Pallets in Washtenaw County
Washtenaw County is a research county. Its freight is small-count and varied, with Ann Arbor at one end and Ypsilanti's industrial past at the other.
The county
Washtenaw County had 372,258 people at the 2020 census, with Ann Arbor as the seat. Toyota Technical Center is among its largest employers. I-94 and US 23 cross it.
- Industries
- University and medical research, automotive research and testing, manufacturing
- County seat
- Ann Arbor
- Core ZIPs
- 48103, 48104, 48105, 48108, 48197, 48198
- Corridors
- I-94 and US 23
Pallet profile
Few docks in the county produce pallets in volume. The ones that do are small: laboratories, hospital receiving, test centers and light manufacturing. A single pickup is more usual than a program, and the stock is often unusual, with Euro pallets from European-made equipment among them.
- Ask for pickup by appointment, since many sites have no dock staff all day.
- Say whether the wood is stamped.
- Group odd sizes together, however few there are.
Pick a city
Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti each have a page.
Questions about Washtenaw County
Do research sites generate many pallets?
Few, and in odd sizes. One request that gathers several sites works best.
Is Ypsilanti different from Ann Arbor?
Yes. Ypsilanti is the industrial half, with an old plant belt, while Ann Arbor is campuses and labs.
A county of small counts
Where Wayne County has trailer loads, Washtenaw County has car-boot loads: tens of pallets rather than hundreds. Buyers who say yes to that are the ones to reach.
Two kinds of site
The lab and test sites, such as the Toyota Technical Center and the EPA laboratory, run on schedules that depend on test programs. They may produce nothing for a month and then a pile in a week. The industrial sites near Ypsilanti are steadier. A buyer who plans a route through the county should treat them differently: a standing slot for the industrial docks and a call-ahead arrangement for the lab and test sites.
The university adds a third kind, with its own stores and surplus procedures. Ask who runs them before assuming a department can release anything.
Highways
I-94 runs east to west through Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, and US 23 runs north to south. A pickup in Ann Arbor is a short detour from either.
Combined requests
Several small sites asking together are easier to serve than one small site alone. Neighboring labs, shops and clinics can agree on a day, and one request can list all their addresses.
Roads and big employers
The county covers 722 square miles and is crossed by I-94, US 23, US 12, M-14 and M-17. Toyota Technical Center (2,295) and Faurecia North America (2,178) rank among its largest full-time employers in 2020, behind the University of Michigan and Trinity Health.
On this page
- Ann Arbor Pallets in Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, the medical center, the EPA vehicle emissions lab and Toyota Technical Center. Small, clean counts.
- Ypsilanti Pallets in Ypsilanti: the Willow Run industrial legacy, where over 8,500 B-24 bombers were built and GM ran a transmission plant until 2010.