Free Pallets?!?

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Ralphie Boy

Ralphie Boy

Minister of Fire
Feb 12, 2012
1,165
Rabbit Hash, Kentucky
Okay, first admission; I'm a new woodie and I'm not too embarrassed to admit it... well maybe just a little. So my first newbie question: (more to follow)

Where are you kids getting your free pallets for stacking wood? I spent hours yesterday trying to get "free pallets" and no one would part with them. I've not been rejected so many times since about the 9th grade! Heck, most pallets I ran across were being kept under lock and key with video surveillance! The standard answer was "we gotta' send 'em back to the supplier.

Soooo... What the heck am I doing or saying wrong??? Lookin' fur luv in all the wrong places?
 
I don't know where you are but around here if you ask for one you usually have to take three, just so they can get rid of them.
 
Ralph said:
Okay, first admission; I'm a new woodie and I'm not too embarrassed to admit it... well maybe just a little. So my first newbie question: (more to follow)

Where are you kids getting your free pallets for stacking wood? I spent hours yesterday trying to get "free pallets" and no one would part with them. I've not been rejected so many times since about the 9th grade! Heck, most pallets I ran across were being kept under lock and key with video surveillance! The standard answer was "we gotta' send 'em back to the supplier.

Soooo... What the heck am I doing or saying wrong??? Lookin' fur luv in all the wrong places?
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Where are you located at? Somebody here might live in your area and know a good spot to get them.

Pete
 
I'm in northern Kentucky, about 30 minutes southwest of Cincinnati.
 
if you work where they receive big deliveries, the truck drivers are usually happy to get rid of them (so long as you take the plastic wrap and stuff too!).
 
Keep a search on Craigs List. I have a constant search up for free firewood and at least a couple times a month or more someone is trying to get rid of a bunch of pallets. I also get them in small office / industrial parks. They usually leave them out by the loading docks and I've had good luck asking for them there.

Good luck and welcome. Are you wanting them to stack on or to burn?
 
Might give your local Home Improvement store a try (Loews, Home Depot), or local Landscaping Supply where they get deliveries of Flat Stones....anywhere that gets bulk goods
 
try your local industrial parks and just drive around behind the offices - if you see a bunch just ask if you can grab a few - also check home depot and lowes and maybe some local pool supply stores

many companies just want them taken away - although i will say i am seeing more and more pickups filled with used pallets that they sell
 
Just had another thought too my wife works at a hospital and there supply building has a ton of pallets that they pay to get rid of. I occasionally take them for free and they are glad to see them go free might be worth a try for you if your near a hospital.

Pete
 
Local beverage store is my supplier
 
There are pallets, then there are pallets. The really heavy duty ones are often kept and used again. The cheap ones with thin slats are usually easy to get. Depends on what you want to do with them. For firewood, kindling, etc, the cheap ones work great and are going to be pretty much always free. I have a local hardware store that has a mix of good ones and cheap ones and they give me both. But there is also a nearby building supply place that charges a deposit of $20 for pallets that bags of cement come on. Since there is not $20 worth of firewood in a pallet, nor do I need to stack my splits on golden pallets, I pass those pallets by.

Keep looking.
 
One more thing. When I'm told I can have all the pallets I want, they are often just thrown into a heap out back near the dumpster. I might cherry pick the ones I want and leave others behind but I ALWAYS stack the leftovers nice and neat next to the dumpster and I throw away plastic wrap, ties straps, and busted up slats. I make it look a lot nicer than I found it. They remember that next time I come calling.
 
Around here the ACE Hardware stores have to pay to have them hauled away. They get tons of the things and are thrilled when I take some away.
 
I checked and there are two Harbor Freight locations near you. They typically have a lot of pallets, sometimes they are low from other pickers like me but normally they have more than you can handle. They are not typically hardwood pallets but I find they last several years. As others have said, I find them on Craigslist all the time.
 
If you're anywhere near farmland, try an ag supply store. That's where I get mine. Enough folks around here want them for one reason or another that he charges a buck apiece for them, but that's close enough to free for me.
 
Ralph said:
Okay, first admission; I'm a new woodie and I'm not too embarrassed to admit it... well maybe just a little. So my first newbie question: (more to follow)

Where are you kids getting your free pallets for stacking wood? I spent hours yesterday trying to get "free pallets" and no one would part with them. I've not been rejected so many times since about the 9th grade! Heck, most pallets I ran across were being kept under lock and key with video surveillance! The standard answer was "we gotta' send 'em back to the supplier.

Soooo... What the heck am I doing or saying wrong??? Lookin' fur luv in all the wrong places?
Click to expand...

Ralph, if you are having problems getting them, then realize that you really do not need them. We just cut some saplings in the woods, lay down two and then stack the wood on that. It works much better than pallets and then you don't have the pallet mess when the wood is used up. If not poles, then sacrifice a few of your splits. Lay those down in two rows as you would some poles or landscape timbers and stack the wood on top. The sacrificial wood can then be burned the following year.
 
Around here, the big box stores (e.g. Walmart) do not give away their pallets. I got mine from small local hardware stores. The best pallets I got are from a wine distributor. All are heavy duty oak pallets.
 
I get from from a local nursery. He has tons of them in the spring when all his bagged mulch, seed, manure, etc. is selling fast. He usually asks me to take more than I want. He even loads them on the truck with his forklift for me. I'm sure it doesn't hurt that my wife and I are regular customers. He prices are a little higher than Home Depot, but his service is much better too.
 
I work for a school district that is small enough that I know everyone. Our maintenance supervisor gave me permission to take any left over pallets. I got a lot last summer. Our district keeps them at each building. Once they pile up, they haul them to a burn pile. They like it if I pick them up before they haul them to the burn pile. I use the good ones for stacking wood and cut up the broken ones to burn.
 
Industrial places are more than happy to give them away. Any shop I've been at or been to has had stacks of them waiting to get hauled away by whoever wants them, or cut up crates full of wood ready to go.
By this, I mean... Places that build and ship things.
Fabrication/welding shops especially. (Big shops that usually have their own product line and employ dozens/hundreds of people, not a small town welding repair shop)
Bigger it is, means the more product it sells/receives... Means the more pallets it may have.

aroth said:
I work for a school district that is small enough that I know everyone. Our maintenance supervisor gave me permission to take any left over pallets. I got a lot last summer. Our district keeps them at each building. Once they pile up, they haul them to a burn pile. They like it if I pick them up before they haul them to the burn pile. I use the good ones for stacking wood and cut up the broken ones to burn.
Click to expand...
My school district I grew up in was like this... except they'd save them all, then once a year they'd have a bonfire with 100s of pallets at the high school to celebrate the start of "Spirit week" which started with the bonfire and ended with the football game between the rival town. Man... It'll be 30-40 degrees out, freezing your butt of... and you're standing 75-100 feet away from the fire thinking man... I'll never get warm with the fire being that far away!!
But let me tell you... 100 feet away is not nearly far enough when that fire gets going.... Especially when the wind shifts ;)
 
Thanks folks! Lots of good information her! I've tried some of the ideas, like Ace, without success but will try most of the others. Thanks again!! More questions coming. :cheese:
 
Is there a UPS store, or similar type of delivery store near you? We have a local UPS store where we can take the pallets from out back for free. They are a busy place and constantly recieving shipments. There is always some around. I dropped in one day and asked if I could take some. The manager said you can have all you want whenever you see them out here. Let us know when you finally find your pallet supplier.
 
I see them behind shops, hardware stores, masonry supply, and even a local dairy vendor. They are out back by the dumpsters and if you ask, they give. As a PP said, if you ask for one they want you to take 3. So far we're using them to stack wood but I'd take broken ones to break up more to burn I s'pose. Good luck!
 
My local lumber yard/hardware store always has pallets sitting outside the lumber yard fence. I asked about them one day, and they said if there are pallets there, they can be taken by anyone. Check your local place. Cheers!
 
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