Pallets for Sale in the City of Commerce: Size the Order to the Dock

We stock pallets for sale in the City of Commerce and deliver them from our East 78th Street yard, minutes from the 5/710 interchange. Distribution centers order 48x40 block pallets by the trailer, packaging lines run 48x36 and 42x42, and custom sizes and crates are built to order. Same-day pallet delivery is available; 100 or more ship free.

Pallets for a Commerce dock at a glance

Item	What a Commerce address gets
Delivery time	As fast as Vernon, typically 30 minutes; same-day emergency delivery
Free delivery	100 pallets and up, any Commerce address
Distribution center standard	48x40 block pallet; roughly 26 to a single-layer load in a 53-foot trailer, two side by side
Paper, packaging, beverage	48x36
Paint, drums, telecom	42x42; drums and barrels also 48x48
Dairy, general manufacturing	40x40
Custom sizes	Built at the yard: 3-5 business days for a simple size; 7-10 when larger, reinforced or heat treated
Crates	3-5 business days; 5-10 with foam, bracing or ISPM-15 lumber
Export	Heat treated (ISPM-15) on any size: 56C at the core for 30 minutes, with the IPPC stamp
Inbound surplus	Reusable pallets bought from 30; broken or mixed stock removed free from 50; the truck is in Vernon and Commerce several times a week

Pallets for Sale in the City of Commerce: Between Vernon and the 710

Commerce picks up where Vernon leaves off. The food plants and cold rooms thin out past the Vernon line, and the industrial parks along Garfield Avenue, Telegraph Road and the Washington Boulevard corridor take over: major distribution centers, packaging companies and light manufacturing, built around the I-5/I-710 interchange, one of the busiest freight intersections in Southern California. The 710 is the busiest freight highway in the country, and it runs from here to the ports, which makes Commerce the first stop for much of the inland warehousing it feeds.

That geography sets the pallet problem. A dock in Commerce does not need a catalog; it needs a supplier that can be on Telegraph Road before the second shift starts. Our yard sits in the Florence district, on the south side of Vernon, so Commerce and Downtown LA get the same clock Vernon does: pallet delivery in Commerce typically arrives within 30 minutes of dispatch, trucks run this zone daily, and an emergency order can usually go out the same day. If you are comparing pallets for sale in the City of Commerce, that proximity is the first thing to check, because it decides whether a shortfall costs you an hour or a day.

The second thing to check is which of three orders you are actually placing. Commerce runs three kinds of operation, and they do not buy the same pallet.

What Goes Out by the Trailer: 48x40 for Distribution Centers

The distribution centers along Garfield Avenue and Telegraph Road ship to retail, and retail ships on the 48x40. It fits standard warehouse racking, and it is what the receiving dock at the other end is set up for. For an outbound operation, almost every pallet question reduces to how many 48x40 standard block pallets the next week of trailers will consume.

Counting the Order in Trailer Loads

A 53-foot trailer takes 48x40 pallets two side by side, roughly 26 to a single-layer load. A dock that loads four trailers a day is placing a pallet order of about 100 per day before any double-stacking, which is why it helps to count a standing order in trailer loads rather than in pallets. At 100 pallets delivery becomes free to any Commerce address, so an order sized to a day of trailers clears that line on its own.

The block pallet we stock for this work uses nine blocks, three rows of three, between the decks, so a forklift enters from any of the four sides without the operator having to spin the load. Each one weighs 33 to 48 lbs, carries about 2,500 lbs as a safe working limit while it is moving, and 2,500 up to 4,600 lbs static. If part of the outbound goes to a port instead of a retail receiver, say so when you order: heat treatment to ISPM-15 is available on the same pallet, and the stamp is what customs at the other end will look for.

Setting the Weekly Run

Once the daily count is known, the order usually settles into a scheduled delivery: weekly, bi-weekly or monthly, on a day the dock can receive. Recurring accounts get better pricing than spot orders, and a standing day means the shortfall calls stop. A standing day is a baseline, not a lock-in; a short-notice top-up still goes out the same day when inbound volume spikes.

What the Packaging Plants Order Instead of 48x40

The packaging companies and the bottling and paper operations along the Washington Boulevard corridor are the second kind of Commerce buyer, and for them the 48x40 is often the wrong answer. Their product has a footprint of its own, and the pallet follows it. These are the sizes we keep for that work and where each one goes:

• 48x36 — beverages, paper and packaging. The size for product that ships in cases and shrink-wrapped bundles rather than on a retail footprint.
• 42x42 — telecommunications, paint and the drum and barrel trades. The square shape gives equal support on all four sides.
• 48x48 — drums, barrels and agricultural product. The largest standard footprint we stock.
• 40x40 — dairy and general manufacturing.
• 48x42 — chemical and automotive parts.
• 36x36 — electronics, small parts and beverages, and the size that fits inside a smaller delivery truck.

All of these are block construction with true 4-way entry, like the 48x40. A 44x44 is available on request, and other sizes can be ordered.

48x36 for Paper, Packaging and Beverage Lines

A bottling or corrugated line stacks product to a pattern, and that pattern is what decides the pallet. Ordering 48x36 pallets for a case pattern designed around them avoids overhang on the short side and keeps the stretch wrap doing its job. The mistake that costs the most is a plant that orders 48x40 because that is what the distribution center next door orders, then runs a case pattern four inches short of the deck edge on every load.

42x42 and 48x48 for Paint, Drums and Barrels

Drums and barrels sit on a square footprint, so a square pallet carries them without a corner hanging off. Drums and barrels go on the 48x48; paint and telecom loads tend to go on the 42x42.

What Gets Built: Custom Pallets and Crates for Light Manufacturing

The third Commerce buyer is the machine shop, the fabricator and the assembler in the light industrial parks off Telegraph Road. Their product has no standard footprint at all, and they are the reason the yard builds. Custom size pallets are made at 1160 E 78th Street to any dimension: small specialty pallets from 12x12 inches, oversized platforms at 60x48, 72x48 and 96x48 or larger for machinery and panels, and reinforced builds with thicker deck boards and extra blocks for dense loads. A simple custom size takes 3-5 business days. Plan on 7-10 when the order is large, reinforced or heat treated. There is no strict minimum, and a single prototype can be built and checked against the part before the run.

When the piece needs walls as well as a floor, it is a crate, not a pallet. Custom crate boxes are built from lumber, plywood or both, with foam, blocking or a moisture barrier inside when the contents call for it, on a forklift-accessible base. A standard crate takes 3-5 business days; foam, bracing or ISPM-15 lumber moves it to 5-10. A plywood-only crate is exempt from ISPM-15, which is worth knowing before an export order is placed.

For the heavier end of this work, the coil and casting loads of the metal fabricators on the Vernon side of the line, how the Vernon side of the corridor orders covers what a reinforced build has to carry.

What Comes In and Does Not Fit

Nearly every distribution center in Commerce receives freight on somebody else's pallet. Inbound loads arrive on sizes and in conditions that do not match what goes out, and within a week there is a stack behind the building that the outbound trucks cannot use.

Our pickup truck runs through Vernon and Commerce several times a week, so that stack has a route. Reusable pallets are bought from 30 units, paid on the spot. Broken or mixed stock is removed free from 50 units, with a small fee below that depending on location; the crew loads, and nothing has to be stacked or sorted first. Each leg is quoted on its own. The full mechanics of running delivery and surplus through one supplier that delivers and takes the surplus back are covered in that article, and the pallet pickup and removal page explains what the truck will and will not take.

If your address is a Downtown storefront or an upper-floor dock rather than a Commerce industrial park, the delivery problem is different, and choosing a pallet company for a Downtown address is the better guide. For anyone weighing pallets for sale in the City of Commerce itself, the question is simpler: which of the three orders above is yours, how many trailers a week, and which day the gate is open. The whole order can be placed in English or in Spanish on two separate lines, Monday through Saturday, 6:00 AM until 8:00 PM.

Frequently Asked Questions

How fast can you deliver pallets to a Commerce address?

Commerce and Downtown LA get the same clock as Vernon: deliveries typically arrive within 30 minutes of dispatch, and same-day emergency delivery is available because the yard is minutes away. An order of 100 pallets or more is delivered free.

Which pallet size should a packaging plant in Commerce order?

Paper, packaging and beverage lines usually run 48x36. Paint, drum and telecom loads run 42x42, and drums and barrels can also go on 48x48. Dairy and general manufacturing often use 40x40. All of them are block pallets with true 4-way entry.

Can you build a pallet that is not a standard size?

Yes. Custom size pallets are built at our yard in any dimension, from 12x12 up to 96x48 and larger. A simple size is 3-5 business days; a larger, reinforced or heat treated build is 7-10. There is no strict minimum and a single prototype is accepted.

Do you buy the pallets our inbound freight arrives on?

Yes, when they are reusable: from 30 units they are bought and paid on the spot. Broken or mixed stock is removed free from 50 units. The pickup truck runs through Vernon and Commerce several times a week, and each leg is quoted on its own.