40d:Bin

A Bin is a specially made basket for certain stockpiles. A bin can be made from one wooden log at a carpenter's workshop or three bars of metal at a forge. Bins make it possible to store lots of objects into one tile of a stockpile. A stockpile without a bin will likely fill up fast, leaving any remaining items where they are to get in the way.

Stockpiles that use bins are ammo, armor, bars/blocks, cloth, coins, finished goods, gems, leather and weapons. Food stockpiles use barrels instead of bins. Other stockpiles do not use anything at all.

When possible, dwarves will organize stockpiles with multiple bins into subgroups. Dwarves can mix items in a bin when given the order to through the stockpile menu.

Bins also save time when hauling goods to the trade depot, as a bin marked for trade will be carried along with all its contents. Note that bins containing blocks and bars can become too heavy for most dwarves to move in one day, or if the distance is long enough, even a season.

See stockpiles for more information on how things are organized with bins.

If you have a bin that will not be moved to any stockpile, check the contents to make sure that some stockpile will accept that mixture of items. You can do that by pressing Enter when examining the bin with the (k) command. Dwarves will not sort items from bins at the Trade Depot or on the ground. If you have a bin with mixed contents which you wish to have sorted between two or more stockpiles, you must first make a temporary stockpile which accepts all types. Then change the settings on the temporary stockpile to force out the items which you want moved to another bin. Then finally destroy the temporary stockpile to move the now-sorted bin.