Photo grading — 24 hours
Four photos per tote type: placard, valve, top fitting, wide stack shot. You get a grade mix, a price band and a pickup window. Good enough to make a decision on.
Service 10 — Assessment
Inspection & grading
Most companies have no idea whether the totes behind their building are worth $8 or $95 each. An hour of grading usually changes the answer by five figures.
- Sheet
- 44
- Revision
- 2026-10
- Scale
- 1:1
- Drawn at
- Peoria IL
18Inspection points
4Grade bands
FreeOn loads we buy
1 hrPer 60 totes, on site
Eighteen points, three verdicts
Every tote lands in one of three outcomes: re-release as-is, rebuild, or recycle. These are the checks that decide which.
| Check | Looking for | Fails to |
|---|---|---|
| UN marking legibility | Full code readable, undamaged | Non-regulated service |
| Bottle clarity | Light transmission, no crazing | Rebottle |
| Stress whitening | Crazing at corners and the sump | Rebottle |
| Odour | Neutral after rinse | Hot caustic or regrind |
| Residue staining | Surface vs. absorbed | Grade B or C |
| Valve function | Full cycle, no weep | Valve replacement |
| Gasket condition | Pliable, no compression set | Gasket kit |
| Cap & tamper ring | Present, correct thread | Parts fit |
| Cage weld integrity | No cracked or popped welds | Cage repair |
| Cage geometry | Square within tolerance | Jig straightening |
| Rust extent | Surface vs. perforating | Cage swap |
| Pallet soundness | No broken deck or runners | Re-deck |
| Sump deformation | Flat seat, no bulge | Rebottle |
| Previous repairs | Workmanship and documentation | Case by case |
| Label residue | Removable adhesive | De-label cycle |
| Internal debris | Nothing loose inside | Wash |
| Leak test | Holds under head pressure | Rebottle or recycle |
| Stack test (sample) | No creep under rated load | Downgrade |
Photos now, or a visit this month
Yard walk — scheduled
A grader comes to you, works a 60-tote-per-hour pace, and leaves a tagged, counted inventory with a firm offer attached. Free when we buy the load.
The four photographs that do the work
| Shot | What we read from it | How to take it |
|---|---|---|
| Placard and UN plate | Design type, packing group, date, legibility | Straight on, daylight, filling the frame |
| Valve, open | Seat wear, grit, residue ring, thread condition | Open the valve, shoot into the body |
| Top fitting, cap off | Odour cues, internal staining, debris | From directly above |
| Wide shot of the stack | Storage history, cage geometry, pallet type, count | Step back far enough to see the ground |
01
Shoot four per container type
Not per container — per type. If you have forty identical units, four photographs of one plus a count is enough.
02
Add the storage answer
Indoors or outdoors, covered or not, stacked or not, roughly how long. This predicts grade better than last contents does.
03
Add the last contents
Product name and concentration. 'Caustic' covers 5% and 50%, and they are different containers afterwards.
04
Get a grade mix and a price band
Within 24 hours, from the grader who will meet the load — which is why the number holds on arrival.
Photo grading matched the on-arrival grade in roughly 96% of cases across 2024. The 4% that did not were almost all storage history described more optimistically than it turned out to be, which is why we now ask about it explicitly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you grade my totes from photos?
Yes. Send four photos per tote type: the placard, the valve, the top fitting and a wide stack shot. Within 24 hours you get a grade mix, a price band and a pickup window.
What does an on-site inspection cost?
A yard walk is free when we buy the load. A grader works at about 60 totes per hour and leaves a tagged, counted inventory with a firm offer attached. Contact the yard to schedule a visit.
What are the possible outcomes of grading?
Every tote lands in one of three outcomes: re-release as is, rebuild, or recycle. The decision comes from an 18-point scorecard covering the bottle, valve, gaskets, cage, pallet and a leak test.
What do you check on the cage and bottle?
On the bottle we check clarity, stress whitening, odour, residue, sump deformation and leak tightness. On the cage we check welds, geometry and rust. We also check the pallet, valve, gasket and UN marking.
Why have my totes graded before selling them?
Grading shows what your containers are worth. Many companies do not know whether their totes are worth $8 or $95 each, and an hour of grading can change the answer by five figures.