Pallet Rework & Restacking
Leaning loads, floor-loaded containers, pallets that won't pass a retailer's dock — we restack, re-wrap and relabel them in Kent so the freight gets accepted, not turned away.
A rejected load is expensive in ways that don't show up on the freight bill — a wasted delivery appointment, a return trip, a chargeback from the retailer. Most of the time the freight is fine; the pallets just aren't. We fix that. Whether it's a container that came in floor-loaded, a load that shifted in transit, or pallets that don't meet a big-box or Amazon spec, we rework them on our dock in Kent and send them back out ready to be received.
What pallet rework covers
Leaning, overheight or shifted pallets rebuilt to a stable, square stack that passes inspection.
Containers shipped floor-loaded, unloaded and built onto pallets — ready for racking or a dock.
Reworked to big-box and Amazon specs — pallet height, overhang, ti-hi count and label placement.
Fresh shrink-wrap, banding and corner board so the load survives the next leg.
New carton or pallet labels, and re-sorting mixed freight by SKU, store or destination.
Damaged outers pulled, counts verified, and a clear report back on what we found.
The cheapest place to fix a pallet is before it ever leaves for the receiver. Because we pull the container ourselves and rework it on the same dock, there's no extra drayage to a third-party rework yard and no second handling charge stacked on top. A box comes off the Seattle or Tacoma terminal, we strip it, rebuild the pallets to spec, and it ships out — or goes straight into storage — without bouncing between vendors. It's the same dock and crew that handle our transloading, so rework is just part of the move, not a separate project.
A rework facility is where a load goes when it cannot ship the way it arrived. The shrink wrap failed somewhere on the water. The cartons are over the retailer's 60-inch pallet height. The container was floor-loaded and the consignee only takes pallets. The labels are on the wrong face, or the pallet configuration does not match the ASN, or a corner got wet and three cases have to come off before anybody signs for it.
None of that is exotic. It is a normal week for anyone importing consumer goods. What matters is having somewhere to send the freight that can take it today, fix it on the floor, and put it back on a truck — rather than a carrier holding your load hostage while you find one.
Restack pallets. Break down and rebuild to the height, tie and pattern the receiver requires. Most retail DCs publish a maximum height; most overseas packers ignore it.
Re-palletize and re-wrap. New pallets where the originals are broken, heat-treated or the wrong size, and fresh stretch wrap to a spec that survives the next leg.
Relabel and carton marking. GS1-128, UCC-128, FNSKU, retailer-specific placement. Wrong label placement is the most common reason a compliant pallet still gets a chargeback.
Sort, count and segregate. Mixed pallets separated by SKU, lot or destination; damaged cases pulled and photographed for the claim.
Floor-load to pallet. Hand-unload a floor-loaded container straight into built, wrapped, labeled pallets — see transloading.
Salvage and repack. Where the master carton is damaged but the product is not, repack into new cartons rather than writing off the case.
Our rework floor is in Kent, WA, between the Port of Seattle and the Port of Tacoma. That location is the whole point for import rework: we can pull the container off the terminal ourselves with our own drayage, rework the freight, and get the empty box back before per-diem starts. If you are searching for a rework facility because a load already failed at a consignee's dock somewhere in the Puget Sound, we can also take it as an inbound truckload and turn it around the same day.
Rework pairs naturally with warehousing when only part of a load needs fixing, and with apparel distribution when the compliance spec is a garment program's.
Pallet rework is rebuilding or correcting palletized freight — restacking, re-palletizing, re-wrapping, relabeling or re-sorting — so it meets the receiver's requirements and won't be rejected at the dock.
Restacking is one part of rework — rebuilding the stack itself. Rework is the broader job: restacking plus re-wrapping, relabeling, re-sorting, and fixing whatever kept the load from being compliant.
Yes — that's a common one. We unload the floor-loaded container, build the freight onto pallets to your spec, wrap and label it, and either ship it out or put it into storage.
We do — pallet height, no overhang, the right ti-hi, proper wrap and label placement for big-box receivers and Amazon FBA.
At our warehouse in Kent, central to the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma, so the container comes straight to us with no extra drayage.
Usually priced per pallet for a straight restack and re-wrap, or per hour for sort, salvage and anything unpredictable. Labeling is per carton. Tell us the pallet count and what has to change and you get a number, not a range.
Most loads that arrive in the morning ship the same day. A full container of floor-loaded freight that has to be palletized and labeled is normally one working day.
Yes. A truck that got refused at a dock can come straight to us. You do not have to be a drayage customer.
Yes — send the routing guide. Height, tie and high, overhang, label placement, pallet type and ASN configuration all come off that document.
Yes. Before and after, plus any damage found, so you have something to send the shipper or the claim.
Retailer and Amazon spec
Re-palletize, restack, shrink-wrap and relabel floor-loaded or non-compliant freight so it’s ready for the DC door.
Ask about reworkTell us what's coming in and the spec it has to meet — a specialist replies the same day.
Request a rework quote