Key takeaways
- Six inputs: what it is, condition, quantity, distance, preparation and the market. Four of them you control.
- Preparation is the biggest lever a seller has — flattening alone moves the freight line by a dollar or more per box.
- Quantity changes the price because fixed costs are identical whether the trailer carries 25 boxes or 690.
- A seller who flattens, sorts and stores under a roof gets paid roughly double the same boxes loose on a slab.
People ask what we pay for boxes and expect a number. The honest answer is a short function with six inputs, and the reason to publish it is that four of those inputs are things the seller controls.
1 · What it is
Wall construction and footprint. A five-wall 48 × 40 × 36 is the most liquid item in this trade — we can place it any week of the year. A 30 × 30 × 30 three-wall is a perfectly good box that we will sell eventually, and the price reflects that difference in liquidity rather than in quality.
2 · Condition
Graded on arrival against the same ladder we sell against. The single largest condition variable is the bottom edge, followed by moisture. Both are things that happen during storage rather than during use, which is why two identical accumulations from the same plant can price very differently.
3 · Quantity
A truckload is a different transaction from a pallet. Not because of volume discounts in reverse, but because the fixed costs — the truck, the driver, the dock time, the paperwork — are the same either way and get divided by whatever is on the trailer.
| Quantity | Freight per box | Handling per box | Typical price paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 pallet (25) | $2.80 | $0.90 | $1.75 or decline |
| 4 pallets (100) | $0.95 | $0.70 | $3.10 |
| Half load (300) | $0.48 | $0.55 | $4.20 |
| Full load (690 flat) | $0.24 | $0.45 | $5.10 |
| Full load, sorted single size | $0.24 | $0.28 | $5.50 |
4 · Distance
Freight comes out of the price, and there is no way around that. A load two hundred and fifty miles away on a lane where we have return capacity prices close to a local load. The same load off-corridor does not.
5 · Preparation
This is the input sellers control most directly and use least.
- Flattened rather than assembled roughly triples what fits on a truck and moves the freight line by a dollar or more per box.
- Sorted by size removes handling at our end, which we pass back.
- Banded in consistent lots makes counts verifiable without unstacking.
- Off the concrete and under a roof preserves the grade that determines everything else.
6 · The market
The OCC index sets a floor, because baling is always an alternative for the material. Our own stock position sets a ceiling — if we are deep in a footprint, we will still buy, but not at the top of the range.
A seller who flattens, sorts and stores under a roof will get paid roughly double what the same boxes would have fetched loose on a slab. Nothing else in this transaction moves the number that much.
Why quotes are firm for fourteen days
Long enough for a site to get internal approval, short enough that the index and our stock position have not moved underneath it. We have held quotes longer when asked and it usually goes badly for one of us, which is not a good basis for a repeat relationship.
The one thing to do before requesting a quote
Photograph a bottom edge. It is the difference between an indicative range and a firm number, and it is the shot nobody sends unless asked.
Questions