Plastic crates and bulk bins in Idaho

Potatoes set the order book

Idaho grows about a third of the US potato crop, and potatoes were its top crop again in 2025 at about $1.13 billion in value of production, ahead of hay, wheat and barley. Potatoes are dense, wet from the field and hard on containers. A bin that works for apples may crack under a full load of russets.

So we ask three questions first. What weight goes in each bin? Does it get washed or stored with forced air? And does it run through a piler or a flume? Answers point to a bulk bin with thick runners and a solid or slotted deck, or a collapsible for cut product going to a plant out of state.

Cheese, milk and the processing plants

Dairy is the other big story. Idaho had 725,000 milk cows on January 1, 2026, and its 2025 milk was worth about $3.83 billion. Glanbia owns what is described as the world's largest barrel cheese factory, in Gooding. Agriculture and food and beverage processing together generate about 20% of Idaho's sales each year.

Inside a plant, the usual asks are stacking crates for blocks and packaged product, attached-lid totes for ingredients and parts, and dunnage to protect film-wrapped goods. Any container that will touch food needs a document check: ask the maker's resin statement, and tell us what a used box held before. We never call a used container food-grade.

Cheese blocks are heavy and dense, so plants often specify reinforced crates with solid bottoms and smooth corners that resist bacterial buildup. Blocks shipped to cut-and-wrap rooms sometimes ride in lidded bulk boxes on a 48x40 plastic pallet.

The usual Idaho asks, by sector

Freight on I-84 and I-86

I-84 is the spine: Boise, the Magic Valley around Twin Falls, then east to the junction with I-86 toward Pocatello and I-15 up to Idaho Falls. North Idaho sits on I-90. Most potato and dairy country is on that southern arc, so one truck can often reach several drop points.

Full trailers make sense for bins; a dry van or flatbed of empty bins is mostly air, which is why folding containers matter for longer hauls. PHS Plastic lists 88 of its 48x40x45 collapsibles per 53-foot trailer set up and 128 folded down to 25 inches. For a handful of totes, LTL is simpler. Our trailer loads guide shows the trade-off.

Used bins: what the grade tells you

Much of what Idaho storages buy is used. ORBIS, one of the large bulk-container makers, says it grades its own containers A, B or C by condition rather than retiring them by age, and the same logic suits the secondhand market. We grade every used lot we quote and tell you what the letter means for that box.

In practice, grade A bins have straight walls, intact runners and only light scuffing. Grade B units show stains, scrapes or plastic-welded repairs but still carry their listed load. Grade C works for rough jobs like rock picking, scrap or field cleanup. For potatoes headed to a fresh pack line, most buyers want A or a clean B. Ask for photos of the floor and corners, since cracks there spread fastest under a wet, heavy load.

Refurbished is a middle path: units that were cleaned, inspected and repaired before sale. See our guide to container grades.

Selling surplus potato bins

Storages change their bin fleets when they upgrade pilers or move to bulk storage. We buy usable bins and collapsibles in quantity. Send counts, base size, height, wall and deck type, condition and the yard address, plus what went in them. We quote and schedule the pickup as its own load. Start at sell harvest bins.