Stack them apart, count them, and request a collection from the pool that owns them. Rental pallets arrive because the manufacturer that shipped your goods rents its pallets from a pool. The pool still owns them when they land on your dock, and it collects them through its own channel.
Why do I keep getting them?
Manufacturers ship on rented pallets so they don't have to buy, store and recover their own. The pallet travels with the goods to a distributor or a store, and the pool's system records where it went. Large retailers return the empties in bulk. Smaller receivers (an independent grocer, a restaurant, a contractor, a property with a shared dock) often aren't set up for that, so the pallets pile up.
Can I sell them, or give them to a pallet buyer?
No. The pallet was never sold, so it isn't yours to sell or give away. CHEP says it never sells its pallets or gives up ownership of them; PECO's recovery page says selling, buying, exchanging or repurposing its pallets is illegal. A reputable pallet buyer won't take them, and we don't. Our ownership rules page explains the legal position in plain terms.
Can I use them, cut them up or throw them out?
Using them for your own outbound shipments, dismantling them, grinding them or putting them in a dumpster all destroy or keep someone else's property. Pools do pursue their pallets, including through the courts. The cheapest course is also the simplest: send them back.
How do I get them collected?
- Identify the owner from the paint and stencil. Blue is usually CHEP, red is usually PECO in North America, and plastic pallets carry the pool's name. The identifier helps with the odd ones.
- Count them and keep them in one stack, away from your own pallets, ideally under cover.
- Request the collection through the owner's official page. Our return-channel directory lists each one with the date we last checked it. Have the count and the pickup address ready; the forms ask for both.
What if they're mixed into a pile of my own pallets?
That's the usual case, and it's what on-site sorting is for. We grade the whole pile, buy and remove your white-wood pallets, take the scrap for recycling, and leave the rental pallets stacked and counted for their owner. We don't move them on.
Will I be paid for returning them?
Generally not. Pools have compensated registered recyclers for recovery work, but a business that simply hands back strays usually isn't paid. What you gain is the space.