Used Gaylord boxes are usually treated as a disposal cost. They shouldn't be. If yours are structurally sound, we'll pay you for them — and the math often beats the cost of a dumpster pull.
How it works.
- You send us photos + a count. Email is fastest. Five photos and a rough count are plenty.
- We send you a quote. Usually within 4 hours of receiving photos. Quote is per-box or per-trailer, your call.
- We schedule pickup. Most Wisconsin / Illinois pickups happen within 5 business days.
- We pay you on the dock. ACH or check, whichever you prefer. No 30-day-net games.
What we pay for.
- Structurally sound Gaylord boxes, any wall count.
- Boxes with original lids and pallets (better price than bare).
- IBC totes with verifiable prior contents.
- Pallets in volume (50+ at a time).
- Mixed loads — we'll quote each pile separately.
What we can't pay for.
- Wet, soaked, or moldy boxes (we'll still pick them up at a recycling rate).
- Boxes with prior hazardous contents.
- Single-trip retail boxes below 50-unit count.
Pickup radius.
We run our own trucks across Wisconsin, northern Illinois, the Twin Cities corridor, and northwest Indiana. For loads outside that radius, we partner with regional carriers — sometimes a partial backhaul gets you a better number than a dedicated pickup. We'll lay both options on the table.
Pricing — the honest version.
Used Gaylord pricing moves with virgin-fiber pricing, freight rates, and grade mix. We don't publish a sticker price because it would be lying within a month. The quote you get is the quote that ships, and it'll be itemized — so much for the Grade B 48 × 40 triples, so much for the Grade C 45 × 38 doubles, so much for the pallets, so much for the pickup fee (if any).
What we need in your email.
To turn around a quote in 4 hours, here's the minimum information set we need from you.
- Five photos. Two wide shots of the staging area, two close shots of representative boxes, one shot of a pallet bottom (if attached).
- Approximate count. Doesn't need to be exact. "Around 200" is fine. Within 15% is good enough for a quote.
- Footprint dimensions. Length × width × height. If the boxes vary in size, give us the range.
- Wall count if known. Triple, double, single. If unsure, we'll figure it out from photos.
- Lid status. Lids attached? Telescoping or flap-fold?
- Pallet status. Pallets attached? Wood or plastic?
- Prior contents declaration. What did the boxes hold before being emptied?
- Your dock window. When can a truck arrive? Mornings only? Specific days?
What we'll pay more for.
All else equal, certain inventory characteristics command a premium in our buyout.
- Lidded boxes (the lid is structurally valuable).
- Triple-wall or heavier.
- Single-trip inventory (less wear, more remaining trip count).
- Standard footprints (48 × 40 is the easiest to resell).
- Verified food-grade prior contents (commands a premium in our food-grade resale stream).
- Bulk volume (large loads reduce our per-box dispatch and inspection cost).
- Recurring availability (we pay more for a consistent monthly source than for a one-off pile).
What we'll pay less for, or recycle-only.
- Wet or moldy boxes (recycle stream pricing only).
- Heavy stain or unverifiable prior contents.
- Wax-coated corrugate (we no longer accept; see this note).
- Unusual footprints with low resale demand.
- Mixed loads where sorting is expensive.
- Boxes with cage corrosion, pest evidence, or hazmat residue (we don't handle these — referral path).
The buyout flow in detail.
- Day 0 — you email. Five photos, count, footprint, prior contents declaration. About 5 minutes of your time.
- Day 0 (same day) — we acknowledge. Within ~2 hours during business hours. We let you know we've received the request and when to expect the quote.
- Day 0–1 — quote sent. Itemized PDF. Per-grade pricing breakdown. Pickup fee (if applicable). Total expected payout.
- Day 1–2 — you confirm. Reply to accept. We schedule the pickup.
- Day 3–7 — pickup happens. Driver arrives at your dock at the agreed window. Loading takes 30–90 minutes depending on volume and your forklift availability.
- Day 3–7 — regrade at our yard. Within 24 hours of arrival, we regrade the load against our rubric. The line-item math is updated if grade mix differs from photos.
- Day 5–10 — payment. ACH or check per your preference. Net pay within 7 business days of pickup for resale-quality loads, longer for recycle-only loads pending mill settlement.
The contracts question.
For one-off buyouts, no contract — just a quote-and-acceptance email chain. For recurring buyouts (monthly pickup of empties), we sign a simple 2-page MSA that locks in pickup cadence, dispatch window, and the grade-pricing framework. The MSA terms are: 90-day notice to cancel, no minimum volume penalties, pricing adjusts quarterly to OCC market.
Frequently asked.
What if my load is bigger or smaller than I told you?
We adjust on arrival. The line-item quote scales to actual count. We don't penalize the customer for an estimate that was a little off in either direction.
How do I know I'm getting a fair price?
Ask a competitor for a quote. Compare the itemized line items. We're usually competitive on the high-value SKUs and sometimes lower on the off-grade lines (because we don't cross-subsidize). Our written quotes hold for 30 days, which makes the comparison straightforward.
Do you take loads with pallets only (no boxes)?
Yes — see our pallet page. Minimums apply.
What if my facility is outside your normal pickup radius?
We'll check the route grid for partner-carrier backhauls. Sometimes there's a clean partial-trailer option; sometimes it doesn't pencil out and we'll honestly tell you so.
What if I need pickup tomorrow?
Possible if you're local. Email with "urgent" in the subject and we'll let you know within an hour whether we can dispatch.