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Pooled pallets
CHEP and Loscam pallets on your site: whose they are, and what to do with them.
Blue and red pallets are hired, not owned. They cannot be sold, scrapped or given away, and they keep costing someone money until they are transferred or returned. Here is how to deal with them, and what to do with the white and natural timber stack beside them.
Or call Jayden on 0494 820 639, 7am to 5pm weekdays.
Quick answer
What do I do with CHEP and Loscam pallets I did not order?
Count them in their own stack and keep them out of any sale. Blue CHEP and red Loscam pallets are hired equipment owned by the pool: they cannot be sold or scrapped, no pallet buyer will take them, and someone pays daily hire until they are transferred or returned. Check the delivery docket for whose account they are on, then book the collection with the pool (or have the supplier do it) with the count, the site hours and forklift access. The plain white, exchange, Euro and export pallets beside them are the ones that can be sold or collected.
Telling them apart
How do I know whether a pallet is pooled?
Pooled pallets carry the pool's colour and brand: CHEP pallets are painted blue with the name on the bearers, Loscam pallets are red. They are the Australian standard 1165 x 1165 footprint, usually hardwood, and they are owned by the pool company and hired to whoever ordered them. A plain timber pallet with no paint and no pool brand is a white or exchange pallet, and that one can be bought, sold and collected: the grades we buy.
Three things follow from the paint. The pallet is not yours even when a supplier sent product on it. Nobody who buys used pallets will take it, because reselling pooled equipment is a breach of the pool's terms. And someone is paying a daily hire on it until it is transferred or returned.
| The stack | Who owns it | What to do with it |
|---|---|---|
| Blue, CHEP branded | CHEP; hired to whoever ordered it, hire runs daily | Count it separately, find whose account it sits on, book CHEP's collection to stop the clock |
| Red, Loscam branded | Loscam; hired the same way | Count it separately, check the dockets, book Loscam's collection |
| Plain timber, no paint, no pool brand | You | This is the stack that earns money: sixty or more in Greater Sydney is a free pickup and the pallets are bought |
What to do
What do I do with pooled pallets I did not order?
- 01Count them separatelyBlue and red in their own stack, out of the count you send us. Mixing them into a sale stack slows the pickup and the offer.
- 02Find out whose account they are onThe supplier who delivered on them either transferred the hire to you when the goods arrived or kept it. Your receiving dockets and the supplier's pallet docket say which.
- 03Book the collection with the poolCHEP and Loscam collect their own equipment from a site through their customer portals or service numbers; a collection request needs the count, the site hours and whether a forklift is there. If the pallets are on a supplier's account, the supplier books it.
- 04Stop the clockHire runs daily until the transfer is accepted by the next party or the pallets are returned. A stack that sits for a quarter is a quarter of hire; the collection request is what ends it.
We do not collect, buy or dispose of pooled pallets, and neither does any honest pallet buyer. What we do collect is everything else on the dock: white and exchange pallets, Euro and export sizes, repairable cores and broken timber, on the collection rule.
The other stack
Pooled or owned: which should a warehouse run on?
Pooling suits product that leaves your control, travels through retail distribution centres that insist on it, and comes back as a transfer rather than a pallet. Owning suits product that stays in your own network, goes to customers who keep or return pallets, or ships export where pooled equipment cannot go. Most warehouses run both, which is why a dock usually holds a blue stack, a red stack and a plain one. Hire against buying covers the money side; what are my pallets worth covers what the plain stack is worth.
The plain stack
Send a photo of the pallets that are yours. The blue and red ones stay out of it.
White, exchange, Euro, export and broken timber: a photo and a count gets you the split in writing. Sixty or more reusable pallets in Greater Sydney is a free pickup.
Questions about pooled pallets
Can I sell CHEP or Loscam pallets?
No. They are owned by the pool and hired out; selling or scrapping them is a breach of the hire terms, and no pallet buyer will take them.
Will 360 collect pooled pallets?
No. We collect and buy white, exchange, Euro, export and broken pallets. Pooled pallets go back to the pool through its own collection service.
Who pays the hire on pallets a supplier delivered?
Whoever holds the transfer. The supplier either transferred the hire to you on delivery or kept it on their own account; the pallet docket shows which.
How do I stop the hire charges?
Request a collection or transfer with the pool, with the count, the site hours and forklift access. The charge runs daily until the pool accepts the return or the next party accepts the transfer.
What is the difference between a pooled pallet and a white pallet?
A pooled pallet is hired equipment painted in the pool's colour and branded. A white pallet is plain timber, owned outright by whoever has it, and can be bought and sold.
Prefer to talk? Call Jayden on 0494 820 639. What we buy and what we collect: selling used pallets. The arithmetic on a free pickup: the 60 pallet rule.
Related questions
- What do pallets cost?
- What do pallets cost a distributor a year?
- Hire pallets or buy your own?
- How many pallets fit on a truck?
Page updated 16 October 2026. Facts on this page are kept in step with the facts page; terms are explained in the glossary; the suburbs we stop at are on the areas page. Written by the team at 360 Operations Group, Prestons NSW; follow 360 on LinkedIn.