Step 01 · Intake & scan
Every inbound trailer is photographed before the seal is broken. We document the seal number, trailer ID, gross weight in, and the supplier's prior-contents declaration. Each pallet gets a numeric tag so we can trace a single Gaylord all the way back to the truck it rode in on, three months later.
Step 02 · Grade & sort
Our grading rubric is published — read the field note on grading used boxesfor the full thing. The short version: a human looks at every box, counts walls, measures footprint, notes stains, and assigns Grade A, B, C, or D against a calibrated photo standard. Inspectors are calibrated weekly against a known reference set, so "Grade B" from one human means the same thing as "Grade B" from another.
Step 03 · Recondition
This is where used-box yards earn their keep. We replace damaged flaps, swap weak pallets, re-tape compromised seams, add lids where they're missing, and re-strap loads. About 30% of inbound Grade-C boxes get upgraded to Grade B by the end of this step. That's real value pulled out of inventory most brokers would have discounted to dust.
Step 04 · Stage & ship
Outbound loads are palletized to your specification — count per pallet, height stack, strap pattern, slip-sheet or no. We photograph every pallet against the BOL number so there's no "he-said, she-said" if a load shows up light. Routing is consolidated to keep truck miles per pound shipped down — a small thing that matters when you multiply it.
Step 05 · Off-grade recovery
Boxes that fail Grade D inspection — soaked, structurally compromised, contaminated — go to our mill partner for repulping. The mill is 41 road miles from our yard. We bale them on-site to maximize trailer weight per trip. The certificate of recycling is available on request and is the proof point behind our zero-landfill claim.
Step 06 · Measure & report
Closed-loop customers get a monthly PDF summarizing inbound weight, reuse rate, avoided virgin fiber, CO₂ delta, and pounds diverted from landfill. It is the same number set we use internally. We don't prettify the math for the report.
How long each step actually takes.
| Step | Inputs per trailer | Time elapsed | People involved |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 · Intake | 1 trailer · ~525 boxes | 18 – 25 min | 1 dock + 1 admin |
| 02 · Grade | 1 trailer worth | 3 – 4 hours | 2 inspectors |
| 03 · Recondition | ~20% of inbound (repair-eligible) | 1 – 2 hours | 1 – 2 floor |
| 04 · Stage / ship | Per outbound BOL | 30 – 60 min | 1 – 2 dock |
| 05 · Off-grade recovery | Bale + truck weekly | 20 min / pull | 1 floor |
| 06 · Measure / report | Closed-loop accounts only | 15 min / month | 1 admin |
What we do differently for closed-loop accounts.
A standard order goes through the steps above and that's the end of it. A closed-loop account introduces a few extra disciplines that keep the long-running relationship clean.
- Each box gets a unit number written on the side. Sharpie, hand-written, increments. Tracks the cycle count by hand. (We tested RFID — for most fleets it's not worth the unit-cost overhead.)
- Inbound is segregated by program. The closed-loop returning trailer doesn't mix with the day's general inbound. Damage signatures are program-specific and easier to spot when the inventory stays separated.
- Regrade calibration runs against the program-specific reference set. Each fleet has its own "what does Grade B look like for these boxes" reference. Drift is caught faster.
- Monthly data exchange. Inbound weight, reuse rate, retirement count, route-CO₂. PDF goes out the first of every month.
- Quarterly call. Roughly every three months we get on a video call with the program lead at the customer to walk through the trend lines.
The four most common process exceptions we see.
About 92% of inbound moves through the documented steps without incident. The remaining 8% are exception cases. Here is how we handle them.
Exception A · prior-contents declaration is missing or vague
If a load shows up without a declaration of prior contents — or with a declaration that says something useless like "various consumer goods" — we hold the load in the intake bay. Either the customer provides clearer documentation, the load gets routed to recycling only, or the trailer goes back. We do not regrade declared-contents-unknown loads into our resale inventory. Ever.
Exception B · visible damage at intake
Damage discovered at intake (wet, crushed, contaminated) gets documented with photos against the BOL number. We notify the inbound customer within an hour. Depending on the damage type, the load gets pulled to a separate staging area for recycling rather than the regrade stream.
Exception C · grading dispute on outbound
Sometimes a customer receives a load and disagrees with our grade. The dispute window is five business days. We ask for photos of the load as received, compare against the photos we took at outbound, and either issue a credit / replacement or walk the customer through where we think the discrepancy came from. Most disputes resolve inside two days.
Exception D · pest infestation discovered on the floor
Rare but real. We have a pest-monitoring program in place; rodents do occasionally find a route in. If a stack of stored empties is contaminated, the entire stack gets quarantined, photographed, and either treated or sent to recycling. No remediated boxes ever go into food-grade inventory regardless of treatment.
Why we write all this down.
Two reasons. First, when an inspector or a new hire wants to know what the policy is, the answer should be retrievable, not lore. Second, when a customer asks "what happens if X," we want to be able to point at a documented answer rather than improvise. Improvisation is fine on small things and dangerous on big ones.
If you want the full process documentation as a single PDF, email us. It runs about 38 pages and is not meant to be a marketing document.