The three load ratings
Three numbers, three completely different situations. Only one of them usually binds.
A pallet does not have "a capacity". It has three, and they are not interchangeable. Quoting the wrong one is the single most common error in this category, and it is an error suppliers have very little incentive to correct.
How far apart these numbers really are
This is not a small adjustment. Taking published figures from pallets in this category, a nestable plastic pallet listed at 10,500 lb static carries a dynamic rating of 1,500 lb. That is a seven to one spread on the same product. Another in the same family is rated 20,000 lb static and 5,000 lb dynamic, a four to one spread. A galvanised wire pallet is rated 4,000 lb static and 2,500 lb dynamic, which is a comparatively tight ratio and tells you something useful about steel.
If your pallet is ever picked up by a forklift, the static rating is not your working limit. If it ever goes into rack, neither static nor dynamic is your working limit. Ask for all three in writing before you order, and if the racking figure is missing, treat that as an answer rather than an omission.
The rack itself may bind before the pallet does
Racking capacity depends on the strength of the warehouse racking as well as the pallet, and the racking is often the limiting factor. Two 3,000 lb loads on a beam pair rated for 5,000 lb per level is a rack problem, not a pallet problem, and no pallet upgrade fixes it. Check the rack capacity plaque before you spend money on stronger pallets.
ISO 8611, Pallets for materials handling: Flat pallets, is the international test standard. Part 1 covers test methods, Part 2 performance requirements and Part 3 maximum working loads. A supplier who can tell you which parts of ISO 8611 their figures were derived under is quoting measurement. One who cannot may be quoting a design intent.
Nestable, stackable, rackable
These words describe geometry, not strength. Reading them as a strength ladder is how buyers end up with the wrong pallet.
The three terms get used as though they run weakest to strongest. They do not. They describe what the bottom of the pallet looks like, and that shape determines what the pallet can physically do when it is empty and when it is loaded.
Empty storage and one-way shipping
Nestable
Designed to nest inside one another when empty, saving floor space when not in use and freight space when shipping empties back. The underside is open, commonly a nine-leg arrangement, so one pallet drops into the next. Typically the lightest option, commonly 20 to 30 lb. The trade is that an open-footed base has little beam strength, which is why nestable dynamic ratings are often a fraction of the static figure.
Loaded stacking, floor and wire deck
Stackable
Engineered so loaded pallets stack on one another stably, minimising floor space. Often a nestable mould with runners added across the feet, which is exactly why some product lines offer the same footprint both ways. Stackable pallets need to be fully supported, so they are not intended for racking other than a wire mesh deck.
Unsupported rack beams
Rackable
Built to be placed in pallet racks, including open-beam, push-back and edge racks as well as wire mesh. This is the only one of the three that is designed to bridge a gap with nothing underneath it. Heavier, commonly 35 to 55 lb, and usually the most expensive.
Read this carefully
Stackable is not rackable
A stackable pallet holding 30,000 lb on the floor may be entirely unsuitable across two beams, because the floor was doing the structural work. Published guidance is explicit that stackable pallets are not intended for use in racking systems other than a wire mesh rack. The number does not transfer.
What nesting actually buys you
Nesting matters most when empties come back. Suppliers claim up to four times the space efficiency over non-nesting formats when shipping empty pallets, with figures as high as 2,000 pallets in a trailer quoted for small nestable formats. Treat vendor multipliers as directional and do your own arithmetic, because the honest version of the calculation is simple.
In a genuine one-way shipment the empty never returns to you, so nesting saves the recipient space and saves you nothing after the first outbound load. In that situation a light, inexpensive one-way pallet, of the kind rated around 3,300 lb, is usually the correct product, and paying for a nestable premium is paying for a benefit you will not collect.
What makes a pallet rackable
Not a label. A continuous runner, and usually steel inside it.
A rackable pallet has to carry its rated load supported only at two edges, the two beam rails of a selective rack. That is a beam problem, and beams need continuous structure. Floor storage is forgiving because the entire base sits on a flat surface and load is distributed across every contact point. Take the floor away and only the runners are working.
Runners do the work
A continuous three-runner base, or a solid perimeter runner, provides the beam-like rigidity needed to span the gap between rack rails without excessive deflection. Individual feet cannot bridge an open span, which is the structural reason a nestable pallet is not a rack pallet no matter how large its static number is.
Why steel reinforcement changes the answer
Creep: the failure that happens slowly
Plastic cold-flows. Held under constant stress it undergoes creep, a slow ongoing deflection that continues long after the load was placed. A pallet that measured fine on day one can be visibly sagging a year later, and a sagging pallet in a rack is a pallet whose runners are no longer sitting where the beams expect them.
ISO 8611 includes a long-term creep test for exactly this reason. Steel does not cold-flow under sustained load, so a steel-reinforced pallet's rack performance degrades less over time. If your racked stock sits for months rather than days, this is the specification detail that matters most and the one least likely to be volunteered.
A rack load rating is established at a specific test temperature, typically around 70°F (23°C). If your racking sits in cold storage at 35°F or on a hot dock at 90°F, actual performance will differ from the spec sheet. Cold makes plastic stiffer but more brittle; heat makes it softer and accelerates creep. Ask what temperature the figure was established at, and ask for a derating if your environment is not that temperature.
Supported versus unsupported
Two racking situations, two different requirements:
- Unsupported (edge racking). The pallet spans between two beams with open air below. This is the demanding case and the one the racking rating describes.
- Supported (wire deck or solid deck). A wire mesh deck across the beams carries the pallet across its whole base, which brings the situation much closer to floor storage. Adding wire decking is frequently cheaper than upgrading every pallet in the building, and it has the side benefit of stopping items falling through.
Material and temperature
HDPE and polypropylene are not interchangeable, and the difference shows up at the extremes.
The cold storage answer
HDPE
Published service range roughly -40°C to +60°C, beginning to deform above 110°C. Broader resistance to acids, bases and aqueous solutions. With carbon black or UV stabiliser additives it performs well in outdoor storage. Described as the clear and proven choice for freezers and refrigerated transport.
The hot washdown answer
Polypropylene
Functions from roughly +10°C to +110°C, melting point about 164 to 170°C. Stiffer than HDPE and better against organic solvents such as acetone and MEK. The safer choice for autoclave and steam sterilisation cycles. Typically costs 10 to 20% more up front.
Polypropylene has a glass transition temperature around 0 to 10°C and becomes brittle below freezing. Below that point the material loses ductility, and a forklift tine impact that a room-temperature pallet shrugs off can crack a frozen one. If pallets live in a freezer, specify HDPE and say so on the purchase order rather than assuming "plastic" covers it.
Polypropylene is more sensitive to UV than HDPE without proper stabilisation, with surface chalking and embrittlement reported within 12 to 24 months. Pallets stored in a yard, on an open dock apron or under a skylight need a UV-stabilised specification. This is the single commonest reason a "plastic lasts forever" purchase disappoints.
Metal and wire
Hygiene and permanence
Welded aluminium
All-welded solid top, marketed for operations wanting a clean, durable, reusable pallet without the headaches of wood, and aimed at washdown areas, food and beverage, pharma and any facility prioritising hygiene. Published capacities in this range run 4,000 lb at smaller footprints and 6,000 lb at 40x48 and 48x48, in two-way and skid-bottom designs across a range of footprints.
Drainage and visibility
Galvanised welded wire
Welded steel wire decking with a galvanised finish for corrosion resistance, on a reinforced 12 gauge steel understructure. The open 2 inch by 4 inch grid reduces debris build-up and improves load visibility. True four-way forklift and pallet jack access. Published 40x48 model: 4,000 lb static, 2,500 lb dynamic, 47 lb. The 48x48 weighs 54 lb.
The wire pallet's 4,000 lb static against 2,500 lb dynamic is a ratio of about 1.6 to 1. Compare that with the 7 to 1 spread on a light nestable plastic pallet quoted earlier. A tight ratio is a sign of a structure that does not depend on the floor, which is a useful thing to look for even when nobody publishes a racking figure.
How the pallet was made
Manufacturing process has a major impact on cost and performance, and it is rarely on the spec sheet.
Two pallets of identical dimensions in identical resin can behave very differently because of how they were formed. Published plastic pallet pricing spans an order of magnitude, and process explains a good deal of that range.
When custom is the right answer
Custom is not automatically the expensive answer. It becomes the correct answer when your load does not fit a standard footprint, when entry configuration has to match a specific piece of automation, or when a slightly odd size lets you fit more per trailer. A published example from this catalogue is a 48 by 48 inch stackable pallet in black HMWPE at approximately 32 lb, built for a footwear manufacturer with four-way forklift and two-way pallet jack entry.
Ask what percentage of your trailer or container cube you are currently wasting because your product does not tile neatly onto a 48x40. If the answer is more than a few percent and you ship constantly, a custom footprint can pay for its own tooling out of freight alone. If you ship occasionally, it will not, and a standard pallet is the right call.
Footprint and entry
The 48x40 is a convention, not a law, and four-way entry is not always four-way.
The GMA 48x40
The North American default measures 48 by 40 inches, stands about 6.5 inches tall and weighs 30 to 48 lb empty in wood. Published construction is seven top deckboards, five with wide spacing plus two lead boards, on three notched stringers. Roughly 30% of all new pallets produced in the US each year are GMA pallets, and they account for the majority of pallets in active circulation. Published wood GMA ratings run about 2,800 lb racked, 4,600 lb dynamic and 7,500 lb static, which is a useful benchmark to hold a plastic quote against.
A standard GMA stringer pallet is notched so a forklift can enter from all four sides, but a pallet jack can only enter from two. The narrow wheels of a jack need a full opening, and the notch is not one. If your operation runs pallet jacks and you assume "four-way" means four-way for everything, you will find out on the dock. Plastic pallets are frequently true four-way for forklifts and two-way for jacks, and good listings say which.
Getting the dimension convention right
Length is conventionally quoted first, as the stringer or the fork entry dimension, so a 48x40 and a 40x48 are the same pallet described from different ends. Where this bites is in automation and rack, where 40 inches deep and 48 inches wide is a very different fit from the reverse. Confirm which dimension runs front to back in your rack before ordering, not after.
Product that overhangs the pallet edge loses a large share of its stacking strength, because corrugated cases carry load in their vertical corners and an unsupported corner carries nothing. If your cases overhang, the fix is usually a different footprint rather than a stronger pallet.
The fire code problem
This is the section most pallet buying guides leave out, and it is the one with the largest potential cost attached.
Switching from wood to plastic pallets can change how your building has to be sprinklered. Not the pallets, the building. This is not a minor code footnote, and finding out about it after the pallets arrive is an expensive way to learn.
A commodity class increase is not academic. It drives sprinkler density, design area and sometimes the sprinkler technology itself, and a warehouse designed for one class does not automatically satisfy the next one up.
High-piled storage provisions are triggered at 6 feet for high-hazard commodities including idle plastic pallets, against a typical 12 foot threshold for standard commodities. A stack of empty plastic pallets that would be unremarkable in wood can put you into high-piled storage requirements at half the height.
Where the requirements actually live
- NFPA 13 (2025 edition), Section 20.17.2 covers plastic pallet protection. Plastic pallets may be stored outdoors or in detached structures; stored indoors they must be arranged and protected to the criteria NFPA 13 specifies, across several design pathways including ESFR, CMSA and CMDA sprinklers.
- NFPA's stated order of preference for idle pallet storage is outside first, then a detached structure, then attached buildings, cut-off rooms, and only last, open storage in the main warehouse.
- FM Global Data Sheet 8-24 addresses idle pallets, with Section 2.2.2 covering plastic pallets stored on the floor and in racks and Section 2.2.3 covering wood.
Two questions, asked before you order rather than after. First, ask your supplier whether the pallet has been fire-tested and classified as reinforced or unreinforced, and get the answer in writing. Second, send that answer to whoever handles your fire protection or your insurer, along with where you intend to store empties and how high. In many buildings the answer comes back fine. In some it comes back with a number attached, and it is far better to see that number while the purchase order is still a draft. This guide is educational and is not a fire protection assessment.
Export and ISPM-15
The one area where plastic wins outright, with no trade-off at all.
ISPM-15 is the international phytosanitary standard for wood packaging, written to stop wood-boring pests travelling in dunnage and pallets. It has been adopted by more than 85 countries. If you export on wood, it applies to you.
The saving is not only the treatment fee. It is the administrative overhead of verifying marks on inbound and outbound wood, the risk of a rejected consignment, and the delay if one happens. For an exporter shipping regularly, the ISPM-15 exemption alone can justify plastic before you count a single trip.
Canada and the United States operate an exemption for wood packaging manufactured from wood originating in the continental US or Canada, subject to specific documentation statements, and treatment requirements do not apply to shipments destined for Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the US Trust Territories. If all your export volume moves under that exemption, the ISPM-15 argument for plastic is weaker. Check your actual lanes before weighting this factor.
Food, pharma and washdown
The hygiene case is real, and it is mostly about porosity rather than cleanliness.
The problem with wood in a food or pharmaceutical environment is not that it is dirty. It is that it is absorbent, and absorbency defeats cleaning.
Published food safety guidance states it directly: wooden pallets absorb water, which may be contaminated by microorganisms of public health significance such as Salmonella or Listeria. Laboratory work has isolated pathogens by soaking pallets in sterile water, and what is recovered is clearly related to the pallet's past uses. A pallet carries the history of everywhere it has been, and you cannot see that history.
Published guidance notes that some audit schemes will downgrade a facility for having wood in a processing area, independent of whether contamination is ever demonstrated. If you are audited, the presence of wood past a certain line in your plant may cost you points on its own. That turns a pallet decision into an audit score decision.
The physical hazards, which are simpler
- Loose nails and splintered or broken boards. Published guidance is to set these pallets aside rather than use them. Nails are a foreign body risk and splinters are both a product and a handling risk.
- Previous contents. Pallets soiled with animal byproducts or waste, or previously used for trash, waste or chemicals, should be rejected. With a pooled or exchanged wood pallet you generally cannot know.
Choosing the hygienic pallet
Once you are in this territory, the choice is between a solid-deck plastic pallet and welded aluminium. Solid-top welded aluminium is marketed explicitly for washdown areas, food and beverage and pharma. It has no absorbency, no fasteners to shed, and survives cleaning chemistry that would degrade some plastics. It costs considerably more per unit, and it lasts accordingly.
An open-deck pallet has more places for soil to lodge and is harder to verify as clean. A solid deck is easier to wash and easier to inspect. If your sanitation programme includes a swab, buy the solid deck. If you are moving sealed cases in a dry warehouse, an open deck is fine and lighter.
When plastic pays back
There is a real break-even here, and plenty of operations sit on the wrong side of it.
Plastic costs several times what wood costs and lasts many times longer. Whether that is a good trade depends almost entirely on one variable: whether you get the pallet back.
| Measure | Wood GMA | Plastic |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase price each | Lowest | Several times higher |
| Typical trips before failure | 5 to 15 | 100+ |
| Typical service life | Months to a few years | 7 to 10+ years |
| Cost per trip | Higher per trip | Lower per trip |
The published "100+ trips" figure is for closed-loop service. If your pallets go to customers and come back at a 70% return rate, your effective trip count is not 100, and the arithmetic changes considerably. Estimate your real return rate honestly before you build a business case on manufacturer trip life.
Relative cost by construction
| Type | Typical weight |
|---|---|
| Nestable | 20 to 30 lb |
| Stackable | Varies by runner design |
| Rackable | 35 to 55 lb |
| Heavy duty | Up to 55 lb |
Pallet stands and working height
A pallet on the floor puts the bottom layer at ankle height. Somebody has to reach it.
This is an accessory category that solves an ergonomic problem, and it is worth understanding rather than skipping. A loaded pallet on the floor means the first course of product is picked from around 6 inches off the ground, in a full forward bend, repeatedly. Raising the pallet removes that bend.
Fixed position
Adjustable pallet stand
Published example: all-welded structural channel construction, 40 by 40 inches, three working heights of 24 inch, 30-1/2 inch and 34 inch, rated 4,000 lb, with access from all sides. A safety handle allows one-person setup and a locking mechanism prevents folding during use. Folds to 8-3/4 inches for storage.
Mobile
The same stand on casters
Same construction with two swivel and two rigid 5 inch by 2 inch phenolic casters. Heights shift up to 30-1/2, 37 and 40-1/2 inches to account for the casters, capacity stays at 4,000 lb. Note the height range moves upward, which matters if your reason for buying was to lower a reach rather than raise one.
A stand gives you fixed heights. If the correct working height changes continuously as the pallet is built up or picked down, a self-levelling pallet positioner or a lift table does that automatically and a stand does not. Our lift tables and pallet positioners guide covers where that line sits, including why collapsed height usually matters more than capacity.
The 8-3/4 inch folded thickness is the specification that decides whether stands get put away or left in a walkway. Six stands folded is under 4-1/2 feet of stacked height against a wall. Six stands unfolded is a floor space problem, and floor space problems become housekeeping findings.
Common and costly mistakes
Every one of these has been paid for by somebody.
Quoting the static rating as the capacity
It is the largest number and the least applicable. If the pallet is lifted it is a dynamic question, and if it is racked it is a racking question. A pallet listed at 20,000 lb static may be a 5,000 lb pallet in your operation.
Putting a stackable pallet on rack beams
Stackable pallets need full support and are not intended for racking other than a wire mesh deck. The floor was doing the structural work and the beams will not.
Assuming four-way entry means four-way for pallet jacks
A notched stringer pallet is four-way for forklifts and two-way for jacks. Confirm entry for the equipment you actually run.
Buying polypropylene for a freezer
PP becomes brittle below freezing. HDPE runs to roughly -40°C. This is a specification choice, not a preference.
Buying unstabilised plastic for outdoor storage
Surface chalking and embrittlement have been reported within 12 to 24 months without UV stabilisation. Ask specifically.
Not asking about fire classification
Plastic pallets can raise the commodity classification by one or two classes and drop the high-piled storage threshold from 12 feet to 6. Ask before the order, not after.
Ignoring creep on long-term racked storage
Plastic cold-flows under sustained load. If stock sits for months, ask about creep testing and steel reinforcement rather than reading the day-one rating.
Buying premium reusable pallets for one-way shipping
A pallet that does not come back has a cost per trip equal to its purchase price. Match the pallet to the retention rate, not to the aspiration.
Treating overhang as a pallet problem
Cases carry load in their vertical corners. Overhanging product loses stacking strength no matter how strong the pallet underneath it is.
Upgrading every pallet instead of decking the rack
Wire decking turns an unsupported rack situation into a supported one across the whole beam pair. It is frequently cheaper than replacing a fleet of pallets, and it stops small items falling through.
Frequently asked questions
What comes up most often on quote calls.
What is the difference between static, dynamic and racking load?
Static is the rating when the pallet is not moving and is sitting on a flat floor, with the whole underside supported. Dynamic is the rating while the pallet is being moved by forklift, pallet jack or stacker crane. Racking is the rating while the pallet is supported only at two edges on rack beams with nothing underneath.
Static is the highest, racking is normally the lowest, and the gap can be very large. Published figures on nestable pallets in this category include 10,500 lb static against 1,500 lb dynamic, a spread of seven to one on the same product. Always ask for all three.
Can I put a stackable pallet in my pallet rack?
Generally no. Published guidance is that stackable pallets need to be fully supported and are not intended for use in racking systems other than a wire mesh rack. Stacking loaded pallets on one another is a fully supported situation; bridging two beams is not.
If you need to rack pallets you already own that are not rated for it, adding wire decking to the rack is often cheaper than replacing the pallet fleet, because it restores full support across the beam pair.
Do plastic pallets need heat treatment for export?
No. Plastic pallets are exempt from ISPM-15, the international phytosanitary standard for wood packaging. There is no treatment, no IPPC stamp and no certificate.
Wood packaging going to any of the 85-plus adopting countries must be heat treated to a minimum wood core temperature of 56°C for at least 30 minutes, or fumigated with methyl bromide by a certified fumigator, and then marked with the IPPC mark showing the symbol, ISO country code, facility number and HT or MB designation. Note that Canada and the US operate a mutual exemption for wood originating in the continental US or Canada, so check your specific lanes.
Will switching to plastic pallets affect my fire sprinkler requirements?
It can, and this is the question most buyers do not ask. Under the fire codes, unreinforced plastic pallets increase the commodity classification by one class, and reinforced plastic pallets increase it by two classes, often up to a high-hazard grouping. Other plastic pallets are typically increased by two classes unless specific testing has been conducted.
High-piled storage provisions also trigger at 6 feet for high-hazard commodities including idle plastic pallets, against a typical 12 foot threshold. NFPA 13 (2025) Section 20.17.2 covers plastic pallet protection, and FM Global Data Sheet 8-24 Section 2.2.2 addresses plastic pallets on the floor and in racks.
Ask your supplier whether the pallet is classified reinforced or unreinforced and get it in writing, then give that answer to whoever handles your fire protection. This is educational information, not a fire protection assessment.
HDPE or polypropylene?
Temperature usually decides it. HDPE runs roughly -40°C to +60°C and is the proven choice for freezers and refrigerated transport. Polypropylene has a glass transition temperature around 0 to 10°C and becomes brittle below freezing, so it is a poor freezer choice, but it handles up to about +110°C and is the safer option for autoclave and steam sterilisation.
Chemistry is the tiebreaker: HDPE has broader resistance to acids, bases and aqueous solutions, while PP does better against organic solvents such as acetone and MEK. PP typically costs 10 to 20% more up front.
How many trips do I need before plastic is cheaper than wood?
Published analysis puts the break-even at roughly 10 to 15 round trips per year, at which point plastic pays back inside twelve months. At 1 to 3 trips per year wood remains economical.
The underlying numbers: wood GMA lasts 5 to 15 trips, against plastic at 100+ trips and 7 to 10+ years, and plastic costs several times more to buy. On published figures plastic works out cheaper per trip in closed-loop service and more expensive per trip if it does not come back. The critical caveat is that the 100+ trip figure assumes closed-loop service. Apply your actual return rate before believing it.
Is a nestable pallet weaker than a stackable one?
Not necessarily in static terms; nestable pallets in this category carry published static ratings up to 20,000 to 30,000 lb. The difference is structural rather than absolute. A nestable pallet has an open-footed base so it can drop into the next pallet, and open feet have little beam strength, which is why nestable dynamic ratings are frequently a small fraction of the static number.
Many stackable pallets are the same nestable mould with runners added across the feet, which is exactly why the same footprint often appears in both forms.
What actually makes a pallet rackable?
A continuous three-runner base or a solid perimeter runner, which gives the beam-like rigidity needed to span between rack rails without excessive deflection. Individual feet cannot bridge an open span.
Steel reinforcement inside the runners makes a large difference, because steel's modulus of elasticity is roughly thirty times that of polypropylene or HDPE, so it resists bending far more effectively for the same cross-section. Steel also does not cold-flow, so a steel-reinforced pallet's rack performance degrades less over time.
What is creep and should I care?
Creep is the slow, ongoing deflection plastic undergoes when held under constant stress over time. A pallet that measures correctly on the day it is loaded can sag noticeably months later, and in a rack that means the runners are no longer sitting where the beams expect them.
ISO 8611 includes a long-term creep test for this reason. If your racked stock turns over in days, creep matters little. If pallets sit loaded for months, ask specifically about creep testing and steel reinforcement rather than relying on the day-one racking figure.
Are wood pallets a genuine food safety risk?
The concern is porosity rather than dirt. Published food safety guidance states that wooden pallets absorb water which may be contaminated by microorganisms of public health significance such as Salmonella or Listeria, and laboratory work has recovered pathogens from pallets in a way clearly related to their past uses.
The practical driver for many processors is simpler: plastic can be washed and wood cannot. There is also an audit consequence, in that some audit schemes will downgrade a facility for having wood in a processing area regardless of whether contamination is demonstrated. Separately, loose nails and splintered boards are foreign-body and handling hazards, and pallets previously used for waste or chemicals should be rejected.
Is my "four-way" pallet four-way for a pallet jack?
Often not. A standard GMA stringer pallet is notched so a forklift can enter from all four sides, but the notch is not a full opening and a pallet jack can only enter from two. This is described as partial four-way entry.
Plastic pallets are commonly true four-way for forklifts and two-way for jacks, and good product data says which. If you run jacks, confirm jack entry specifically rather than accepting "four-way".
When does a custom pallet make sense?
When your load does not tile efficiently onto a standard footprint, when entry configuration has to match a specific piece of automation, or when an unusual size lets you fit more per trailer or container.
Thermoforming is what makes this economically possible at modest volumes, because sheet tooling costs far less than injection tooling. A published example from this catalogue is a 48 by 48 inch stackable pallet in black HMWPE at approximately 32 lb, built for a footwear manufacturer with four-way forklift and two-way pallet jack entry. The test is straightforward: if you ship constantly and are wasting more than a few percent of trailer cube, custom can pay for its own tooling from freight alone.
Quick-reference spec table
Published figures, verified against manufacturer and catalogue data. Confirm against current data sheets before ordering.
| Rating | Situation | Relative magnitude |
|---|---|---|
| Static | Not moving, full underside on a flat floor | Highest |
| Dynamic | Being moved by forklift, jack or crane | Middle |
| Racking | Supported at two edges only, nothing beneath | Normally lowest |
| Property | HDPE | Polypropylene |
|---|---|---|
| Service range | -40°C to +60°C | +10°C to +110°C |
| Deformation / melt | Deforms above 110°C | Melts 164 to 170°C |
| Glass transition | Well below freezing | 0 to 10°C, brittle below freezing |
| Chemical strength | Acids, bases, aqueous | Organic solvents, acetone, MEK |
| UV | Good with carbon black or stabiliser | Chalking in 12 to 24 months unstabilised |
| Relative cost | Baseline | 10 to 20% more |
| Best for | Cold storage, freezers, outdoors | Autoclave, steam, hot washdown |
| Specification | Figure |
|---|---|
| Footprint | 48 x 40 in (1219 x 1016 mm) |
| Height | 6.5 in |
| Empty weight | 30 to 48 lb |
| Deck construction | 7 top deckboards, 3 notched stringers |
| Entry | Partial four-way: forklift 4 sides, jack 2 |
| Static / dynamic / racked | 7,500 / 4,600 / 2,800 lb |
| Share of new US pallets | Roughly 30% |
| Product | Size | Capacity | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Welded aluminium, solid top | 24 x 24 in | 4,000 lb | Not published |
| Welded aluminium, solid top | 40 x 48 in | 6,000 lb | Not published |
| Welded aluminium, solid top | 48 x 48 in | 6,000 lb | Not published |
| Galvanised welded wire | 40 x 48 x 4 in | 4,000 static / 2,500 dynamic | 47 lb |
| Galvanised welded wire | 48 x 48 x 4 in | 4,000 static / 2,500 dynamic | 54 lb |
| Model | Size | Heights | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adjustable, folding | 40 x 40 in | 24 / 30-1/2 / 34 in | 4,000 lb |
| Adjustable, on casters | 40 x 40 in | 30-1/2 / 37 / 40-1/2 in | 4,000 lb |
| Family | Role |
|---|---|
| Thermoformed plastic pallets | Vacuum-formed, low tooling cost, custom footprints at modest volume |
| Custom built plastic pallets | Dimensions and entry configuration matched to a specific load |
| Nestable plastic pallets | Nest when empty, saving storage and return freight space |
| Stackable plastic pallets | Loaded pallets stack stably; fully supported situations only |
| Rackable plastic pallets | Reinforced to span unsupported rack beams |
| Top cap pallet system | Protective cap securing and stabilising the load in transit |
| Aluminium and steel pallets | Heavy-duty metal for demanding, high-load applications |
| Aluminium solid deck pallets | Hygienic, washable, non-porous deck for food, pharma and washdown |
| Wire pallets | Open grid for drainage, debris shedding and load visibility |
| Pallet stands and dollies | Raise the load to working height, or make it mobile |
Prices and specifications are as published and are subject to change; confirm against the current data sheet before ordering. Load ratings vary by model within a family, so match the figure to the exact part number rather than the family. Fire code, phytosanitary and food safety material here is educational and is not a compliance assessment. Tell us the load weight, whether it is racked and how, whether it comes back, and what temperature it lives at, and we will specify it.