>  REGARDING           RE> 5 gallon pails
>For 5 gal pails I go to the paint store and buy new ones.  I use them for
>a variety of things. My favorites  though are the mayanaise plastic cans
>restaraunts use, they are square there are a lot of advantages to square
>containers.
 
 
Jerry Fries
>Al Needham wrote:
>>Have picked them up here and there-town dump-local store, etc. What can
>be a good source for them are job sites where they are doing dry-wall
>work and plastering up the seams. Maybe getting to know some local
>dry-wall type might be a good source.
>
>Maybe some others have some good ideas on getting these pails. It
>doesn't seem to me you should have to pay for them.<
>
>The price for new pails is around US$4.00 apiece, which is a considerable
>outlay of money if you need a lot of them.  However, if you sell to
>individuals or to grocery stores in bulk new pails might be required.  And it
>sometimes is difficult to sell if the price is increased enough to cover these
>container costs.
>
>When selling to a packer, there is no problem with used pails.  I do it all
>the time, exchanging pails for whatever they have on hand.  In obtaining used
>pails in the first place, though, I think it is important to get pails that
>have been used for food products, and non-odorous food products at that.  I
>wouldn't use drywall mud pails, even though they are the easiest for me to
>obtain.  I have gotten pails that had garlic and pickles in them, and the odor
>stays in the plastic.  I won't use them, except to sell back to the hot sauce
>manufacturer who traded them to me in the first place.  Another thing to
>avoid, in my opinion, are pails used for medication such as Terrapatties, etc.
> One never knows how much of that stays in the plastic only to be slowly
>released into one's good honey.
>
>By the way - one of my pet peeves regarding used containers is that there are
>a variety of manufacturers and the (specific) sizes are not standardized.
>That means that covers must be of the same brand as the pail in order to be
>sure that they fit.  It is frustrating to fill up a 5 gallon pail, then be
>unable to find a corresponding cover to fit it!  Also, the empties must be
>stacked by brand, or one might not get them apart again because of different
>side slopes!  I have had to throw out so many perfectly good used containers
>because of this.  Am I alone?
>
>Ted Fischer
>Dexter, Michigan USA