Service Wire reel return: its own labelled reels, 30 to 72 inches

Service Wire is a wire and cable maker. Its reel return page sets out guidelines for sending its reels back, and says refurbished reels are painted green and built to the same specification as new ones. Compartmental reels (reels divided into sections for several lengths of cable) are included as long as they carry the Service Wire label.

The rules

• Only Service Wire labelled reels, compartmental reels included.
• Full truckload only.
• Nailed wood, flanges between 30 and 72 inches.
• Arbor hole undamaged; drive holes not torn.
• Sound lumber: not warped, no broken boards. An edge board broken through one ply is allowed.
• At least 75% of staves in place.

What that means for a mixed yard

On a commercial job in this region, an electrical contractor buys cable from a distributor (Graybar in Lanham and Sterling is one), and the distributor may ship cable from several makers. At the end of the job the reels in the yard carry three or four labels. Service Wire’s program can only ever take the share with its label, and only once that share fills a truck.

Sorting by label is still worth doing. If one maker’s reels dominate the pile, that maker’s program may be within reach; the desk can tell you after a count.

Green reels

A green-painted reel with a Service Wire label is a refurbished reel already in its second or later life. That is useful to know if you buy reels: a green Service Wire reel was inspected and rebuilt to specification, and the maker considers it as good as new for winding.

Above 72 inches

Reels larger than 72 inches are outside the published range. In practice most reels that large are steel and returnable to their own makers; see our pages on 84 and 96 inch reels.

Where the desk fits

If you have Service Wire reels mixed with other brands, or fewer than a truckload, send a count by size and brand. The desk takes mixed and part loads, and will tell you if a straight Service Wire load is within reach.

Finding the label

Service Wire reels carry the company name on the flange, stencilled or on a printed tag stapled near the arbor hole. On weathered reels the stencil fades first on the upper flange; check the lower one, which is often shaded. The cable tag, if still attached, gives the product, footage and the reel’s own weight. Write the count of labelled reels by flange size before you contact anyone: Service Wire’s page does not publish how many reels make its truckload, so a count by size is what lets the company, or the desk, judge whether a load is real.

Compartmental reels

A compartmental reel has one or more extra bulkheads across the drum, dividing it so several short lengths can ship on one reel. They look like a reel with an extra flange in the middle. Service Wire says its program accepts its compartmental reels on the same terms as plain ones. Most other programs say nothing about them, so if you have compartmental reels from other makers, ask before you assume.

Loading a full truck

A full truckload of 30 to 72 inch reels is heavy. Reels over 42 inches weigh more than 100 pounds each empty, and a 60 inch wooden reel is close to 400. Whoever collects will expect a forklift on site, a firm, dry surface and room for a 53-foot trailer to pull in and turn. If your yard cannot take a trailer that size, say so up front.

Why the desk mentions a maker’s program at all

The desk could simply take every reel. It does not, because a reel that goes straight back to its maker is reused at once, with no middleman, and costs you nothing. Pointing a yard at the right program when it qualifies is part of the job. If your Service Wire share is twenty reels short of a load, the honest advice may be to wait a month and keep stacking; if it is two hundred short, the desk will collect.