Pallets for fulfillment and air cargo
Fulfillment and air cargo run on the standard 48 x 40, in volume and at speed. Romulus, next to Detroit Metropolitan Airport, is the center of it.
The numbers around Romulus
- Air cargo
- Detroit Metropolitan Airport handled 354,581,419 pounds of cargo in 2025
- Amazon DTW1
- Opened in Romulus in 2018 and employs about 1,600 people
- Kroger
- Built a $95 million automated fulfillment center in Romulus in 2021
- Other
- Brownstown Township has an Amazon distribution center opened in 2015
The airport's own ZIP is 48242, and the warehouses around it feed on a steady flow of general freight. Those buildings are where a pallet is a tool for speed.
What fulfillment wants
- The standard 48 x 40. Racks and conveyors are laid out for it. Size page.
- Even, clean stock. Automated systems read a pallet by its edges, so Grade A and tidy Grade B suit them.
- Tight counts. A trailer holds 26 straight or 30 turned of a 48 x 40 on one layer, so a count should be a multiple of that. Trailer guide.
Air cargo is different
Air freight is built up on special units, not on a wood pallet in the usual sense. The wood pallets at the airport are mostly on the ground side, in forwarders' and handlers' warehouses, where freight is broken down and re-made. That is a stream of mixed, often foreign pallets that carry a heat-treatment mark. Reading the stamp explains it.
Selling from a fulfillment dock
Big buildings produce big stacks. A weekly pickup is more useful than a spot one, and a count by size is what a buyer needs first. Say whether stacks are ready on the dock or loaded in trailers. Dock programs covers the scheduled version.
Buying for fulfillment
Ask for uniform stock in the 48 x 40 and say whether stamped wood is required. Buy used pallets or by the truckload.
Questions from big-building operators
We use a pallet pool. Does that apply?
Pooled pallets belong to the pool, not to you. Only owned stock can be sold.
Are our pallets too light to matter?
Light freight is easy on pallets, so stock from a fulfillment dock is often in good shape.
Can a handler sell foreign pallets?
If they are sound and the mark is legible, many can be resold into domestic use.
Overnight and weekends
Air cargo and e-commerce buildings never close. Their pickup windows are wider than a factory's, and a driver can arrive at hours no manufacturer would allow. If your dock runs at night, say so: it can be an advantage.
Peak season
Fulfillment peaks before the winter holidays, and so do pallet needs. A request in September is better than one in December.