Leasing
& pooling.
Tell us how many units, for how long, and how many times a year you fill them. That is the whole lease calculation.
Pay per turn, not per container. $34–$52 a turn on a closed-loop programme including wash, collection and return; $14–$38 per unit per month on a seasonal lease. It suits seasonal demand and high-turn operations, and it pushes the diversion rate on those units to effectively 100% because the container never leaves our custody chain.
The idle-asset problem
A cider mill, a maple operation, a seasonal fertiliser blender and a construction water contractor all share the same shape: enormous container demand for eight to twelve weeks, almost none for the rest of the year. Owning for peak means owning eighty totes that spend nine months occupying eighty pallet positions, chalking in the sun, and quietly depreciating.
Ecologically, idle is almost as wasteful as single-use. A tote sitting in a yard is a tote somebody else is buying new. Pooling fixes it by making the same physical fleet serve a maple operation in March, a cider mill in October and a dust-control contractor through the summer.
Three structures
- Seasonal lease. You take delivery of a block of units for a defined window, we collect them at the end. Priced per unit per month. Simplest thing to understand and the most common entry point.
- One-way pooling. You fill totes and ship them to a customer; we recover them from the customer's site, not yours. Removes the return freight from your P&L entirely and stops your customer accumulating a wall of empties with your name on them.
- Closed loop. We supply, you fill, we collect, we wash, we return. Priced per turn. No capital, no storage, no disposal, no procurement cycle, and a diversion statement at the end of each quarter.
Where leasing is the wrong answer
If a tote lives on your site as a permanent fixture — a wash-water reservoir, a dust-control tank, a rain catchment bank — buy it. Leasing a static asset is just a more expensive way to own it. Similarly, if you fill once a year and store for eleven months, buy technical grade and be done.
How the maths works out
A Grade A unit costs $155–$225 to buy and roughly $34–$52 per turn to lease. So four turns a year is about $170 of leasing against a one-time $190 purchase — and at four turns a year, over three years, buying wins decisively. At one seasonal eleven-week block a year, leasing wins decisively, because the purchase also buys you nine months of storage you did not want.
Rate card
| Structure | Rate |
|---|---|
| Closed loop, Grade A, per turn | $34 – $52 |
| Closed loop, food grade, per turn | $58 – $84 |
| Seasonal lease, Grade A, per month | $14 – $22 |
| Seasonal lease, food grade, per month | $26 – $38 |
| One-way pooling, per unit recovered | Quoted on route |
| Minimum block | 24 units |
| Minimum term | 8 weeks |
| Damage schedule | Attached to agreement |
Who leases
- Cider mills and juice pressers
- Maple sap operations
- Seasonal fertiliser and amendment blenders
- Construction water and dust-control contractors
- Event and festival water supply
- Emergency and disaster-response stockpiles
Leasing questions
When is leasing cheaper than owning?
When your demand is seasonal or your turns are frequent. A cider mill that needs eighty totes for eleven weeks and four for the rest of the year should never own eighty totes — it owns a storage problem for nine months. Conversely, if you fill the same tote twenty times a year and keep it for six years, owning wins easily. The crossover is roughly four turns a year over a three-year horizon.
What does a turn cost?
$34–$52 per turn for a 275 gallon Grade A unit on a closed-loop programme, including the wash, the collection and the return. Seasonal leases are priced per unit per month: $14–$22 for Grade A, $26–$38 for food grade with certification each cycle.
Who is liable if a leased tote is damaged?
Normal wear is ours. Damage beyond wear — a forklift strike through the cage, a destroyed valve boss, a bottle contaminated with an undeclared product — is charged at a published replacement schedule attached to the agreement. We would rather have the schedule agreed in advance than argue about a photograph later.
Can I lease food-grade units?
Yes, and each cycle is re-certified: prior contents on the previous turn are recorded, the unit is washed on our food-grade cycle, and a fresh certificate with cycle data ships with it. That recertification is most of the cost difference between food-grade and Grade A leasing, and it is not optional.
Lease or buy, worked properly
| Turns per year | Buy outright | Closed loop at $43/turn | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (single seasonal fill) | $190 + 9 months storage | $129 | Lease, clearly |
| 2 | $190 | $258 | Buy |
| 4 | $190 + ≈$60 maintenance | $516 | Buy, decisively |
| 8 | $190 + ≈$120 maintenance | $1,032 | Buy, decisively |
| 12 | $190 + ≈$180 maintenance | $1,548 | Buy, decisively |
Read that table carefully, because it says something we are not supposed to say: at any meaningful turn rate, buying wins. Per-turn leasing is for the case where the container is idle most of the year, and the thing you are really paying us to remove is nine months of storage and the capital tied up in it.
Where leasing actually wins
- Seasonal demand. A cider mill needing eighty totes for eleven weeks should never own eighty totes — it owns a storage problem for nine months and eighty units chalking in the sun.
- Volatile volume. A contractor whose requirement swings between twelve and ninety units by project.
- Documented food grade, re-certified each cycle. The recertification is the real service, and doing it yourself means running a wash line.
- Capital constraints. Where the purchase sits in a capital budget and the lease sits in operating expenditure, which is an accounting reality rather than an economic one but a real constraint nonetheless.
- One-way distribution. You fill and ship; we recover from your customer. This has nothing to do with turn rates and everything to do with not having a wall of your empties in somebody else's yard.
Every structure, priced
| Structure | Rate | Includes | Minimum |
|---|---|---|---|
| Closed loop, Grade A, per turn | $34 – $52 | Supply, collection, wash, return | 24 units, 8 weeks |
| Closed loop, food grade, per turn | $58 – $84 | As above plus full recertification each cycle | 24 units, 8 weeks |
| Closed loop, rebottled, per turn | $72 – $96 | As above; bladder replaced on a cycle count | 24 units, 12 weeks |
| Seasonal lease, Grade A, per unit per month | $14 – $22 | Supply and end-of-season collection | 24 units, 8 weeks |
| Seasonal lease, food grade, per unit per month | $26 – $38 | As above plus certification at issue | 24 units, 8 weeks |
| One-way pooling, per unit recovered | Quoted on route | Recovery from your customer's site | Route dependent |
| Stainless lease | Quoted | Supply, passivation between cycles | By arrangement |
The damage schedule
In a leasing arrangement, normal wear is ours and damage beyond wear is yours. That sentence is easy to write and useless in practice, because the whole argument is about which side of the line a given unit falls on. So every programme has a priced schedule agreed before the first delivery.
| Condition on return | Treatment |
|---|---|
| Cosmetic staining, scuffing, coating fade | Normal wear — no charge |
| Gasket, cap, valve seat wear | Normal wear — no charge |
| Crazing from the stored product | Normal wear — no charge; rebottled at our cost |
| Destroyed or scored discharge boss | Charged — bottle replacement |
| Bent lower cage horizontal | Charged at jig labour, or scrap value if unrecoverable |
| Cage racked beyond jig recovery | Charged — frame replacement |
| Freeze deformation from overfilling | Charged — bottle replacement |
| Contamination with an undeclared product | Charged — full unit plus wash-loop remediation |
| Unit not returned | Charged at replacement value |
The seasonal shapes this fits
| Operation | Peak | Typical block | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cider mills and juice pressers | Sep – Nov | 40 – 90 units, 11 weeks | Food grade, recertified |
| Maple sap operations | Feb – Apr | 24 – 60 units, 8 weeks | Food grade |
| Seasonal fertiliser and amendment blenders | Mar – May | 48 – 150 units, 10 weeks | Grade A |
| Construction water and dust control | May – Sep | 24 – 80 units, variable | Technical |
| Event and festival water supply | Jun – Aug | 12 – 40 units, days to weeks | Food grade or rebottled |
| Disaster response stockpiles | Standing, drawn on demand | 24 – 200 units | Rebottled |
| Hydroseeding and landscape contractors | Apr – Oct | 12 – 36 units | Technical |
The idle-asset argument
Ecologically, idle is almost as wasteful as single-use. A tote sitting in a yard for nine months is a tote somebody else is buying new. Pooling fixes it by making the same physical fleet serve a maple operation in March, a fertiliser blender in April, a dust-control contractor through the summer and a cider mill in October.
That is four customers' peak demand met by one fleet, and it is the only structure where a container's utilisation genuinely approaches what the object is capable of.
Detailed questions
What is the number you need from me?
Turns per year — measured, not intended. Everything follows from it. Bring last year's fill records rather than an estimate, because across our first year of programmes actual turns came in at roughly 60 to 70% of forecast.
Will you tell me if I should just buy?
Yes, and we have. At four or more turns a year over a three-year horizon, buying wins decisively and we will show you the table. Two of our first-year closed-loop customers moved to outright purchase once we had three months of real data.
Who is liable if a leased tote is damaged?
Normal wear is ours; damage beyond wear is charged at the published schedule attached to your agreement. The schedule is agreed before the first delivery specifically so that a damaged unit is a line item rather than an argument.
Can I lease food-grade units?
Yes, and each cycle is recertified: prior contents from the previous turn recorded, unit washed on the food-grade cycle, fresh certificate with full cycle data issued. That recertification is most of the cost difference between food-grade and Grade A leasing, and it is not optional.
What happens at the end of a seasonal block?
We collect on a scheduled date, grade and wash, and the units go back into the pool for the next seasonal customer. You get a return report showing condition and any schedule charges, and nothing stays on your site over winter.
Can I buy out a leased unit mid-term?
Yes, at the prevailing grade price less a credit for turns already paid. It happens when a seasonal operation grows into a year-round one, which is a good problem and we would rather sell you the fleet than hold you to a structure that no longer fits.
Do leased units count in my diversion reporting?
Yes, and favourably: a unit that never leaves our custody chain has an effective diversion rate of 100% rather than our plant average of 93%. Your quarterly statement reports the turns, the units kept in service and the avoided manufacture.
Is pooling available for stainless?
By arrangement rather than as a standard product, because stainless is under one percent of our intake and we match rather than stock it. Where a seasonal stainless requirement is predictable — a cider operation needing jacketed tanks for eleven weeks — it is worth asking, and we have done it.
How many turns a year?
That single number decides lease versus buy, and we will tell you honestly which way it falls — including when buying is cheaper.