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Sample DC (made-up data) · 2026-09-01 to 2026-09-30

CHEP (blue) pallet audit

Pallet company says

1,060

Their closing balance

Your records say

960

Opening 1,000 + in − out

Physically counted

937

3 areas

Gap to explain

123

About $3,075 if billed as lost

100 pallets of the gap are paperwork, worth about $2,575: the declarations and disputes listed below, net of corrections that will go the other way. Rates used: $25 per lost pallet, $0.04 per pallet per day. Your contract sets the real numbers.

Where the difference comes from

+104 pallets Shipped to customers on pooled pallets but never declared $2,600

Declare these transfers to the receiving customer. Until you do, the pallets stay on your account.

Date	Customer / partner	Reference	Pallets	Row
2026-09-03	Valley Hardware RDC 7	BOL880109, SO489388	18	12
2026-09-03	Northfield Grocers DC 22	BOL880113, SO479297	9	16
2026-09-08	Pinecrest Foods DC 14	BOL880126, SO429494	16	29
2026-09-11	Northfield Grocers DC 22	BOL880140, SO442351	23	43
2026-09-14	Pinecrest Foods DC 14	BOL880147, SO455817	15	50
2026-09-25	Pinecrest Foods DC 14	BOL880193, SO424222	23	96

+8 pallets Declared fewer pallets than you shipped $200

Correct the declared quantity on these transfers.

Date	Customer / partner	Reference	Pallets	Note	Row
2026-09-03	Summit Home Center DC 3	BOL880112, SO411602	23	declared 21	15
2026-09-11	Northfield Grocers DC 22	BOL880141, SO406053	12	declared 11	44
2026-09-22	Coastal Mart Distribution 5	BOL880175, SO434844	11	declared 9	78
2026-09-24	Valley Hardware RDC 7	BOL880184, SO411630	22	declared 19	87

+32 pallets Credited to you by the pallet company but never received $800

Dispute these inbound transfers with the pallet company and the sender.

Date	Customer / partner	Reference	Pallets	Note	Row
2026-09-06	HARBOR GLASS WORKS	PO75991	18		16
2026-09-20	HARBOR GLASS WORKS	PO719991	14		60

+23 pallets Missing from the building: your own records say you should have more $575

Recount the areas on the checklist below before accepting a loss.

-20 pallets Declared to a customer with no matching shipment $500

Check these. If they're real shipments your WMS file left out, fine; if not, the receiver will likely dispute them and the pallets come back onto your account.

Date	Customer / partner	Reference	Pallets	Note	Row
2026-09-13	VALLEY HARDWARE RDC 7	BOL999999	20		38

-24 pallets Received from suppliers on pooled pallets, but the sender hasn't declared them $0

Ask the sender to declare these. Until they do, your balance looks lower than what you hold.

Date	Customer / partner	Reference	Pallets	Note	Row
2026-09-18	Harbor Glass Works	PO74111	24		13

rent Rent paid on pallets you no longer had $125

Declare shipments the day they ship.

Date	Customer / partner	Reference	Pallets	Note	Row
2026-09-03	Summit Home Center DC 3	BOL880112, SO411602	23	declared 2026-09-11, 8 days late	15
2026-09-04	Northfield Grocers DC 22	BOL880115, SO400948	17	declared 2026-09-10, 6 days late	18
2026-09-07	Coastal Mart Distribution 5	BOL880119, SO433847	21	declared 2026-09-15, 8 days late	22
2026-09-07	Coastal Mart Distribution 5	BOL880120, SO449350	8	declared 2026-09-14, 7 days late	23
2026-09-07	Summit Home Center DC 3	BOL880121, SO479805	19	declared 2026-09-12, 5 days late	24
2026-09-08	Coastal Mart Distribution 5	BOL880125, SO457465	15	declared 2026-09-14, 6 days late	28
2026-09-10	Valley Hardware RDC 7	BOL880139, SO463897	8	declared 2026-09-17, 7 days late	42
2026-09-11	Coastal Mart Distribution 5	BOL880143, SO443093	14	declared 2026-09-19, 8 days late	46
2026-09-14	Summit Home Center DC 3	BOL880150, SO462068	8	declared 2026-09-19, 5 days late	53
2026-09-17	Pinecrest Foods DC 14	BOL880163, SO452463	10	declared 2026-09-23, 6 days late	66
2026-09-22	Coastal Mart Distribution 5	BOL880175, SO434844	11	declared 2026-10-01, 9 days late	78
2026-09-25	Northfield Grocers DC 22	BOL880192, SO476615	13	declared 2026-09-30, 5 days late	95
2026-09-29	Northfield Grocers DC 22	BOL880197, SO489238	8	declared 2026-10-04, 5 days late	100
2026-09-29	Pinecrest Foods DC 14	BOL880199, SO462735	18	declared 2026-10-06, 7 days late	102

Ready to send

Each list below is grouped by who needs it, oldest lines first in the files. Copy the email into your own mail, fill in the brackets, and attach the PDF.

Declarations to make

For: You, in CHEP's portal · 6 lines · 104 pallets · about $2,600

Under 6 months: 104

Enter each of these as a transfer in CHEP's portal, to the customer or site shown, with the ship date and reference. Oldest first: older transfers are harder to get accepted.

Corrections to send CHEP

For: CHEP · 5 lines · 28 pallets · these corrections put 12 pallets back on your account

Under 6 months: 28

Check each line against your BOLs first and send only the ones that are really wrong.

Email draft

Subject: Transfer corrections, our site, 2026-09-01 to 2026-09-30 (account [your account number])

Hello,

We reconciled our CHEP account for our site for 2026-09-01 to 2026-09-30. The transfers below were declared incorrectly on our side, and we'd like to correct them:

  2026-09-03  BOL880112, SO411602        2 pallets  Summit Home Center DC 3  (declared short; ours 23, theirs 21)
  2026-09-11  BOL880141, SO406053        1 pallet   Northfield Grocers DC 22  (declared short; ours 12, theirs 11)
  2026-09-13  BOL999999                 20 pallets  VALLEY HARDWARE RDC 7  (declared, no shipment found)
  2026-09-22  BOL880175, SO434844        2 pallets  Coastal Mart Distribution 5  (declared short; ours 11, theirs 9)
  2026-09-24  BOL880184, SO411630        3 pallets  Valley Hardware RDC 7  (declared short; ours 22, theirs 19)

Please let us know if you need anything else to process these corrections.

Thank you,
[Your name]
[Company] · [Phone]

Disputes to raise with CHEP

For: CHEP · 2 lines · 32 pallets · about $800

Under 6 months: 32

Attach signed BOLs or receiving records where you have them. Older lines first.

Email draft

Subject: Disputed transactions, our site, 2026-09-01 to 2026-09-30 (account [your account number])

Hello,

We reconciled our CHEP account for our site for 2026-09-01 to 2026-09-30 and dispute the transactions below. Our receiving and shipping records don't support them:

  2026-09-06  PO75991                   18 pallets  HARBOR GLASS WORKS  (credited to us, never received)
  2026-09-20  PO719991                  14 pallets  HARBOR GLASS WORKS  (credited to us, never received)

Please review and correct our account. We can send signed bills of lading and receiving records for any of these lines.

Thank you,
[Your name]
[Company] · [Phone]

Ask Harbor Glass Works to declare

For: Harbor Glass Works · 1 line · 24 pallets

Under 6 months: 24

Send this to the sender's shipping or pallet contact.

Email draft

Subject: CHEP pallets received at our site: please declare

Hello,

We received the shipments below from you on CHEP pallets, but we can't find the matching transfers on our CHEP account:

  2026-09-18  PO74111                   24 pallets  Harbor Glass Works  (received, not declared by sender)

Could you declare these transfers to our account (or correct the quantity) in CHEP's portal? Until they're declared, the pallets stay on your account.

Thank you,
[Your name]
[Company] · [Phone]

Invoice check

Billed item	Billed	Supported by the records	Difference	Basis
Rental pallet-days	31,140	30,634	+506	Sum of the daily balances shown by the pallet company's own activity.
Pallets issued to you	1,040	1,040	0	Issues listed in the activity file.
Pallets billed as lost	123	23	+100	Losses your own audit supports (pallets physically missing). The rest are paperwork you can fix first.

If every shipment had been declared the day it shipped, the account would have carried 28,657 pallet-days instead of 30,634: 1,977 extra days, about $79 of rent from late or missing declarations.

Surcharges (lumber, fuel, transport) and sales tax are normal lines on these invoices, so they aren't checked here. Transfer fees depend on where each load went.

100 of the pallets billed as lost aren't physically missing by your own records. Fix the declarations and disputes above, then ask for those loss charges to be reversed.

Recount before accepting a loss

The building is about 23 pallets short of your own records. Recount the highest-volume areas first.
Set a count cutoff time and stick to it: loads that ship after it are still on hand, anything received after it isn't. Note the time on the count sheet.
Loads in transit: shipped in the WMS before the cutoff but the trailer is still at your door or in your yard.
Damaged or scrap pallets set aside (they still belong to the pallet company until it's told).
Mixed stacks: count each pool separately; one wrong-colored pallet per stack adds up.
Count each size separately (full 48x40, half 48x20 or 40x24, quarter 24x20). Each size is billed on its own.
Pallets out at repair, at a sister site or lent to a carrier.
Full pallets in staging lanes and on the dock waiting to ship (not yet in the WMS as shipped).
Pallets used as 'slip sheets' or under floor-loaded freight and never recorded.

Getting ready for the pallet company's own audit

The month in numbers

Issued to you	1,040
Received on pooled pallets	231
Shipped on pooled pallets	1,311
Declared to customers	1,219
Credited to you by senders	239
Returned	0
Shipments matched to a declaration	92.1%

Counts

Racks / storage (full pallets)	515
Empties on the dock	234
Trailers in the yard	188

Shipments: 26 row(s) went on other pallet types and aren't part of this audit.