Knowledge · G-05
Seventeen checks
before you accept.
Short answer
- Walk away: cracked weld, bottom-radius crack, illegible plate, odour in food grade
- Request four photos per serial if you cannot visit
- "Clean" is not a grade — get the grade word in writing
- No wash certificate = rinsed grade, whatever the invoice says
Request serial photos
The checklist
Seventeen points, six zones
Run them in this order. Paperwork first, because four of the seventeen can be settled before you drive anywhere.
Paperwork · 4 checks
- 01
Prior-contents disclosure exists and is specific
A chemical name, not a category. "Soap" is not a prior content; "anionic surfactant blend, last filled March 2025" is. If the seller cannot be specific, assume they do not know.
- 02
Grade is named explicitly on the quote
Food, reconditioned, rebottled, rinsed, as-is or scrap. "Clean" is not a grade and has no agreed meaning. Get the word in writing before money moves.
- 03
Wash certificate, if reconditioned grade is claimed
Chemistry, temperature, cycle time. If it does not exist, you are buying rinsed grade at reconditioned prices, which is the commonest overcharge in this trade.
- 04
Test record, if the tote is for regulated service
Leakproofness at 3 psi with a date. No record means no certification, whatever the plate says about the original manufacture.
Plate · 3 checks
- 05
UN marking is present and legible
If the plate is corroded or painted over, the container is not certified for regulated transport. There is no way to re-establish an illegible marking short of full re-testing.
- 06
Moulding year leaves enough service life
Hazmat service life is five years from the moulding date. A 2022 unit has one year left. Read the two-digit year and count — nobody will do this for you.
- 07
Packing group letter covers your material
Y covers PG II and III; X covers all three; Z covers III only. A Y-marked tote cannot legally carry a PG I material regardless of condition.
Bottle · 4 checks
- 08
Bottom radius has no stress cracks
The single most important physical check. Get a torch and look at the four bottom corners inside. Stress cracking starts here and it is where a failure under load will happen.
- 09
No crazing or whitening in the wall
A fine crackled surface or milky patches mean UV or chemical stress. Crazing has not failed yet but it will, and it makes the unit a rebottling candidate rather than a container.
- 10
No odour inside
Open the lid and smell. Odour is permeation — product in the polymer wall — and nothing removes it. It is disqualifying for food duty regardless of what the paperwork says.
- 11
No bulging or deformation
A bulged bottle has been over-filled, over-heated or frozen. The wall has thinned where it stretched, and it will not take the same stacking load again.
Cage · 3 checks
- 12
Every weld joint is intact
Check the upright-to-rail joints specifically. A cracked weld is terminal — pressing the frame straight conceals the crack rather than repairing it, and it is where a stack will let go.
- 13
Uprights are bowed, not kinked
A smooth curve presses straight. A sharp fold has already fractured the grain structure and cannot be recovered. Run a hand along each upright.
- 14
Galvanising is intact over the rails
Surface rust at weld scars is cosmetic. Flaking or blistered zinc across a whole rail means years outdoors, and that cage will not give you another decade.
Base · 2 checks
- 15
Base type matches your floor
Plastic or composite for sanitary floors, steel for industrial and outdoor, wood only one-way. Ask for a swap at order time — during reconditioning it costs almost nothing in labour.
- 16
Fixings are present and holes are not torn
Missing fixings are replaceable. A base whose fixing holes have torn through is not, and the unit should be priced as a bottle plus a cage rather than as a container.
Fittings · 1 check
- 17
Valve seats cleanly and gaskets are new
Close the valve and look for a weep. Ask whether gaskets were replaced. A new gasket costs nine dollars and is the most common source of a leak that gets blamed on the bottle.
Four reasons to walk away
Cracked weld at a cage joint
Terminal. There is no field repair and pressing the frame conceals it.
Stress crack at the bottom radius
This is where a filled tote fails under load. Not a price negotiation.
Illegible UN plate, for regulated service
Uncertified. No way to re-establish it short of full re-testing.
Odour in a tote sold as food grade
Permeation. Disqualifying regardless of paperwork.
Four reasons to negotiate instead
Crazed bottle, sound cage
This is a rebottling candidate. Pay cage-plus-labour, not container price.
Kinked cage, good bottle
Worth a bottle price. The cage goes to the baler and that is fine.
Wood base on a return loop
Negotiate a swap to steel or plastic, which costs little during reconditioning.
Old valve and tired gaskets
A nine-dollar part. Ask for new gaskets rather than discounting the container.
Short answer
- Interior through the 6-inch lid, with flash
- The specification plate, close and square on
- One upright-to-rail weld joint
- The base fixing points
Price expectations
What a unit should cost once it passes
If a tote passes this checklist at reconditioned grade, these are the bands it should price in. Paying above them means paying for something other than the container.
| Condition after inspection | Fair price band, 275 gal | What it really is |
|---|---|---|
| Passes all 17 at food grade | $185 – $340 | A food-grade container |
| Passes all 17, industrial history | $120 – $225 | A reconditioned container |
| Passes, but no wash certificate | $95 – $165 | Rinsed grade — price accordingly |
| Fails odour, sound otherwise | $55 – $110 | As-is, restricted to similar duty |
| Crazed bottle, sound cage | $22 – $44 | A cage with a rebottling cost attached |
| Kinked cage, sound bottle | $18 – $38 | A bottle; the cage is scrap steel |
| Fails bottom radius or weld check | Scrap weight | Material, not a container |
Full regional and grade pricing on what used totes cost in 2026.
Questions
Inspection questions
What is the single most important check?
The bottom radius inside the bottle. Get a torch and look at the four bottom corners. Stress cracking initiates there, and a crack at the bottom radius is where a filled tote fails under stacking load. Everything else on this list is either recoverable or cosmetic by comparison.
Can I inspect before buying from you?
Yes, and we would prefer it. Walk the grading floor during open hours, or ask for serial-specific photographs — interior through the lid, valve, cage welds and base. Nobody should buy two hundred containers from a stock photograph.
How do I check a tote I cannot visit?
Request four photographs per serial on a sample: inside through the 6-inch lid with a flash, the specification plate, one upright-to-rail weld joint, and the base fixings. Those four images cover most of this checklist. A supplier who will not send them is telling you something.
What should make me walk away entirely?
A cracked weld at a cage joint, a stress crack at the bottom radius, an illegible UN plate on a tote intended for regulated service, odour in a tote sold as food grade, or a seller who cannot state the prior contents specifically. Any one of those, walk away.
Is it worth buying a tote that fails some checks?
Often, at the right price. A crazed bottle in a sound cage is a rebottling candidate. A kinked cage with a good bottle is worth a bottle price. The error is paying container money for a unit that is really a component — which is exactly what this checklist prevents.
Remote buying
The four photographs that replace a site visit
Most used-tote purchases happen without an inspection. These four images, per serial on a representative sample, cover the majority of the checklist.
| Photograph | How to take it | Checklist points covered |
|---|---|---|
| Interior through the 6 in lid | Flash on, outside shaded | Bottom-radius cracks, crazing, haze, residue rings |
| The specification plate | Square on, close enough to read the string | Marking validity, moulding year, packing group |
| One upright-to-rail weld joint | Lower joint, with the rust weep visible if present | Cracked welds, galvanising condition |
| The base fixing points | From underneath or at an angle | Torn fixings, base type, base condition |
The first one is the single most valuable image and the one suppliers are least likely to offer unprompted. Crazing is close to invisible in reflected light and obvious in transmitted light, so a flash photograph through the lid with the outside shaded is diagnostic in a way a yard photograph is not.
On delivery
The ninety seconds before the driver leaves
Separate from the buying checklist and just as important. Freight claims are won or lost here.
- 01
Count against the bill of lading
A short count noted on the delivery receipt is a straightforward claim. A short count reported the next morning is an argument you will probably lose.
- 02
Walk the load while it is still on the truck
Look for crushed cages, cracked bottles, sheared pallet feet and missing valve caps — in that order. Those are the four failures that happen in transit.
- 03
Photograph anything suspect, on the truck
With the trailer number visible if you can get it in frame. Two photographs beat two paragraphs of description in every claim process.
- 04
Write the exception on the receipt before signing
Specific: “unit 7 of 12, cage upright folded, bottle appears intact”. “Damaged” on its own is weaker than nothing.
- 05
Tell the supplier within 48 hours
With the photographs and the receipt reference. Our window is 48 hours and most carriers are similar or shorter.
Short answer
- Note damage on the receipt before the driver leaves
- Photograph on the truck, not after unloading
- Be specific; “damaged” is weaker than a description
- 48-hour notification window
From the Yard Journal
Longer pieces from the people who run the wash line, the test bay and the trading desk.
6 December 2022 · 6 min
Reading a cage weld: a field guide to the joint that kills totes
The upright-to-rail joint decides whether a cage is rebottled or baled. Here is what we look at, in what order, and why a bowed upright is fine but a kinked one is not.
Priya Raghunathan · Head of reconditioning
Read21 May 2026 · 4 min
What a crushed cage tells you about the bottle inside
Counterintuitively, the worse the cage looks, the better the odds on the bottle. We pulled three years of intake records to check.
Priya Raghunathan · Head of reconditioning
Read18 December 2025 · 4 min
Our grading floor is deliberately boring
Six labelled bays, one decision per unit, no judgement calls allowed at the end of a shift. Interesting processes produce inconsistent grades.
Priya Raghunathan · Head of reconditioning
Read
Next move
Run this checklist on us.
Ask for serial-specific photographs or walk the grading floor. We publish the checklist our own graders use because a buyer who inspects properly is a buyer we keep.