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Got a lost-pallet bill? What to check before you pay

Before accepting a charge for lost CHEP, PECO or iGPS pallets, check how much of the shortage is really paperwork.

Most of a shortage is often paperwork

A lost-pallet charge usually follows a count (yours or the pallet company's) that finds fewer pallets on site than the account shows. But the account only reflects what was reported. Loads that shipped and were never declared, declarations with wrong quantities, and transfers credited to you that never arrived all show up as "missing" pallets.

Trade press has called these bills Lost Equipment Notices. Whatever yours is called, the steps are the same.

Check these first

• Every shipment on pooled pallets in the period: was each one declared, to the right customer, with the right quantity?
• Every transfer credited to you: does a receipt back it up?
• Loads that came back refused: is the original declaration still standing?
• Pallets at your other sites, co-packers or repair: were those moves recorded?
• Your own count: trailers in the yard, the damaged pile and staging lanes are the usual misses.

Then talk to the pallet company

Fix the declarations and file disputes for what the records support, then ask for the loss charge to be recalculated. Pooler audit adjustments can take months to post, so keep copies of everything you send.

Only the gap left after the paperwork is fixed is a real loss, and it's the number to recount before you accept it.

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