Empty crate storage

Every crate that arrives full becomes an empty box with nowhere to go, multiplied across a whole hall, and the fire marshal won't allow any of it to stay — empties in booths or service corridors are a citation waiting to happen. The standard mechanism: exhibitors label crates with "empty" stickers listing their booth number, the general service contractor or official forwarder collects them, stores them in trailers or a remote warehouse, and returns them when breakdown starts. The service is usually bundled into material handling charges, which partly explains why drayage costs what it does. The operational stakes concentrate at move-out: crate return sequence determines who can pack first, and a booth waiting three hours for its empties is paying its crew to stand around, then paying overtime. The common mistake exhibitors make is poor labelling — unlabelled or vaguely labelled crates go to the wrong booth or into limbo, and move-out is the worst possible time to hunt for a specific case among thousands. Photograph your labelled crates before they disappear. One honest nuance: return order is largely first-collected or route-optimized for the contractor's convenience, not yours, and "priority empty return" is sometimes purchasable — which tells you the default queue is real.