What the F*#k Is an FC Pallet?

Reseller Tips| Sales Strategies| Tips| Bin Store

December 05, 2025•7 min read

What the F*#k Is an FC Pallet? Bin Store Owners Read This Before You Buy

It’s about damn time we talk about this, guys.

I had someone text me the other day—said they watched all my videos, already running a bin store, 40-something bins, price ladder 10-7-5-3-2-1… and then they hit me with:

“Tom, what is FC?”

If you’re running a bin store and you don’t know what an FC pallet is, we got a problem. So grab a broom, stop vacuuming the cracks like my guy in the warehouse, and let’s clean this up the right way.

FC vs LPN: Stop Mixing Them Up

You can’t run this business if you don’t know your loads.

LPN pallets:

Amazon returns
Higher value stuff
More risk, more upside
Usually in 5 ft pallets or coffin boxes
Great for higher price days ($14, $20, etc.)

FC pallets:

FC = Fulfillment Center
New stuff, lower value per item
High piece count (500–700+ items per pallet)
Usually in tall “7-footers” (I’m 6'3" and they’re still over my head)
Perfect feedstock for $10 and under bin stores

Think about it like this:

LPN = “returns casino” – home runs and duds, higher ticket items.
FC = “piece count machine” – tons of stuff, low cost per unit, steady cash flow.

If you’re running a lower-priced store (10-7-5-3-2-1 or similar), you should not be loading those bins with LPN and medium loads. You’re burning expensive inventory on cheap days.

For a $10 opening day?

Fill your freaking bins with FC.

The Money Math: Why FC Pallets Are Perfect for Bin Stores

Let’s talk numbers, not feelings.

Typical raw FC pallet:

Cost: $400–$700 per pallet
Pieces: 500–700+ items
Your cost per piece: usually just under $1 an item

Now run that through a bin store price ladder like 10-7-5-3-2-1:

Customer pays $10, $7, $5, etc.
You paid around $1.
Even when that item survives to dollar day, you’re still breaking even or slightly up.

And during the higher days, that same $1 cost item might sell at $10 or $7. That’s where the margin lives.

You don’t need every piece to be a home run.

You just need:

High piece count
Full bins
Constant rotation

You keep the machine moving, the money follows.

Raw FC vs Processed FC: Who’s Really Making the Money?

Here’s where a lot of you get smoked and don’t even realize it.

Raw FC pallets (what you want):

Tall 7-footers, stuffed with mixed Amazon merch
80% product, maybe 20% food/snacks
Nobody’s been cherry-picking inside
You can peek through the “window” in the cardboard and see it’s packed, not half-empty with air and chips

Processed FC pallets (what people try to dump on you):

Someone took those big FC 7-footers
Cut them down
Pulled all the better items (electronics, name brands, home runs)
Repacked the leftovers and sold that to you

Can you still make money on processed FC?

Yeah, at the right price.

But here’s the scam:

Some sellers pull the good stuff
Then try to sell you the leftovers at almost the same price as a raw FC pallet

They get the home runs and most of their money back.

You get… crumbs.

That ASUS motherboard I spotted buried in a raw FC pallet? That one piece could be $200–$400, and pay for half the pallet by itself.

You don’t get that when someone has already gone digging through your load.

My rule:

“I don’t like to be touched.

I don’t want my loads touched either.”

I want raw.

Not repackaged, not cherry-picked, not “curated.”

Raw 7-foot FC loads that still have the surprises inside.

Roller Coaster Reality: The FC Supply Side Hustle

Now let’s talk about the ugly side no one brags about on TikTok.

This business is a damn roller coaster.

One week:

You’ve got 3 great loads a week
Plenty of buyers
You’re making money without even touching the pallets—just pass-through, ship direct

Next week:

Your supplier loses the contract
Your best loads vanish overnight
You’re back to hustling, hunting, and kissing new asses to get back in the game

I’ve had seven different deals going at one time—stuff I own, contracts I bought out, special arrangements I can’t even talk about. A couple fall apart at once and boom—my whole pipeline gets punched in the mouth.

So what do I do?

Spend half my time chasing new loads
Building new relationships
Calling suppliers
Trying to be the guy who can take all their loads so they don’t have to shop around every week

If you’re calling once a month for “just one load,” let me be blunt:

You are not their priority.

You will get the worst loads.

The leftovers. The stuff they couldn’t move.

You need buying power.

Build a Buying Group and Stop Getting the Trash

Here’s the play: team up.

I’ve got about 10 stores in my buying group.

Together we:

Take 3–5+ loads a week from certain suppliers
Have one point of contact managing the relationship
Get called first when good loads hit
Get better pricing because we’re consistent

It’s not about some magical discount. It’s about:

Volume
Consistency

Being the buyer who makes their life easy

If you’re buying FC or LPN once every blue moon, suppliers forget your name.

If you’re buying every week—you become “their guy.” That matters when contracts change, auction houses start bidding stupid high, and loads get tight.

FC + LPN + WhatNot: Stacking Revenue Streams

ANow let’s layer this.

1. FC Into Your Bin Store

Fill your bins with FC for $10 and under days
Keep bins fresh every week
Don’t cherry-pick all the good stuff
Let customers hit real wins: $50 items on $10 day, $20 items on $5 day

Every time someone scores, you:

Take a pic
Post it on social
Get people excited to come dig

Are you posting every day for your bin store?

If you’re not, you’re not really trying.

2. FC Into WhatNot

My WhatNot operation pulls a slice of FC inventory and sends it to live auctions.

Cost per item: around $1
Average sale price now: $5–$7 depending on the product
We’re running 5-second auctions, high volume
$1,500 days with hundreds of sales off basic FC product

First month, our WhatNot ratings sucked:

Messy system
Missing items
Late shipping

Now?

We weigh carts
Sort by buyer
Ship same day
USPS picks up, out the door

We’re halfway through the marathon. Once we hit 10k–20k followers, that’s when the real RFM kicks in.

RFM = Real F#king Money*

3. Pallet Sales for Extra Profit

You don’t have to get greedy to make good money.

Let’s say:

You bring in a truckload of FC pallets
Use some for your bin store
Sell off 24 pallets at $100 profit each

That’s $2,400 profit per truckload just in pallet sales.

My guy Daniel in Texas did exactly this:

Small warehouse, $2,000/month rent
One truckload a week
Focused on selling pallets for around $2,400 profit per load

That’s about $10,000/month profit, minus $2,000 rent = $8,000 net, in his early 20s.

Not bad for staying in your lane and not being greedy.

The Rules: How Not to Get Screwed on FC Pallets

Let’s boil it down.

1. Know what FC really is

Fulfillment Center loads
New, lower value, high piece count
Usually 7-foot raw pallets
Cost around $1 per piece
Designed to feed bin stores, not boutiques

2. Avoid overpaying for processed FC

If someone cherry-picked the pallet, the price should reflect that
Don’t pay raw prices for leftovers
If it’s cheap filler and you understand that—fine. Just don’t fool yourself.

3. Don’t strip your own bins

Don’t pull every $50 item for some “special event”
Let customers win in your store every week
Save the truly crazy finds (like a $500 iPad) for yourself if you must—but let plenty of $20–$80 items stay

4. Market every damn day

Post wins on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok
Show the FC pallets being unloaded
Show the chaos on $10 day
Make people feel FOMO if they’re not lining up at your door

5. Lock in inventory

Build relationships
Join or create a buying group
Be the buyer that makes life easy for suppliers

Need Loads? Need Help? Here’s the Play

TIf you own loads—not brokering, actually own them—and you need to move FC or LPN: