Introduction

Pallets are one of the most widely used tools for transporting goods efficiently and securely. A pallet pool is a system that manages the circulation, exchange, and balance of pallets across supply chains. Instead of each company owning and tracking its own pallets, pallet pools allow multiple stakeholders to share and reuse pallets in a structured way. This ensures that pallets are always available where they are needed while reducing costs, losses, and inefficiencies.

A pallet pool works by recording:

How many pallets are delivered to a location and how many are collected back.
Calculates a balance at both the customer and location level, showing whether pallets are owed or returned.
Balance can be settled, resetting the account between parties.

Such systems not only optimise packaging flows but also create transparency in supply chains, ensuring that logistics partners are held accountable for pallet movements.

Terminology

Full Pallets – Pallets loaded with goods.
Empty Pallets – Pallets returned or exchanged, ready to be reused.
Pallet Swap – The process of exchanging pallets during collection or delivery.
Balance – The net total of pallets at a customer or location (positive if more were received, negative if more were given away).
Settlement – The process of resetting pallet balances between parties to zero.
Question Path – A structured set of questions drivers answer in the mobile app to record pallet movements at pickup and delivery stops.

Pallet Pools in Qargo

Qargo integrates pallet pool management directly into its transportation workflows, allowing carriers to track pallet exchanges alongside goods. With pallet swap tracking enabled, users can:

Automatically pre-fill pallet counts based on order quantities (both full and empty pallets).
Record actual swaps at pickup and delivery through the driver response.
Manually adjust values in the system when needed.
Track balances per customer and location, with clear visibility into positive and negative values.
Settle balances easily, ensuring accurate records across both customer and location levels.
Apply pricing rules that account for pallet usage, empty pallet returns, or swaps through new rate card metrics.

In Qargo, pallet pool tracking creates a transparent, auditable flow of pallet movements, ensuring that packaging and pallets are treated as valuable assets—not forgotten costs.

Configuration

🧰 Available to Super Admin users only

Step 1: Activate the feature

Navigate to CONFIGURATION > 'Organisation Settings'
Scroll to the 'Packaging / Pallet swaps enabled' panel
- Toggle the feature ON
Select default pre-fill value for EMPTY pallets, options include:
- Don't pre-fill - value will be left blank, and relies on manual input by user
- Pre-fill with 0 - value will default to 0 when empty pallets are left at a pick up or delivery location
- Same quantity as full pallets - default will match the original value from the loaded pallets on the order

📚 Pre-fills configured in organisation settings apply to the EMPTY pallets only.

Step 2: Enable Additional fields for Cargo

Navigate to CONFIGURATION > Additional fields
From the Orders side menu, select 'Cargo'
Select the option for 'Packaging / pallet swap activities'
- Set the field as Active
- Select the transportation services this will apply to
Click SAVE.

Step 3: Enable packaging / pallet swaps on Packaging Types

Navigate to RATES > Order Input
From 'Cargo Options' in the side menu, select 'Packaging Types'
- Choose the packaging types that will be enabled for swaps
- Set the toggle to the ON position
Click SAVE

Step 4: Create Driver Question paths to be completed (TASKS)

Add questions to stop details for the driver to fill in app how may Full / Empty pallets collected / delivered at locations
Navigate to CONFIGURATION > Tasks
Create the question path at the point that most suits operating workflow
- IE: Trips, Create Stop > Loading at Pickup
Options to add questions for the following stop activities:
- Pallets loaded at pickup/delivery = Driver will input the number of empty pallets loaded at that stop
- Pallets unloaded at pickup/delivery = Driver will input the number of empty pallets unloaded at that stop.

Step 5: (Optional) Customer override swaps

Default: Pallet swaps will be tracked on collect and delivery activities
Optional: Customer override can be set for specific stop activities, and by packaging type.
From the customer profile, scroll to the 'Packaging / pallet swap activities'
- Packaging Types will display the list of available options configured
- Select the swap stop activity override; options include:
  - Disabled - tracking is not available for this packaging type at either collect or deliver stop
  - Pickup - tracking is only available at the collect location
  - Delivery - tracking is only available at the delivery location
  - *Pickup/delivery - tracking is available at both the collect and delivery location (same as default)
    Use this if multiple packaging types have specific overrides, this can be selected to provide clarity on what uses the default

📚 The default is to track pallet swaps at both the collect and delivery locations.

Step 6: (Optional) Add charges to Rate Cards

Charges for pallet swap can be added as a rate card metric
- Available on Formula & Price Table as metrics
- Available as a condition metric

Formula:

Available as a per unit charge, based on the total swap activity
- IE: £15 per 1 swap

Price Table:

Fixed per cargo item - Price table options include both Has swap and Total swap

Multiplied by metric - can select as the metric & both options available in the price table config.
- IE: Selecting this will multiply the Price table result based on the quantity

Add as Condition:

2 options: Goods (actual) / Has swap (Y/N) or Total swap

Pallet swaps workflow

📚 Use 'Edit Column' to enable visibility of the Pallet Swap column in the Order List View; and in Planning - Orders use the 'Customise' button.

1.) Build order

When enabled the default values for collect / delivery will automatically be included in the order, based on enabled packaging types
- IE: if enabled for Europallets and that is the packaging type used on the order, will automatically use the # of pallets entered.

Default tenant settings are used for the Empty pallets

Alternate pallet swap stop activity can be selected when building the order
If a customer override is present, this will pre-fill instead of default.

Use 'Standalone stops' to add Pallet swaps to an order

📚 Empty pallets at stop locations can be added to stop notes, which can be included in the trip sheet sent to the driver.

2.) Trip execution, including a pallet swap

Using the question path, drivers are able to enter the quantity of loaded and empty pallets at locations.
Order updates with details entered from the driver.

Can be updated manually to add or edit the quantity of pallets

Settle Transactions

Pallet balance can be settled by customer or by location

📚 Use column header filter on Timestamp to view on selected number of transactions to update, based on date and time stamp.

Pallet balance can be settled on either the customer or the location
- Update to the customer will also update location and vice versa
Negative value = pallet moved from location to tenant
Positive value = pallet moved from tenant to location
Missing = value not pre-filled for the empty pallet
- Also not completed in question path

Settle Customer level

Required to complete the settlement transaction
- Date / time stamp
- Location - single or multiple locations can be added.
  - If left blank ALL pallets within the date/time range will be updated as settled