Wisconsin reel lots from Kenosha to Superior

Pleasant Prairie, between Chicago and Milwaukee

Southwire lists Pleasant Prairie, in Kenosha County, among its manufacturing facilities. It's the only wire plant in Wisconsin on the makers' pages in our research. Pleasant Prairie sits right on I-94 just north of the Illinois line, about an hour from both downtown Chicago and downtown Milwaukee.

That puts it in one of the busiest freight corridors in the Midwest. Cable going out of there reaches contractors and distributors in both metros quickly, and the empties end up in yards along the same corridor. For us, a southeast Wisconsin lot is often part of the Chicago market as much as Wisconsin's.

Five utilities, one state

EIA's 2024 list of Wisconsin's top five retailers is all investor-owned: Wisconsin Electric Power (We Energies) in the Milwaukee area and much of the east, Wisconsin Power and Light (Alliant Energy) across the south and center, Wisconsin Public Service in the northeast around Green Bay, Northern States Power (Xcel Energy) in the northwest around Eau Claire, and Madison Gas and Electric in the capital.

Behind those five are many co-ops and city utilities serving rural Wisconsin. Rural lines run long distances across dairy country and the northern forests, and storm damage and age keep crews rebuilding them. Each rebuild sends reels to a co-op yard or a contractor's lot.

Data centers on the I-94 corridor

Racine and Kenosha counties, just up I-94 from Pleasant Prairie, have become a site for very large data center construction, including Microsoft's campus in Mount Pleasant. A build like that needs new transmission and substations, medium-voltage feeders and huge amounts of building wire and fiber. Contractors on those jobs empty reels in volume and also need reels for cutting and moving cable.

That's a good setting for a buy and sell desk: one contractor's empties can go to another contractor on the same corridor, with a short haul between them.

Frost laws and winter

Wisconsin posts seasonal weight limits on many local roads during the spring thaw, often called frost laws. When they're in force, a loaded semi may not be allowed on the town or county road to a rural yard. They usually lift once the frost is out of the ground, but the dates vary each year and by road.

Winter in the north woods and along Lake Superior brings deep snow and long cold spells. A reel frozen to the ground by its rim can tear a flange when a forklift pulls it loose. Get empties off the dirt and onto timbers or a gravel pad in the fall, and by January they will lift clean.

• Is your town or county road posted for spring weight limits?
• Who clears the yard after a snowfall, and how quickly?
• Is the loading area paved, gravel or field, and does it hold water in April?
• Could the pickup wait until summer or fall if that saves money?

Moving reels around Wisconsin

I-94 runs from Kenosha through Milwaukee and Madison, then northwest past Eau Claire to the Twin Cities. I-90 follows it from Madison to Tomah, then splits west to La Crosse, and runs southeast from Madison to Beloit and Rockford. I-39 runs north from the Illinois line through Madison and Stevens Point to Wausau. I-41 links Milwaukee with Fond du Lac, Appleton and Green Bay, and I-43 runs up the Lake Michigan shore from Milwaukee to Green Bay.

Most lots are within reach of one of those. Southeast lots pair with northern Illinois, northwest lots with the Twin Cities, and northeast lots with the U.P. of Michigan.

BEAD and dairy-country fiber

NTIA's June 2023 BEAD allocation for Wisconsin was $1,055,823,573.71. The unserved homes are spread across the farm counties of the center and southwest, the Driftless hills, and the forests of the north. Fiber goes in by plow along town roads and on co-op poles, and the reels empty fast.

Crews need empty reels of a suitable drum diameter to take back remnant fiber and move it to the next section. When a section is finished, their staging yards hold empties to sell. Both sides of that trade are ours to put together.

What Wisconsin buyers ask us for

Electricians around Milwaukee, Madison and the Fox Valley usually want small and mid-size reels, often 30 to 42 inch flanges, to take building wire from the supply house to the job in the lengths they need. Line contractors working for the utilities and co-ops want sets of 60 inch and larger reels for underground cable. Fiber crews out in the farm counties want reels with a drum big enough for their cable and light enough to handle with a small loader.

Farms are buyers too. A sound reel is handy for fence wire, hose or rope, and a farm with a skid steer can handle bigger reels than most homeowners. We sell to them as readily as to a contractor, one reel or a stack.

Whatever the use, send the town and what will go on the reel. We look in Wisconsin and then just over the line in Illinois, Minnesota or Upper Michigan for the closest match.

Selling a Wisconsin lot

1. 01

   Stand them up

   On their flanges, in rows by size, off bare ground if you can.

2. 02

   Count and measure

   Flange x traverse x drum and a count for each size.

3. 03

   Photograph

   A stencil per size, the whole pile and any damage.

4. 04

   Describe access and season

   Road limits, plowing, ground, gate and loading equipment.