Built
Douglas fir from a mill inside 180 miles. Seven top boards, five bottom, three stringers, helical nails, 2,800 lb dynamic.
Request a quote
Heard a term nobody will explain?
Put it in the message field. We will define it, and if it is a term somebody used to sell you something, we will tell you that too.
Portland, OR · email only, no phone
Letter B
B
Letter C
C
- Chamfer
- The bevelled edge on a bottom deck board that lets a pallet jack roll on without catching.
- Companion stringer
- A second timber nailed alongside a cracked stringer to span the damage and restore the load path. More
- Core
- Low-grade pallet material bought for board and fibre recovery rather than resale. More
- Closed loop
- A pallet population circulating between known points and returning. Cycle time, not consumption, governs pool size. More
Letter D
D
- Deck board
- The boards nailed across stringers or blocks forming the top and bottom surfaces of a pallet.
- De-nailer
- The machine that separates deck boards from stringers and removes fasteners before fibre recovery. More
- Diversion certificate
- Documentation of measured weight kept out of landfill. Increasingly required in ESG reporting. More
- Dunnage
- Loose material used to brace, separate or protect freight in transit.
- Dynamic load
- What a pallet can carry while being moved by a forklift or pallet jack. More
Letter E
E
- EPAL
- The European Pallet Association, whose brands appear on compliant Euro pallet corner blocks. More
Letter F
F
- Four-way entry
- Fork access from all four sides. True on block pallets, partial on notched stringer pallets.
Letter G
G
- GMA pallet
- The 48×40 inch North American standard footprint, named for the Grocery Manufacturers Association. More
- Grade A / #1
- Premium recycled: no plugs, no repairs, tight tolerance, highest published ratings. More
- Grade B / #2
- Used, possibly plugged or companion-repaired, structurally sound and fully rated. More
Letter H
H
- HT
- Heat treated: 56 °C at the core of the wood for 30 continuous minutes, per ISPM-15. More
Letter I
I
- IPPC mark
- The stamp proving treatment: wheat symbol, country code, facility number and treatment code.
- ISPM-15
- The international standard governing solid wood packaging used in international trade. More
Letter K
K
- Kiln dried (KD)
- Wood dried in a kiln, usually to 19% moisture content or below. More stable and lighter.
Letter L
L
- Lead board
- The outermost deck board at each end of a pallet. Takes the most forklift abuse.
Letter M
M
- MB
- Methyl bromide fumigation. Being phased out globally; we never produce or upcycle it.
- Moisture content (MC)
- Water in wood expressed as a percentage of its dry weight. Above 25% expect reduced stiffness. More
Letter N
N
- Notch
- The cut-out in an outer stringer that gives partial four-way entry. A common damage point.
Letter O
O
- One-way pallet
- A pallet that ships out and never returns. Specify the cheapest grade that survives the trip.
- Overhang
- Load extending past the deck edge, which transfers weight into packaging instead of the pallet.
Letter P
P
- Pallet collar
- A hinged wooden frame that turns a flat pallet into a four-sided box and folds flat for return. More
- Plug
- A short piece of deck board let into a damaged area. Permitted in Grade B, not in Grade A.
- Pool
- A managed population of pallets, either a rental operator's or a customer's own.
Letter R
R
Letter S
S
- Static load
- What a pallet can hold sitting still on a flat floor. The largest and least useful rating.
- Stringer
- The timber running the long dimension of a pallet, carrying load in bending. Three is standard.
- Stringer plating
- A metal plate reinforcing a cracked stringer. Cheaper than a companion and less durable.
Letter T
T
- Tare weight
- The weight of the empty pallet — a real and rarely audited freight cost. More
- Two-way entry
- Fork access from two opposite sides only.
| Pallet | Static | Dynamic | Racked | Tare | Stack height |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 48×40 GMA Grade A | 8,000 lb | 2,800 lb | 2,200 lb | 33–37 lb | 3 high loaded |
| 48×40 GMA Grade B | 6,500 lb | 2,200 lb | 1,500 lb | 30–36 lb | 2 high loaded |
| 48×40 block, 4-way | 9,000 lb | 2,500 lb | 2,400 lb | 37–41 lb | 4 high loaded |
| EPAL / Euro 1 | 8,800 lb | 3,300 lb | 2,200 lb | 48–55 lb | 3 high loaded |
| 42×42 beverage | 7,500 lb | 2,600 lb | 1,900 lb | 35–39 lb | 3 high loaded |
| 48×48 drum | 9,500 lb | 3,000 lb | 2,300 lb | 40–45 lb | 2 high loaded |
| 36×36 nursery deck | 4,500 lb | 1,400 lb | 900 lb | 24–28 lb | 2 high loaded |
| 48×20 half pallet | 3,000 lb | 1,400 lb | 900 lb | 18–22 lb | 2 high loaded |
| Remanufactured 48×40 | 6,000 lb | 2,000 lb | 1,200 lb | 30–38 lb | 2 high loaded |
| Heavy skid 96×48 | 16,000 lb | 12,000 lb | Not for racking | 95–130 lb | 1 high |
Questions
What people ask about pallet terminology
What is the minimum order or pickup?
No hard minimum for collection at the yard — come and take four pallets on a Saturday morning if you like. For delivery it is 50 units inside Portland metro and 150 outside it, because the truck has to earn its diesel. Outside our 180-mile fleet radius we quote through partner yards and freight, with the lane itemised.
How fast can this happen?
Standard 48×40 Grade A and B stock: same day for pickup, next day for metro delivery. Block pallets one to three days. Custom builds five to nine business days; engineered runs two to three weeks. Heat treatment is same day for booked batches and 48 hours standard. Written quotes always come back within one business day.
Why is there no phone number anywhere?
Because verbal quotes get remembered differently by different people. Since 2018 every price, date and commitment we make exists in an email you can search and forward. Most customers dislike it for about a month and then prefer it. Everything else happens in person at 3821 NW St Helens Rd, Portland, OR 97210.
Can I inspect before committing?
Please do. Visit the yard by email arrangement — closed-toe boots required, hi-vis provided — or ask for photographs of the actual pool your order would come from. We would rather lose an order than have a customer discover a surprise on their dock.
What documentation comes with it?
A written quote, a signed count sheet by grade, a weight ticket where material is weighed, heat-treatment certificates for treated batches (archived seven years), and a monthly diversion certificate for anything we collect for recycling — measured pounds kept out of landfill, which is the figure your ESG report actually needs.
What will you refuse to do?
Take methyl-bromide fumigated, chemically contaminated or fire-damaged wood. Buy marked rental-pool pallets, which belong to their operator. Promise same-day delivery outside the metro. Or quote a grade we do not think will survive your handling — we will specify downward and explain why.
Long reads
From the journal · written in the yard
- Aug 18, 2026 · 9 min
A pallet glossary for people who have to buy them
Forty terms you will hear from a pallet yard, defined in the way a yard actually uses them rather than the way a standar…
- Nov 11, 2025 · 7 min
What warehouse automation does to your pallet specification
A robot has no judgement. Every tolerance you used to absorb with a human operator becomes a line item in a spec sheet.…
- Oct 15, 2024 · 7 min
Block versus stringer: the decision that quietly sets your damage rate
Two construction philosophies, two price points, two very different outcomes once a pallet jack gets involved.…
- Aug 6, 2024 · 8 min
ISPM-15 without the panic: what the stamp means and how to avoid a rejected container
A missing or wrong heat-treatment mark can get a container refused at a foreign port. The rule is simpler than its reput…
Everything else on this site
- The size library Twenty footprints, both measurement systems, tolerances and stock depth
- Grades explained A, B, C and reman written out, including what each costs us
- Load capacity Static, dynamic and racked without hand-waving
- Published standards The whole quality system, and our rejection remedy
- Pallet Passport Type in a stamped ID and read that pallet's life
- Carbon math Line-by-line derivation with the leakage caveat
- Journal 33 long articles from the grading line
- Glossary 36 terms, yard definitions
- All locations 51 states and DC, 323 city pages
- Contact us 3821 NW St Helens Rd, Portland, OR 97210 — email only, no phone
Reference
Standards, bodies and who decides what
Pallets sit under a surprising number of overlapping rules. Here is who writes them and what they actually govern.
| Reference | Who maintains it | What it governs | Does it bind a used pallet sale? |
|---|---|---|---|
| ISPM-15 | IPPC, under the UN FAO | Treatment and marking of solid wood packaging in international trade | Yes, for export |
| GMA footprint (48×40) | Industry convention, originally grocery manufacturers | A footprint, not a quality level | No — it is a size |
| EPAL / EUR | European Pallet Association | Euro pallet construction, repair and branding | Yes, if sold as EPAL |
| ISO 6780 | International Organization for Standardization | Principal pallet footprints worldwide | No |
| ASTM D1185 / D1083 | ASTM International | Test methods for pallet performance | No, but ratings reference them |
| PDS (Pallet Design System) | Virginia Tech / NWPCA | Engineering-grade load modelling | No — a design tool |
| NWPCA uniform standards | National Wooden Pallet & Container Association | Common grade vocabulary | Voluntary |
| OSHA 1910.176 | US Dept of Labor | Safe storage, stacking and housekeeping | Yes, in your building |
| Oregon EPR (SB 582) | Oregon DEQ | Producer responsibility for packaging; wood is in scope for reporting | Increasingly, yes |
| FSMA / food safety plans | US FDA | Packaging as a food-contact hazard consideration | Via your audit, yes |
The gap in that list is the interesting part: no authority grades used pallets. That is why a written supplier specification — ours is published here — is the entire quality system in this industry.
Decision table
Five ways to get a pallet, compared honestly
Including the two we do not sell. Cost index is against a new wooden pallet of the same footprint.
| Option | Cost index | Trips | Repairable | Carbon per use | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade A recycled | 45–55 | 9–14 then repair | Yes | 3.1 kg | Almost everything | Colour varies; tare varies by a few pounds |
| Grade B recycled | 30–40 | 7–11 then repair | Yes | 3.1 kg | One-way, floor stacking, closed loops | Lower racked rating (1,500 lb) |
| Remanufactured | 25–35 | 5–8 | Yes | 4.8 kg | One-way on a budget | Visibly mixed boards; 1,200 lb racked |
| New wooden | 100 | 15–20 then repair | Yes | 14.2 kg | Tight tolerances, audits, odd sizes | Pays for appearance you may not need |
| Plastic | 500–1,000 | 30–100 | No | High embodied, low per-use | Wash-down, deep freeze, pharma | Cracks end its life; not repairable |
| Rental pool | Per-trip fee | Managed | By operator | Operator's figure | Exchange networks, retail mandates | Pallets are not yours; losses are chargeable |
We sell the first four and supply plastic where a wash-down line genuinely needs it. We do not operate a rental pool, and we will not buy marked pool pallets from you — they belong to their operator. Full comparisons
Lifecycle
Eleven years in the life of one pallet
A composite built from real Passport records. Individual units vary enormously; the shape does not.
Year 0 Year 0–2 Trips 1–4
Beverage route work. Loaded, racked, unloaded, returned. Colour starts to grey; nothing structural changes.
Year 3 First inspection failure
A lead board splits at a nail line. Twenty-minute fix: replacement deck board, re-square, re-stamp. Graded B from here.
Year 3–6 Trips 5–9
Nursery and agricultural work, where deck gaps matter more than appearance. Spends two winters partly outdoors.
Year 7 Companion stringer
A stringer cracks. A second timber is fitted alongside, spanning the crack. Measurably stiffer than before.
Year 7–10 Trips 10–13
Local one-way freight. Tare weight has drifted up a pound from accumulated moisture cycling.
Year 11 Retired from carrying
Two bottom boards gone, deck softening. Economic repair ends here. Chalk line through the whole pallet.
Year 11 Dismantled
De-nailed board by board. Clear boards to the fabrication shop; structural stock back to the repair bay as donor material.
Year 11 Recovered
What is left goes through a magnet and a grinder: mulch, bedding shavings, biomass fuel. The nails go to a scrap partner four miles away.
Year 11+ Still working
The best boards are now shelving in a bottle shop, carrying its Passport ID burned into the end grain.
Thirteen trips, two repairs, roughly 143 kg CO₂e avoided against building thirteen new pallets, and nothing landfilled at the end. Look up a real record
Next step
Now that we speak the same language
Tell us what you need in whichever words you like. We will translate.