- Lane
- Alameda Corridor and Vernon
- Freeways
- ZIP codes
- 90040
- 90022
- County
- Los Angeles County
Empty cable reels picked up in Commerce
We pick up empty cable reels in Commerce on the Alameda Corridor run, the same truck that clears Vernon and Huntington Park. Rail-served warehouses and distribution buildings along Washington Boulevard and Eastern Avenue are the usual stops.
What gets made in Commerce
Commerce is a small city built around rail and warehousing. Union Pacific's East Los Angeles yard and the BNSF Hobart yard are on its western side, the Santa Ana Freeway (the 5) runs through the middle and the Long Beach Freeway (the 710) marks its west edge. Between them are cross-dock buildings, food and beverage distribution, furniture and apparel importers and the electrical and lighting wholesalers that feed contractors across the east side.
That mix decides what reels look like here. Distribution buildings rarely empty big utility reels themselves; what piles up is the reels left behind by tenant improvement crews, sprinkler and lighting retrofits and the distributors' own will-call counters, where a contractor cuts a length off a reel and the empty drum stays behind.
Commerce also has a casino and an outlet centre on Telegraph Road beside the 5, and their constant upgrades of lighting, signage and security wiring bring electricians in all year. The city is served by Southern California Edison, so distribution work on its streets is SCE's. For a seller the practical point is access: most Commerce buildings were built for 53-foot trailers, with wide aprons and truck courts, so even a large stack of 72 inch reels can be loaded quickly from the yard without blocking a street.
Where Commerce's empty reels come from
- Warehouse electrical retrofits
- LED and racking power upgrades leave 30 to 42 inch nailed reels of building wire behind, a few at a time.
- Wholesale counters
- Cut-to-length sales empty one-way reels steadily; a counter can fill a corner of the yard with 24 to 36 inch empties in a month.
- Rail-side contractors
- Signal and power contractors working near the yards empty bolted reels of 48 inches and up.
How the Alameda Corridor and Vernon run reaches Commerce
Commerce stops ride on the Alameda Corridor run after Vernon, or on the San Gabriel Valley run when the truck heads out the 60. Washington Boulevard and Atlantic carry the trucks, and the 5 at Washington is the usual way in from the north. If your building has a dock but no forklift, say so: the driver can load small reels by hand from a dock plate, but anything over 48 inches needs a lift.
Other stops on the Alameda Corridor and Vernon lane: Compton, Huntington Park, Vernon. Reels from Commerce can share a deck with any of them.
Getting Commerce's reels ready for the truck
Count by flange
Measure across the round end of each reel and group them: 36, 42, 48, 72 inch flanges are the sizes we see most from Commerce. A phone photo of the stack helps us size the run. The measuring guide shows where to put the tape.
Stage them where a flatbed fits
Put the reels where a 53 foot flatbed can pull alongside off Interstate 5, not down a lane it cannot turn in.
Give us a window
Tell us the hours your gate is open and staffed. Stops on the Alameda Corridor and Vernon lane get a pickup window by email once the run is planned.
Say how they get lifted
A forklift on site loads anything up to 96 inches. Without one, reels up to about 42 inches can be tipped and rolled up a ramp; bigger ones need a lift.
Flag the stencilled ones
A reel painted with a cable maker's name may be returnable. Tell us and we will say whether it should go back to its owner before we take it.
After the run, sound reels from Commerce are sorted for resale to contractors, makers and growers who want wooden spools; split flanges, torn arbor holes and rotten staves go to wood recycling. See resale or recycling for how a reel is graded.
Reel sizes that usually come out of Commerce
| Flange | How it loads | Empties per 53 ft deck (est.) | Empty weight, lb |
|---|---|---|---|
| 36 in | Flat, stacked 3 high | 102 | 64 to 77 |
| 42 in | Flat, stacked 2 high | 60 | 90 to 100 |
| 48 in | On edge, two rows | 26 to 30 | 106 to 177 |
| 72 in | On edge, two rows | 20 to 24 | 204 to 592 |
Estimates from published reel and loading charts; method on reels per load.
Nearest areas to Commerce on the grid
Straight-line miles between town centres, not road miles.
Other Los Angeles County areas, by grid square
- Vernon 90058D6
- City of Industry 91744F6
- Santa Fe Springs 90670E7
- Long Beach 90802D8
- Carson 90745D7
- Rancho Dominguez 90220D7
- Compton 90220D7
- Wilmington 90744D8
- Torrance 90501C7
- El Segundo 90245C7
- Huntington Park 90255D6
- Northeast Los Angeles 90031D6
- Sun Valley 91352C5
- Pacoima 91331C4
- Chatsworth 91311B4
- Canoga Park 91303B5
- Van Nuys 91401B5
- Santa Clarita 91350B3
- Palmdale 93550E2
- Lancaster 93534E1
- Pomona 91766G6
Commerce pickup questions
What is the quickest way to get Commerce reels on a truck?
Stage them in the truck court on their flanges, tell us the count by size and the dock hours, and book a window when the yard is quiet. Most Commerce stops take under half an hour.
Will you take reels from a distributor's will-call counter in Commerce?
Yes. Counter empties are what standing pickups are for: tell us roughly how many build up in a month and we will put the stop on a regular run.
Are rail yard reels too big for you?
Reels up to 96 inches load on our flatbed runs. Steel drums and reels beyond what a flatbed carries are outside what we handle.