Dock sweep

A scheduled collection of pooled pallets from a retailer's or distributor's dock.

Last reviewed October 27, 2026 by repallet.org editors.

A dock sweep is a pooler's routine collection of its empty pallets from the places they end up, usually retail distribution centres. The pooler or its carrier picks up the pallets that have accumulated, under an arrangement with the site.

PECO's recovery letter treats pallets recovered through dock sweeps or through third-party contracted recovery as part of its normal recovery, not as stray pallets eligible for its stray-pallet payment.

For a site, a dock sweep is the simplest way pooled pallets leave. Record the counts: in a waste or diversion report they appear as pallets returned to their owner, not as waste you generated. See pooled return.

If your site gets pooled pallets regularly but no sweep, ask the shipper whose pallets they are; the pooler may add your site to a route. Keep pooled pallets in their own stack so a sweep driver can load them quickly and nothing else goes with them.

Related

• Returning pooled pallets to their owner
• Stray pallet
• Combo pallet
• Remanufactured pallet
• Dimensional lumber (in WARM)
• All terms