Wooden spools in Cherry Hill

A suburb built around the highways

Cherry Hill Township is one of the largest suburbs in Camden County, a sprawl of neighbourhoods, office parks, medical buildings and shopping centres laid out along NJ 70, NJ 38 and NJ 41, with I-295 and the New Jersey Turnpike along its eastern side. The township took its present name in the early 1960s, around the time the Cherry Hill Mall, one of the first enclosed shopping malls on the East Coast, opened. The former Garden State Park racetrack site has been redeveloped with housing, offices and shops. Cherry Hill's mix of medical, office, retail and residential buildings makes it a steady source of reels, mostly mid-size and small.

Where the reels come from

• Medical buildings. Hospitals, outpatient centres and medical office buildings along NJ 70 and elsewhere upgrade constantly: imaging rooms, operating rooms, backup power and data networks. They leave mid-size reels and spools.
• Office parks. Tenant fit-outs and building upgrades produce plywood spools and 24- to 36-inch reels.
• Retail. The mall and the shopping centres along NJ 70 and NJ 38 refit regularly. Night work is common, and reels are left in dock areas.
• Homes. Rewiring, renovations, solar panels, generators and car chargers in Cherry Hill's many neighbourhoods produce small reels and spools.

Roads

NJ 70 runs east–west through the township from the Camden border toward Marlton. NJ 38 runs parallel to the north, from Pennsauken toward Moorestown and Mount Laurel. I-295 runs along the eastern side, and the NJ Turnpike is close by in Mount Laurel. For a run to Philadelphia, a truck takes NJ 70 or NJ 38 west to Camden and the Ben Franklin Bridge, or I-295 and NJ 42 to the Walt Whitman.

Medical and office pickups

Hospitals and medical offices have strict rules about deliveries, access and infection control. Tell us:

• the building and loading dock;
• the times we can come;
• who will meet us and release the reels;
• whether we need to sign in or wear anything specific.

Office parks are usually simpler: a dock or a parking lot, and a building manager who can let us in.

Homes and garages

For a few spools or a small reel from a house, tell us where they are: garage, driveway, back yard or basement. Cherry Hill pickups are added to runs through Camden and Burlington counties, so small requests are collected quickly.

Tables and decor

Restaurants, offices and homeowners in Cherry Hill sometimes ask for reels as tables or decoration. A clean 30- or 36-inch reel with flat flanges is the usual choice. See spool tables.

Neighbourhoods of every era

Cherry Hill's housing tells the story of postwar South Jersey: ranch houses and split-levels from the 1950s and 1960s in Erlton, Kingston Estates and Woodcrest, larger colonials from the 1970s and 1980s further east, and newer townhouse and apartment complexes along the highways. The older homes are now being modernised with bigger electrical panels, central air, finished basements and induction kitchens. Electricians doing that work typically leave half-used spools of 12- and 14-gauge wire, a short reel of service entrance cable and sometimes a heavier reel from a new feeder to a detached garage or pool house. A few homeowners also keep reels as patio tables until the weather wins.

Hospitals and outpatient care

The township has a major hospital campus and many outpatient, imaging, dialysis, rehabilitation and urgent-care centres. Medical construction uses a lot of low-voltage and specialty cable: nurse-call, patient monitoring, isolated power, shielded data and fibre. Some of that arrives on distinctive reels in good condition. Health-care facilities also tend to keep construction areas very tidy, so reels go out promptly. If your project manager wants a regular weekly pickup during a renovation, we can arrange it.

The Garden State Park redevelopment

The old racetrack land off NJ 70 and Haddonfield Road has become a mixed area of shops, offices and homes. Large mixed developments like this keep producing reels as tenants come and go, apartment buildings are maintained and new phases are fitted out. Property managers there can set up a standing arrangement rather than calling each time.

Paper and cardboard spools

Not every spool is wood. Some low-voltage cable arrives on cardboard or fibre spools, which we do not resell. Put them in your cardboard recycling instead.

Swim clubs, schools and churches

Cherry Hill has dozens of neighbourhood swim clubs, houses of worship and public schools. Their off-season maintenance, pool lighting, sound systems and parking-lot poles, brings electricians in during autumn and winter, leaving modest piles we can collect before spring openings.

Questions

Do you cover Haddonfield, Voorhees and Marlton?

Yes, along with Collingswood, Haddon Township and the rest of Camden County, and Marlton in Burlington County.

Can you collect at night from a store?

Sometimes. Tell us the store's delivery hours, and we will try to fit them.