How to run a CHEP pallet audit at your warehouse

A step-by-step monthly CHEP pallet audit: what to export, what to count, and how to find where pallets went missing before the pallet company bills you for them.

Why it matters

With a rental (pooled) pallet program like CHEP, the account holder is usually charged from the day pallets are issued until they are reported as transferred to a customer or returned. Shipments that are never declared keep accruing charges, and at a stock count the difference between the pallet company's balance and what is physically on site can be billed as lost pallets.

A monthly audit catches those gaps while the shipments are recent enough to fix.

What to pull before you count

The pallet company's activity for the month: issues delivered to you, transfers you declared to customers, transfers declared to you by suppliers, returns, and any corrections, plus the closing balance.
Your WMS outbound shipments for the same dates: ship date, customer (ship-to), BOL or order number and the number of pallets. Include every customer, even ones that take a different pallet type; you'll mark those.
Your WMS receipts on pooled pallets: date, supplier, PO or ASN, pallets.
Your opening balance: the agreed count from your last audit, or the opening balance on the statement.

Count everything, not just the racks

Full pallets in storage (your WMS on-hand or LPN report can give this number).
Empties on the dock and in stacks around the building, counted by pallet type.
Trailers in the yard: loaded trailers that haven't shipped yet and empties waiting to go back.
Damaged pallets set aside for repair or return.
Pallets at a sister site, at repair, or lent to a carrier.

Reconcile the three numbers

Compare the pallet company's balance, your own book balance (opening + receipts + issues − shipments − returns) and the physical count. Then match every shipment on pooled pallets to a declared transfer, and every transfer credited to you to a receipt. Unmatched lines are where the gap comes from.

PalletAudits does this matching for you from the exports above and lists the exact shipments to declare or dispute.

Find your missing pallets

PalletAudits matches every shipment to a declared transfer and lists what to declare, dispute and recount. Your first audit is free.

Run a free audit See a sample

More guides

General information, not advice about any specific contract. Your agreement with the pallet company sets the actual fees and deadlines.