Buy in February, not in April
Most of the money wasted on used containers in the Midwest is wasted in the second week of April by people who could have ordered in January. Here is the calendar, with the reasoning.
- Sheet
- 31
- Revision
- 2026-10
- Scale
- 1:1
- Drawn at
- Peoria IL
There is no trick to buying containers well. There is only the difference between buying from a full warehouse and buying from an empty one, and a calendar decides which you are doing.
| Window | Stock | Pricing | Grade choice | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov – Jan | Peak | Annual floor | Full range | Commit and schedule staged delivery |
| February | Falling | Firming | Still good | Last comfortable window; confirm counts |
| March | Low | Firm | Narrowing | Take what is available, expect substitutions |
| April | Lowest | Firm | Grade B gone | Worst month to start a conversation |
| May – Jun | Recovering | Softening | Widening | Good time to sell us empties |
| Jul – Oct | Building | Soft | Full range | Fabrication and custom work |
Why the saving is real and not a sales line
Three separate effects stack up. First, reconditioning output is highest in winter, so there is simply more inventory and more grade choice. Second, we would rather hold cash than containers through January, which makes us a motivated seller. Third — and this is the big one — buyers who order late end up substituting upward: paying Grade A money for duty that only needed Grade B, because Grade B is what empties out first.
Across a full season, co-ops and dealers who work a November-to-January commitment pay roughly 18 to 24 percent less per container than the ones who buy in March, and they get the pallet type and valve configuration they actually specified rather than whatever is on the rack.
Four decisions to make before you order
Grade, by application
Write down what goes in the container before you look at a price. Ag nutrient, water, glycol and soap are Grade B jobs. Anything you will cut is Grade C. Anything food is a documented food-grade unit or one-trip.
Pallet type
Composite unless you have a reason. Full steel for heavy racking and hot washdown, plastic for hygiene, never wood if you can avoid it.
Valve and cap
Butterfly or ball, S60x6 or NPT, vented or solid cap. Tell us what your fill and discharge hardware uses and we fit it before shipping.
Delivery staging
One drop of 96 containers costs you yard space for three months. Staged deliveries against your fill schedule usually cost nothing extra.
- Free delivery on a standing lane generally starts at 12 containers; locally there is no minimum.
- Volume pricing starts at 48 units, which is one flatbed.
- Lead time from quote acceptance is 3–5 days on weekly lanes, 6–9 on biweekly ones, plus two or three days in spring.
The one case for buying in April anyway
If your requirement is genuinely unpredictable — you win a contract in March and need containers for it — then buying late is not a mistake, it is the situation. In that case the move is to widen the specification rather than the budget: accept mixed grades, accept either size, accept whatever pallet is under them, and tell us the one thing that cannot flex. A buyer who says 'I need 60 watertight containers for non-potable water by the 15th and I do not care what they look like' gets served well in April. A buyer who wants 60 matching Grade B 275s with composite pallets and vented caps does not.
Planning next season now?
Send the count, the application and the window. We will quote against the delivery date you need rather than the date you asked.