Dallas Wooden Spools

Industries

Empty reels at warehouses and logistics sites

Warehouses and logistics buildings don't use cable, but they end up with reels anyway. Reels arrive under inbound freight, come in with equipment installs, are left by tenants, or get stored for customers and never collected. Dallas-Fort Worth has more distribution space than almost anywhere, and a lot of empty reels sitting in the corners of it.

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A distribution warehouse with dock doors and a few empty cable reels beside the trailer parking
Reels in a warehouse yard usually arrive one way and have no plan for leaving.

The big logistics districts

  • Great Southwest Industrial District, opened in 1956 along I-30 in Grand Prairie and southern Arlington, now about 82 million sq ft and still served by Union Pacific.
  • AllianceTexas, a 26,000-acre development across Fort Worth, Roanoke, Haslet, Westlake, Northlake and Denton, with Fort Worth Alliance Airport, BNSF's Alliance Intermodal Facility, the FedEx Southwest Regional Sort Hub and an Amazon Air hub, and more than 500 companies. The Texas Comptroller estimated its 2018 output at $12.2 billion and 81,300 jobs.
  • The International Inland Port of Dallas, about 7,500 acres in Dallas, Lancaster, Hutchins, Wilmer and Ferris between I-35, I-45 and I-20, with Union Pacific's Dallas Intermodal Terminal in Wilmer and Hutchins, opened in 2005.
  • DFW Airport, 17,183 acres across Grapevine, Irving, Euless and Coppell, surrounded by air cargo and distribution buildings.

How reels end up in a warehouse

Third-party logistics providers store and ship cable for wire distributors, utilities and contractors; when the cable goes out in cut lengths, the reels stay. New buildings get electrical installs that leave reels behind. Equipment arrives with cable on reels for conveyors, racking power and automation. Tenants move out and leave reels in the yard. And sometimes a customer's reels are simply never collected.

What warehouse managers want

A clear yard and dock area, no stacks blocking trailer moves, and a pickup that doesn't interfere with appointments at the doors. We work to dock schedules and yard rules, park where the yard manager says, and load from the ground or a dock. If your building is in a secured yard, tell us the check-in process.

Occasional or regular

Most warehouses need a pickup now and then, when a corner fills up. Some, particularly 3PLs handling cable, see a steady flow and are better on a regular schedule. Both work. Tell us roughly how many reels arrive each month, and we'll suggest a pattern.

Reels you're storing for someone else

If the reels belong to a customer, we need the customer's go-ahead before collecting them. We'll work with the warehouse and the reel owner to get that in writing, so nobody is surprised later.

Why reels are a problem in a yard

Truck courts are designed around trailers, not round objects. A reel left by the fence line gets clipped by a yard tractor; one standing near a dock door blocks a trailer from backing square; one stacked behind a building becomes a hiding place for rubbish and pests. Insurers and safety auditors notice loose reels, and so do landlords during inspections. Their value as reels drops the longer they sit, while their nuisance value rises.

Lease ends and handbacks

Distribution leases in the big districts often end with a requirement to return the yard clear. Reels left behind become a deduction from the deposit. If your tenancy is ending, count reels early and book a pickup a few weeks before the handback date, so there's time to sell the sound ones and clear the rest without a last-minute rush.

Questions

Can you collect from a dock door?

Yes, if the reels can be loaded from the dock or the ground beside it. Big reels need a forklift.

Do you take pallets and crates too?

No. We take reels only. Pallets have their own recyclers.

Can you work around trailer appointments?

Yes. Give us a window and we'll arrive in it.

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