The sell desk
Sell your used gaylords
Got a dock full of empties? Count them, note the walls and bottoms, and send the request. Dry, intact single-trip boxes are the ones worth reselling.
Plants that receive material in gaylords end up with stacks of empties. Some of them have a second life; some are fiber. Describe both piles on one request: the boxes that can still carry a load and the boxes that are only fiber.
The grading checklist
Walk the stack with this list. It is the same sort a buyer does on arrival.
| Check | Pass | Fail means |
|---|---|---|
| Dry | No staining, no soft spots, no wavy board | Wet board has lost strength: recycle |
| Flaps and bottom | Flaps whole at the fold; base flat | A split bottom cannot hold a load: Grade C or recycle |
| Walls | No bowed or crushed panels | Crushed walls cannot carry a stack: Grade C or recycle |
| Residue | Clean inside; no dust, resin or food | Contaminated boxes are not resold |
| Print and labels | Old labels or print are fine for most buyers | Note them on the request |
| Storage history | Kept indoors, or at least off the ground and under cover | A winter in a yard means OCC |
What to put on the request
- how many boxes, and whether they are flat (knocked down) or assembled
- walls and bottoms; if you do not know, say so and describe the board
- the footprint, such as 48 x 40 x 36
- what they held, and how long they have been empty
- where they sit now: dock, trailer, warehouse or yard
- the pickup ZIP
Sell, or recycle?
Every sell request ends in one of two places. Boxes that pass the checklist can go on to a new owner. Boxes that fail go to recycling, where corrugated boxes had a recycling rate of 96.5 percent in 2018. The same request covers both; there is no need to pre-sort beyond a rough count of each pile.
| Page | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Single-trip empties | Single-trip gaylords that stayed dry and kept their flaps are the easiest to resell. What to check before you ask for a pickup. |
| Grading your empties | A plain checklist for your empties: dry, flaps and bottom intact, no residue, how they were stored. It decides resale or recycling. |
| Printed and labelled | Old print and labels on a sound, dry gaylord are cosmetic. What changes the answer, and what to mention on the request. |
What kind of seller you are
A plant with steady single-trip empties, a warehouse that has built up a pile and a grower with bins at the end of the season are three different sellers, and the request reads differently for each. The plant should say how many a week it makes. The warehouse should give a count and a photograph of the worst box. The grower should say when the bins will be clean and dry and where they stand.
In every case the thing that decides the outcome is the condition of the board. Dry, flat, undamaged boxes with a readable maker's mark are the easiest to place. Damp, torn or crushed ones are a recycling question. Mixed lots are possible, and a request is easier to answer if you have sorted first.
How a sell request is answered
What to describe when you sell: condition comes first, and a grade follows from what the board shows, so a plain description and photographs of a few boxes help. Say how many you have, where they sit and when they are available.
Photographs that move a request along
Three pictures do most of the work: the whole pile; the worst box from the pile; and the panel with the maker's stamp. Add a fourth if the boxes are printed or labelled. Take them in daylight, with something in the frame for scale, such as a pallet or a person's boot.
What not to send
Please do not send boxes that carried hazardous material, that are wet through or that are contaminated with food or chemical residue without saying so. A request works best when it tells the truth about what the boxes carried. If you are unsure what a box carried, say that you are unsure.
What condition means to a buyer of empties
Buyers of used boxes tend to sort by three tests before they look at anything else. Is the box dry and clean? Does it stand square on its base? Are the flaps intact? Boxes that pass are boxes; boxes that fail one are grade questions; boxes that fail two or three are board. A pile that mixes all three is easier to place once separated, which is why a sort on your side, even a rough one into three stacks, is the most useful preparation.
A short note on how long the boxes have been empty helps, since board that has stood for a year in a corner is not the board it was.
Pallets of empties stack more safely when the boxes are flat and the pile is square, so tidy the pile before photographing it.
Seasonal sellers, such as growers, should say when the boxes will be empty and where they will wait.
Questions, answered
Who buys used gaylord boxes?
Plants, 3PLs, growers and recyclers across the metro need them. What a buyer wants is dry, intact boxes with a known history; the grading guide shows how to sort.
Do I have to grade them myself?
No. A count, the walls and bottoms you can see, and where the boxes sit is enough to start.
Request a quote
Or email info@minneapolisgaylords.com.
Sources and last reviewed
Facts on this page were last reviewed 2026-11-11.
- EPA: paper and paperboard material-specific data: United States recycling rates for corrugated boxes and other paper.
- PaperIndex Academy: humidity and corrugated strength: How corrugated board loses compression strength as relative humidity climbs from 50% to 90%.
- Container Exchanger: the gaylord box guide: A reseller's plain-language guide to gaylord sizes, walls, capacity ranges and bottoms.