The spring rush, measured in pallet positions
Every February our inventory starts falling and does not stop until June. Here is what that looks like from inside the yard, and what it means for anybody buying agricultural containers in the Midwest.
- Sheet
- 14
- Revision
- 2026-10
- Scale
- 1:1
- Drawn at
- Peoria IL
A tote yard in central Illinois does not have a business cycle. It has a crop cycle, and the crop cycle does not negotiate.
The pattern is the same every year and still manages to surprise people who buy containers for a living. Between November and January we are a warehouse: reconditioning runs flat out, inventory climbs, pricing is the softest it will be all year. From the second week of February the phone — or rather the inbox — turns over, and by the first week of May we are down to whatever nobody wanted.
| Month | Stock on hand | Average dwell | What dominates | Buyer advice |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November | 2,350 | 46 days | Reconditioning backlog | Order for spring now |
| December | 2,700 | 52 days | Rebottling line at capacity | Best pricing of the year |
| January | 2,900 | 48 days | Inventory peak | Last comfortable window |
| February | 2,400 | 21 days | Outbound starts | Confirm orders this month |
| March | 1,500 | 12 days | Full outbound rush | Take what is available |
| April | 900 | 9 days | Grade B essentially gone | Expect substitutions |
| May | 640 | 11 days | Field season, empties begin | Sell us your empties |
| June | 1,100 | 19 days | Inbound overtakes outbound | Prices soften again |
Why Grade B disappears first
Agricultural buyers are the most rational customers we have. They do not want Grade A and they will not accept Grade C, because a nutrient tote needs a sound sump and a valve that will not weep in a field at 5am, and it does not need a clear bottle or a food-grade certificate. That is the exact definition of Grade B, so Grade B is what empties out.
The knock-on effect is that in late April the only containers left are at the two ends: food-grade units nobody in ag wants to pay for, and Grade C that will not hold a season of UAN without somebody worrying about it. Buyers who waited end up paying Grade A money for Grade B duty, which is the most avoidable overspend in this industry.
The purchasing calendar we send to co-ops
Commit
Place next season's order against a delivery window. Pricing is at its annual floor and grade selection is at its widest.
Confirm
Finalise counts, pallet type and valve configuration. Changes after this are substitutions, not choices.
Receive
Staged deliveries against your fill schedule rather than one drop. Yard space is a cost too.
Return
Empties go back on the same lanes that delivered. Consolidate to 12+ and the pickup is free.
Co-ops that work this calendar pay roughly 18 to 24 percent less per container across a season than co-ops that buy in March, and they get the grade they actually asked for. It is not a loyalty programme or a volume discount. It is just the difference between buying from a warehouse and buying from an empty yard.
What the empties tell us in July
The return leg is the interesting half. Containers that went out in March come back between June and August, and the condition of that return flow is the best single indicator of how a season went. A wet spring means totes that sat in mud with their valves down and came back with grit in the seats. A dry, compressed planting window means containers that were emptied fast, stacked carelessly, and arrive with bulged sumps from being double-stacked full.
- 2021: wet spring, 31% of returns needed valve work. Grit, not wear.
- 2022: compressed window, 14% sump deformation — the worst we have recorded.
- 2023 so far: mild, late. We expect an ordinary return flow and we will publish the number.
Selling empties this summer?
Tell us roughly when they were emptied and how they have been stored. Those two facts move the price band more than anything else you can tell us.