A tray unloader for rod-like articles of the tobacco industry includes a horizontally-movable, slidable carriage (18) supporting an independently-driven tray inverting carrier (24) arranged to pick up an upright full tray from a receiving position (10B) and invert it during movement to an unloading position (10A). In the unloading position (10A) articles are received directly over opposed horizontal bands (70) having a delivery channel (72) between confronting ends and defining the initial level at which articles are received over most of the width of the tray. Downstream of the channel (72) is a conveyor (74) which operates at a relatively high rate during a first phase of unloading for each tray and at a reduced rate during a second phase, so as to allow controlled emptying of the tray and establishment of the residual level of articles in the channel (72) after completion of unloading of each tray.