Pallet pickup: what we need to know

The pickup sheet

ZIP

Where the pallets sit. The form takes it first.

Count

Pallets, or stacks and pallets per stack.

Stacking

How high the stacks are and whether they lean.

Access

Dock door, ground level, gate width, trailer pad.

Wrap

Stretch-wrapped or loose; under cover or outdoors.

Marks

Any pool name, logo or RFID panel, with a photo.

Contact

Who meets the truck, and when the dock is open.

Why the desk asks

A stack of nestable pallets can reach 60 pallets in a stack on one supplier's listing, while a heavier-rated nestable from another supplier nests 40 to a stack. The same truck carries very different counts of each. So the desk asks about stacking before it plans a collection, not after.

1. 1

   Walk the dock

   Walk the stacks once with a phone. Photograph the access and the worst stack.

2. 2

   Tally

   Chalk or tally the count on each stack. It is quick and a buyer can read it from a photo.

3. 3

   Separate

   Pull marked pallets into their own lane. Keep broken decks in a lane of their own.

4. 4

   Send

   Use the sorter or the form below. The ruling and the dock details travel together.

What the desk will not say here

How soon, how much and who pays are answered after the lot is read. This page promises none of them. If a buyer on the phone promises all three before looking at your pallets, ask why.

Words you will meet

RFID

Radio tag moulded or fixed into a pallet so it can be tracked.

Injection moulding

Pallet made by forcing molten resin into a mould at high pressure.

Profile extrusion

Pushing resin through a die to make long shapes that form pallet parts.

Rackable

Rated to sit on rack beams, with a stated racking load.

Fork pocket

Opening in the pallet where the forks go.

Heat treated (HT)

ISPM 15 treatment for wood: core at 56 C for 30 minutes. Not needed for plastic.

One-way pallet

A cheaper pallet shipped with the load and not expected back.

Welding repair

Plastic is hard to glue, so cracked parts are normally welded.

HDPE

High-density polyethylene, resin code 2. The most common resin in plastic pallets; tough and moisture resistant.

Regrind

Plastic ground from used or scrap parts into flakes for moulding again.

Virgin resin

New, unblended resin that has not been through a product before.

Static load

Weight a pallet carries at rest, or the bottom pallet carries when stacked. The highest of the three ratings.

Racking load

Weight a pallet carries bridging an open span in unsupported racking. Often the lowest rating.

Closed deck

Solid top deck with no gaps; keeps small items from falling through.

Runners

Bottom rails that touch the floor or rack and carry the load.

Cruciform base

Bottom with a cross-shaped member as well as a perimeter, for strength and automated handling.

Who asks, and what they need

Chemical and drum shippers

48 x 48 and 45 x 45 pallets for drums and bags; chemical resistance.

Export shippers

Light or low-cost one-way pallets with no ISPM 15 treatment; Euro 1200 x 800 and 1200 x 1000 sizes.

Distribution centres with surplus pallets

Sell or recycle excess lots, mixed makers and colours, broken pallets.

What the sources say

• Rehrig Pacific's 40 x 48 rackable pallet is high-pressure injection molded co-polymer polypropylene, with 540 per 53 ft trailer. (rehrigpacific.com)
• A 48 x 40 pallet fits 30 stacks in a turned pattern on a 53 ft dry van, per one supplier. (nelsoncompany.com)
• That Nelson model lists about 60 pallets per stack and 1,800 per truck. (nelsoncompany.com)
• Rehrig Pacific's 40 x 48 rackable pallet weighs 44.2 lb with a dynamic rating of 4,000 lb, static 10,000 lb and edge rack 2,000 lb. (rehrigpacific.com)
• Rehrig Pacific's 40 x 48 standard-duty nestable pallet weighs 26.5 lb with a static rating of 10,000 lb and dynamic 3,000 lb. (rehrigpacific.com)
• That nestable has a 2.50 in nest increment and 1,260 units per 53 ft trailer. (rehrigpacific.com)
• PHS lists a 48 x 32 stackable pallet (STK 783) at 3,500 lb dynamic and 15,000 lb static. (phsinc.com)
• FM 4996 passes a pallet if fire is controlled at 5.9 mm/min (0.15 GPM/ft2) within a 10-minute test of eight 1.2 m stacks. (iccsafe.org)
• Nestable pallets can cut empty-pallet storage space by up to 75 percent. (blog.containerexchanger.com)
• Rehrig Pacific's heavy-duty nestable can be made with post-consumer or post-industrial recycled material, up to 30 percent in black and up to 10 percent in colour, and is RFID compatible. (rehrigpacific.com)
• Nelson Company defines dynamic capacity as the load a pallet carries in motion, always below static; static as the load at rest and the bottom pallet's limit in a stack; racking as the load across an open rack span, often the lowest and given only for pallets designed for it. (nelsoncompany.com)
• Fastmarkets estimates 3.7 billion pallets were in circulation in the US in 2025, and that annual pallet production rose from about 800 million before the pandemic to nearly one billion afterward. (fastmarkets.com)
• Rehrig Pacific's rackable pallet has a two-piece snap-lock design for quick repair and options for FDA-approved colours, RFID and up to 15 percent black recycled content. (rehrigpacific.com)
• Rehrig Pacific offers the standard-duty nestable with recycled content of up to 90 percent in black, and describes it as 100 percent recyclable. (rehrigpacific.com)
• Static capacity is the highest of the three ratings; racking is often the lowest; dynamic is always lower than static. (nelsoncompany.com)
• Only pallets designed for unsupported racking carry a racking rating. (nelsoncompany.com)

• PHS Plastic: nestable pallets
• Nelson Company: nestable, stackable, rackable model

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