Full Case vs. Half-Pallet vs. Full-Pallet: The Price-Break Math, a Worksheet From Your Own Invoice
Every step up in order size — case, half-pallet, full pallet — usually drops the price per case. It also ties up more cash and more floor space for longer. Nobody can tell you where your break-even sits without your own three quotes, so this page gives you the worksheet, the counts to fill it with, and a worked example you can overwrite with your own invoice.
Our case vs retail post covers why buying by the case beats buying retail. This page is one step further down the same road: once you’re already buying by the case, does stepping up to a half-pallet or a full pallet actually pay, or does it just move the same money into a bigger pile in your storeroom?
Why this is a per-item decision, not a policy
Facilities buyers often pick one order size for everything on the account. That’s the same mistake our monthly-vs-quarterly post flags for order timing, and it applies here too. Toilet tissue for a busy building might genuinely earn its keep at a full pallet, because it’s cheap, doesn’t expire, and turns over fast. A specialty chemical used twice a month is a different decision entirely — the price break might look identical on paper and still be the wrong call, because the cash and the shelf space sit idle for months longer than the toilet tissue does.
Step one: get the same item quoted three ways
Take one item at a time — not your whole order — and ask your supplier for the delivered price per case at case quantity, at half-pallet quantity, and at full-pallet quantity, along with how many cases actually make up a half-pallet and a full pallet for that item (pallet configuration varies by product, so don’t assume it’s a round number). If your supplier won’t quote all three, send us the invoice and we will.
The worksheet
One row per item. Every number comes from your own quotes and your own usage; the only inputs you choose are your cost-of-cash rate and what your storeroom actually has room for.
| Column | What goes in it | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| A. Monthly usage (cases) | Cases used per month at your current headcount or traffic. | The supplies calculator, or a one-month count of empties. |
| B. Case price at case quantity | Delivered price per case, ordering one case at a time. | Quote 1. |
| C. Cases per half-pallet, and price per case at that quantity | How many cases a half-pallet holds for this item, and the delivered per-case price at that break. | Quote 2. |
| D. Cases per full pallet, and price per case at that quantity | Same, at full-pallet quantity. | Quote 3. |
| E. Saving per case, case → half-pallet | B − C(price). | Arithmetic. |
| F. Saving per case, half-pallet → full pallet | C(price) − D(price). | Arithmetic. |
| G. Months of stock the order represents | Cases in the order (C or D cases) ÷ A. | Arithmetic — this is the number that tells you if the item will actually turn over before it’s in the way. |
| H. Extra cash tied up | On average, the bigger order holds half its extra months of stock idle at any given time: (G − 1) ÷ 2 × monthly case count × per-case price. | Arithmetic; use your case price from row B, C or D as appropriate. |
| I. Cost of that cash | H × your annual rate ÷ 12 × the extra months in G. | Your line-of-credit rate, or the return you’d otherwise get on the money. |
| J. Storage | Does the half-pallet or full pallet physically fit where you keep supplies? If not, zero this deal regardless of the math above. | Measure your storeroom; measure a pallet. |
Result: (E or F, the per-case saving) × (cases in the order) − I. Positive, and the space exists, means step up. Negative — or the space doesn’t exist — means stay at the smaller order size, even if the quoted per-case price looks better on paper.
A worked example
Numbers below are an illustrative example — use your own three quotes, not these. Say a facility uses 6 cases a month of a case-priced item at $42/case. The supplier’s half-pallet break is 20 cases at $38/case; the full-pallet break is 40 cases at $35.50/case.
- Half-pallet: saving is $4/case × 20 cases = $80 per order. It represents 20 ÷ 6 ≈ 3.3 months of stock, so roughly $46 of that stock sits idle on average (about 1.15 months × 6 cases × $38, rounded) — at a 10% annual cost-of-cash rate over that extra time, the carrying cost is a few dollars, nowhere near $80. Half-pallet wins, if it fits the storeroom.
- Full pallet: saving is $6.50/case × 40 cases = $260 per order versus ordering by the case, but it represents 40 ÷ 6 ≈ 6.7 months of stock — over five months longer than the half-pallet order. At the same 10% rate, the carrying cost is meaningfully higher, and the storage question gets harder to answer “yes” to. Whether the full pallet still wins depends on whether that item genuinely keeps for seven months and whether the space is free anyway; a fast-moving, non-perishable consumable like tissue or liners usually clears the bar, while a specialty chemical usually doesn’t.
Mixing items to hit a pallet break
Most facilities don’t buy one item at a time — a single delivery usually carries tissue, liners, gloves and a chemical or two together. Some suppliers will let you combine several SKUs to reach a half-pallet or full-pallet freight break even though no single item alone hits that count; ask specifically, since it isn’t always offered by default and the per-case discount on a mixed load can differ from a single-item pallet. Where it’s available, it changes the math in your favor: you get the freight and handling benefit of the bigger order without carrying seven months of any one slow-moving item, because each item on the pallet is sized to its own usage rate rather than forced up to match the others. Run the worksheet per item even inside a mixed load — a mixed pallet does not exempt the slow movers on it from row G.
What tips the math one way or the other
Three factors decide it more often than the headline discount does: how fast the item actually turns over at your real usage rate, whether it has a shelf life or can degrade in storage (concentrates and some chemicals can), and whether the extra cases physically fit your space without renting more of it. A steep price break on a slow-moving or perishable item is usually a trap, not a deal.
FAQ
How many cases are in a half-pallet or full pallet?
It varies by item and by supplier — case dimensions, how it stacks, and pallet standards all affect it. Always get the exact case count for the specific item you’re ordering rather than assuming a round number.
Is a full pallet always cheaper per case than a half-pallet?
Usually the per-case price drops at each step up, but the carrying cost of the extra stock and the months it sits before use often grow faster than the price drop, especially past 4–6 months of stock on hand.
What if my supplier won’t quote half-pallet and full-pallet pricing separately?
Send us your current invoice and we will quote all three break points for the items on it.
Does this apply to items with a shelf life?
Be more cautious there. The worksheet still works, but row G — months of stock — matters more: if the months of stock the order represents get close to the product’s shelf life, the price break isn’t worth the risk of waste.