and we will sort to it, or tell you to buy new.
- 05How long will it live?A pallet that cycles internally forty times a year is worth repairing. One that ships out once is worth buying cheap. Different answers, different grades.
How it arrives
Banded, counted, and stacked the way your forklift expects.
Standard delivery is stacks of 15 for GMA, banded twice, loaded 22 stacks to a 53-foot trailer for 330 units. If your dock wants a different stack height or a different count, say so on the order and it costs nothing to change.
Every load ships with a count sheet, the grade, the collection region and — if you ask for it — a Pallet Passport recording what share of the wood was reused untouched versus repaired.
- Stacks of 15, double-banded, 330 units per 53-foot trailer
- Live unload or drop-and-hook, your call
- Count sheet and grade certificate with every delivery
- Yard pickup from 7:00 AM, Columbus, no appointment for regulars
48 × 40 GMA · Grade A
Questions
Buying questions
How much does a used pallet cost?
In central Ohio through 2025, recycled 48×40 GMA has moved roughly between $7.50 and $12.00 per unit for Grade A and $5.00 to $8.50 for Grade B, before freight. New equivalents have run $17 to $22.
Those bands move with lumber futures, diesel and the season — spring and autumn are tight, January is soft. We quote the number that is true this week, not a list price from last year.
Can I inspect before I commit?
Yes, and we would rather you did. Come to the yard at 7240 S Access Rd, pull ten units off a stack at random, and grade them yourself. Most disputes in this industry come from people buying pallets sight unseen.
What if a load does not match the grade?
Tell us within five business days and we will replace the shortfall or credit it, your choice. We would rather eat a load than argue about one.
Do you deliver outside Ohio?
Regularly, into Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia on our own trailers, and further on contract freight. See the service area.
Pricing, in the open
What a load actually costs, line by line
| Footprint & grade | Yard pickup | Delivered ≤ 60 mi | Delivered ≤ 200 mi | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 48×40 GMA, Grade A | $7.50 – $9.75 | $8.40 – $10.90 | $9.60 – $12.00 | Most liquid item we sell |
| 48×40 GMA, Grade B | $5.00 – $6.75 | $5.80 – $7.60 | $6.90 – $8.50 | One-way outbound work |
| 48×40 remanufactured | $4.50 – $6.00 | $5.20 – $6.80 | $6.10 – $7.00 | Five-board deck, Grade B ratings |
| 48×48 Grade A heavy deck | $9.50 – $12.50 | $10.60 – $13.80 | $12.00 – $15.00 | Four-drum loads |
| 42×42 Grade A | $8.25 – $10.50 | $9.20 – $11.60 | $10.40 – $12.90 | Availability moves in batches |
| 36×36 display grade | $9.00 – $11.50 | $9.90 – $12.60 | $11.20 – $13.90 | Appearance sort included |
| Euro 1200×800, sound | $12.00 – $18.00 | $13.50 – $19.50 | $15.00 – $21.00 | EPAL-certified costs more again |
| Heat treatment, per unit | +$1.10 – $2.20 | — | — | Added to any of the above |
How an order runs
From your first email to a signed delivery ticket.
- Step 01
You send the ask
Quantity, footprint, grade if you know it, and a ZIP. Anything else you tell us is helpful but not required — we will ask about dock hours and access at the confirmation stage.
Use the form on this page. It reaches the sales desk directly.
- Step 02
We check the yard
Physical availability against grade, not a system balance. For unusual footprints this is the step that takes the time, because somebody walks the rows.
Usually under two hours in business time.
- Step 03
Written quote
Price by grade, the freight, the pickup or delivery window, and the grade definition attached so you can compare it properly against anyone else's number.
Valid 14 days. Markets move.
- Step 04
You confirm
Reply to the email. We then ask for dock hours, whether it is live unload or drop, and any site access constraints — trailer turning room is the one people forget.
No purchase order system required, though we will use yours.
- Step 05
Pick and band
Stacks of 15 for GMA, double-banded, count sheet generated from the pick. Grade certificate attached, and a Pallet Passport if you asked for one.
Loading is about 25 minutes for a full trailer.
- Step 06
Delivery and ticket
Live unload or drop-and-hook. Count agreed on the dock and signed by both parties. That ticket is the record for any later question.
Five business days to raise a grade claim.
Receiving
How to inspect a load in ten minutes
- 01Pull ten units at randomFrom different stacks, not the top of the nearest one. The top of a stack is the one that was placed last and is not representative of anything.
- 02Tip each one and check the stringersLook along the outside and inside face of all three. A crack running from a nail hole is the failure that matters; a companion stringer or a plug tells you the grade definition being used.
- 03Count the deck boards and look for buttsSeven on top, three underneath for a GMA. A joint sitting over a stringer is a butted repair and should not appear in Grade A.
- 04Check squareness with a tapeMeasure both diagonals. More than a quarter inch of difference on a Grade A unit is out of tolerance and is what jams racking six months later.
- 05Feel the weight and check the end grainA wet hardwood pallet is noticeably heavier and darker along the end grain. If in doubt, a $40 pin meter settles it in two seconds.
- 06Photograph anything wrong immediatelyBefore the load is broken down. Photographs of units in the stack, with the delivery ticket visible, resolve claims without argument.
Availability
What we hold, and what we have to go and find.
Roughly seventy per cent of what we ship is 48×40 GMA in Grade A or B, and that is genuinely available same or next day. It is the only footprint where we can promise short notice without checking.
Everything else moves in batches. Specialty footprints arrive when a fleet comes loose — a plant changes a line, a 3PL loses a contract, a distribution centre standardises — and then we have several hundred for a while and none for a month.
So the honest answer on lead time depends entirely on what you are asking for, and we would rather tell you 'two weeks' and mean it than 'a few days' and disappoint you.
- Same or next day: 48×40 GMA Grade A and B, in volume
- Two to four days: 48×48, 42×42, heat-treated GMA
- Three to seven days: 36×36 display grade, Euro, 48×45 automotive
- One to two weeks: odd sizes, large single-footprint orders, new builds
- Book ahead: anything you need in March, April or May
The seventy per cent
Questions
More buying questions
Can we set up an account with terms?
Yes, after the first two orders settle. Standard is net 30 for account customers; new customers pay before dispatch. We do not run credit checks on small orders — the first two transactions tell us what we need to know.
Do you hold stock against a call-off?
For programme customers, yes. An agreed buffer sits in our yard identified as yours and releases against call-offs. It is the single most effective way to eliminate emergency spot buying. See managed programs.
What if we need a mix of grades on one load?
Common and no problem — say so on the order and we will band and label the stacks separately so they do not merge on your yard. Once mixed, they cannot be separated without handling every unit.
Can we collect ourselves?
Yes, from 7:00 AM weekdays and Saturday mornings. Regulars do not need to stop at the office. Bring straps — we band the stacks but securing the load is yours.
Do you ever run out?
In April 2024 we ran out of Grade A for eleven days and served programme customers only. We wrote about it in our year in review, because the alternative was pretending it did not happen.
Is there a discount for collecting a full trailer?
Yard pickup is already priced without freight, which is the discount. Beyond that, volume moves the unit price modestly and commitment moves it more — a booked quarterly volume is worth considerably more to us than a single large order.
Tell us the size, the grade and the ZIP.
That is enough for a real number. Everything else is detail we can sort out after you know whether the price works.
Keep reading
Buy Used Pallets is delivered from our yard at 7240 S Access Rd, Columbus, OH 43217, Monday to Friday 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM and Saturday mornings.