- Lane
- Alameda Corridor and Vernon
- Freeways
- ZIP codes
- 90058
- County
- Los Angeles County
Empty cable reels picked up in Vernon
Yes: we pick up empty wooden reels in Vernon, from a single stack of building-wire spools to a deck of 96-inch utility reels. Vernon sits on the Alameda Corridor run, so most stops here load the same morning the truck clears the Gateway Cities.
What gets made in Vernon
Vernon is almost all industry. The city covers 5.2 square miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles and counted 222 residents in the 2020 census, so nearly every lot is a plant, a warehouse or a yard. The Vernon Chamber of Commerce counts food manufacturers employing almost 10,700 people, more than 15% of the county total for that group, and more than 265 fashion companies, alongside fabricated metal, machinery, paper, plastics and truck transportation firms.
The newer reel source is power. Prime Data Centers announced its three-storey, 242,495 sq ft LAX01 building on South Santa Fe Avenue in November 2024, built for 33 MW of critical IT load at full build-out. Goodman Group broke ground in 2025 on a 49.5 MW data centre on part of the old Farmer John meatpacking site. Buildings like these take in medium-voltage feeders, busway and thousands of feet of copper and fibre, and every foot of it arrives on a reel.
Where Vernon's empty reels come from
- Data-centre electrical work
- Feeder and branch-circuit cable on 60 to 96 inch bolted and nailed reels, emptied in waves as each hall is fitted out.
- Plant maintenance and rewires
- Food and metal plants rewire lines and motors between runs; the empties are usually 30 to 42 inch nailed reels in ones and twos.
- City-owned utility work
- Vernon runs its own municipal electric utility, so its line crews and their contractors empty utility reels on streets that never see an SCE truck.
How the Alameda Corridor and Vernon run reaches Vernon
The Alameda Corridor run comes up the 710 and across on Bandini or Washington, and Vernon is usually its first cluster of stops. Docks here keep tight hours because the trucks behind ours are refrigerated loads and container drays, so give us the window your receiving door is actually free, not the hours the office is open. A forklift on site makes a six-reel stop a ten-minute job; without one, keep reels under 42 inches so the driver can tip and roll them up a ramp.
Other stops on the Alameda Corridor and Vernon lane: Compton, Huntington Park, Commerce. Reels from Vernon can share a deck with any of them.
Getting Vernon's reels ready for the truck
Count by flange
Measure across the round end of each reel and group them: 30, 48, 72, 96 inch flanges are the sizes we see most from Vernon. 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 710, 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 Vernon 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 Vernon
| Flange | How it loads | Empties per 53 ft deck (est.) | Empty weight, lb |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 in | Flat, stacked 3 high | 189 | 39 |
| 48 in | On edge, two rows | 26 to 30 | 106 to 177 |
| 72 in | On edge, two rows | 20 to 24 | 204 to 592 |
| 96 in | On edge, two rows | 16 to 18 | 250 to 1,199 |
Estimates from published reel and loading charts; method on reels per load.
Nearest areas to Vernon on the grid
Straight-line miles between town centres, not road miles.
Other Los Angeles County areas, by grid square
- Commerce 90040D6
- 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
Vernon pickup questions
What does a Vernon data-centre job leave behind?
Mostly big reels: medium-voltage feeder cable on 72 to 96 inch bolted reels, plus smaller nailed reels from branch circuits and plywood spools from fibre and copper data cable. Busway comes in crates, not on reels.
Can you collect reels from a Vernon data-centre job site?
Yes, if the general contractor lets a flatbed in and someone on site can lift the reels. Send the count by flange size and the gate hours; large utility reels need a forklift rated for them.
Does Vernon count as Los Angeles for pickups?
It is its own city, with its own utility and fire department, but for us it is the heart of the Alameda Corridor run and one of the most frequent stops on it.