Request a quote
The fields below reach the same yard team that wrote this page. Tell us the size, the count and the grade you think you need — we will confirm it or correct it, in writing, within one business day.
Portland, OR · email only, no phone
We run a small fleet because pallet logistics is mostly about avoiding empty miles. Every outbound delivery is planned against an inbound collection, which keeps our load factor above 80% and our prices sane.
We also move other people's pallets: inter-site transfers, trade-show returns, relocation of a whole yard. If it is wood and it is flat, we have probably strapped it down before.
How it runs
Nothing here is a black box. If a step does not fit your site, say so and we will redesign it rather than pretend.
Origin, destination, count, dock type. Lift-gate or forklift — we need to know which.
Your move is matched to an existing route wherever possible. Paired loads are priced lower.
A named driver and a two-hour window. Same driver on recurring routes.
Signed count sheet, photos on request, diversion documentation if the load is going to recycling.
Specifications
Published, honoured, and quoted back to you in writing on every order.
| Equipment | Capacity | Best for | Access needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 48' flatbed | up to 520 pallets stacked | Bulk yard-to-yard moves | Forklift both ends |
| 53' curtain-sider | up to 560 pallets | Weather-sensitive loads | Dock or forklift |
| 26' box truck, lift-gate | up to 240 pallets | Urban docks, no forklift | Street access |
| Hook-lift container | 40 yd of core material | Standing recycling bins | Room to swap |
Half of pallet logistics is moving air. A truck delivers pallets and drives away empty; a different truck arrives later to collect the empties. Two movements, two sets of emissions, two invoices, one outcome.
A closed loop collapses that into one movement. Our fleet load factor runs around 82% because every outbound delivery is planned against an inbound collection, and paired trips are priced lower because they genuinely cost us less to operate.
Three things must line up: your empties ready when the truck arrives, physical space to stage them, and roughly matched volumes. If any one fails the driver waits, and a waiting driver destroys the economics for everybody else on that route.
This is why we survey a site before proposing a loop. We are looking for a staging position, a forklift that is not permanently in use elsewhere, and a receiving person who knows the plan. Sites that cannot run a true loop get paired with somebody else's inbound instead — the efficiency happens on our route plan rather than on your dock.
Interstate 84 through the Columbia Gorge closes for ice and wind most winters. Our eastern Oregon and Idaho lanes carry a built-in flex day and customers on them are told in advance rather than on the morning. Nobody enjoys a rescheduled delivery; everybody prefers a warning to a surprise.
We also will not promise same-day delivery outside the metro, and below 150 units outside the metro we will often tell you that self-haul to the yard is cheaper for you. Saying that costs us a line of revenue and buys a relationship.
| Pallet | Dynamic | Racked |
|---|---|---|
| 48×40 GMA Grade A | 2,800 lb | 2,200 lb |
| 48×40 GMA Grade B | 2,200 lb | 1,500 lb |
| 48×40 block 4-way | 2,500 lb | 2,400 lb |
| EPAL / Euro 1 | 3,300 lb | 2,200 lb |
| Remanufactured | 2,000 lb | 1,200 lb |
Money
Four inputs, in descending order of importance. None of them is a list price, which is why we quote rather than publish.
Indicative cost index against a new pallet of the same footprint. Purchase price is typically only 5–15% of a pallet's total cost per trip — freight weight, damage and receiving-dock rework are usually larger. The full arithmetic
Process
No sales team, no discovery call, no CRM sequence. We have no telephone, so everything below happens in writing and stays searchable afterwards.
Every form on this site is the same form and reaches the same yard team. Required fields are validated as you type, so a mistyped ZIP or email is caught before anything is sent.
Used pallet availability moves daily. You get a real count and a real date rather than a list price that was true last quarter.
Price per unit by grade, freight itemised separately, delivery window, and any honest reservations we have about the specification you asked for.
Signed count sheet on arrival, weight ticket where relevant, and a diversion certificate for anything we collect for recycling.
Grade definitions, dimensional tolerances and racked load ratings in writing. Most yards will not publish a racked figure at all.
Two graders per line, flipped and sounded. Every inbound load is triaged within four working hours so nothing rots in a mystery pile.
Weighed in, weighed out, reconciled monthly. Zero pounds landfilled in 2025, with a certificate you can hand to an auditor.
No phone line by choice. Every price, date and commitment lives in an email you can search, forward and hold us to.
A repair bay, a kiln, a de-nailer and a grinder on site. Repairing a pallet avoids roughly 11 kg CO₂e and costs you half of new.
Every unit carries a Pallet Passport ID burned into a stringer. Type it in and read its species, cycles, repairs and carbon ledger.
Receiving
Eleven minutes on the first three deliveries sets the tone for the whole relationship. Do this with any supplier, including us.
| Check | How | Pass | If it fails |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall size | Tape measure, both dimensions, one pallet in ten | Within 1/4" (Grade A) or 1/2" (Grade B) | Note it on the delivery ticket |
| Squareness | Steel square in two opposite corners | Within 1/4" on the diagonal | Reject the unit; we replace next route |
| Protruding nails | Palm flat across the top deck | Nothing catches | Reject — this is what tears packaging |
| Bottom boards | Flip one pallet in ten | No split through a nail line | Reject; it will fail in a rack |
| Moisture | Lift one. Wet pallets are 8–10 lb heavier | Feels dry, sounds sharp | Floor stack to dry, do not rack at rating |
| Mould or staining | Visual, both decks | Weathering only, no fuzz | Reject for any food-contact use |
| Grade mix | Count against the delivery note | Matches what you ordered | Ask for the count sheet to be corrected |
Write failures on the delivery ticket rather than calling — a written record is the only thing that reliably changes supplier behaviour, and we replace rejected units on the next route with no restocking charge.
Avoid these
Every one of these has cost a customer real money in front of us.
Purchase price is 5–15% of total cost per trip. Tare weight, damage rate and receiving-dock rework are usually larger line items, and none of them appear on a quote comparison.
A load extending even an inch past the deck transfers weight into the packaging instead of the pallet. Case compression strength drops sharply and the damage appears three handling events later, in somebody else's warehouse.
Dynamic is what a pallet carries while being moved. Racked — supported only at its edges — is smaller and is the only number that matters in beam racking. Ask for it in writing.
For one-way shipping, floor stacking and closed loops, Grade B does the same job for roughly 20% less. Over-specifying is paying for appearance.
Two spare pallets as a base and a tarp that reaches the sides will keep a stack usable through a Portland winter. A soaked pallet gains nine pounds of paid freight weight and loses stiffness.
On export loads the bracing, blocking and chocks are solid wood packaging too. One untreated board can hold an entire container at a foreign port.
The yard
Reuse is the cheapest emissions reduction available in logistics, and it is also the easiest to document. We model a new 48×40 softwood pallet at 14.2 kg CO₂e — lumber production, fasteners, assembly and delivery — and a reuse cycle at 3.1 kg, covering collection, repair materials, yard overhead and redelivery. The difference, 11 kg CO₂e per reuse, is the figure we publish.
We also publish the caveat: that figure assumes a reused pallet genuinely displaces the manufacture of a new one. Economists call the gap leakage, and nobody in this industry can honestly claim it is zero. We think displacement is high because the pallet market is regional and price-responsive, but we will not pretend it is perfect.
Which is why we lead with the number that needs no assumptions: measured landfill diversion. Landfilled wood decomposes anaerobically and releases methane, roughly 28 times worse than CO₂ over a century. Keeping four million pounds of wood out of a hole in the ground is a benefit you can weigh.
Per-unit figures
Questions
Yes. Inter-site transfers, trade-show returns and whole-yard relocations are ordinary work for us. If it is wood and it is flat, we have strapped it down before.
Two hours on standing routes inside our fleet radius, with a named driver. Outside the radius you get a confirmed date and a carrier reference rather than a window, because we will not promise precision we do not control.
Yes — a 26-foot lift-gate box truck handles urban docks and sites with no forklift. Tell us at quote stage, because it changes the equipment and therefore the price.
Roughly half the transport emissions attributable to a pallet turnaround, and 15–25% off the combined purchase-and-disposal cost. One vehicle movement instead of two.
Questions
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Vocabulary
Defined the way a yard uses them, not the way a standards document does.
Long reads
Delivering loaded pallets and leaving with empties halves the truck movements. The hard part is not the idea; it is the …
The GMA footprint is not a design triumph. It is the answer to a division problem involving a 53-foot trailer and a 98-i…
Damage patterns are diagnostic. A yard can tell you what is happening in your warehouse from a pile of your own empties.…
Forty terms you will hear from a pallet yard, defined in the way a yard actually uses them rather than the way a standar…
Decision table
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
Worked example
A real comparison for a plant shipping 600 pallets a month on a weight-sensitive lane. Copy the method, not the numbers.
| Line | New pallet | Grade A recycled | Grade B recycled | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit purchase price (index) | 100 | 50 | 35 | The only number most procurement systems compare |
| Trips before repair | 15–20 | 9–14 | 7–11 | New lasts longer; it also costs twice as much |
| Purchase cost per trip (index) | 5.6 | 4.3 | 3.8 | Price divided by trips |
| Tare weight | 36 lb | 35 lb | 33 lb | Recycled fir is often lighter than new hardwood |
| Freight weight penalty | Baseline | Neutral | −3 lb/unit | Only matters on weight-limited lanes |
| Expected damage rate | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.4% | Graded stock behaves; ungraded stock does not |
| Receiving rejections | Rare | Rare | Occasional | Graded + written tolerance removes most of this |
| End-of-life cost | 0 | 0 | 0 | We collect and pay or collect free — never a disposal fee |
| Documentation value | None | Diversion certificate | Diversion certificate | Reportable ESG outcome at no extra cost |
Build this yourself
One row per option, six columns: unit price, tare weight, expected trips, damage rate, rejection risk, disposal cost. Multiply out across annual volume. It takes an afternoon, the cheapest unit price almost never wins, and we will happily help build it — including with numbers that do not favour us.
The full articleDiagnostics
Damage patterns are not random. Each one points at a specific handling behaviour, and fixing the behaviour is worth more than fixing the pallets.
| What you see | What it almost always means | What to change | Cost to fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Split lead boards at one end | Forks driven in too fast and too high | Operator training; dock lighting. Usually one shift is responsible | Free |
| Torn stringer notches | Pallet jacks entering notched stringers at an angle | Specify block pallets with true four-way entry | Spec change |
| Bottom boards ripped off cleanly | Pallets dragged rather than lifted, or frozen to a cold-store floor | Floor condition, forklift capacity at peak | Low |
| Crushed corner blocks | Stacks higher than the rating, or uneven loads on one corner | Stack-height policy; centre the load | Free |
| Out of square, nothing broken | Racking loading pallets diagonally — beams at different heights | Rack survey. This one is worth chasing | Medium |
| Mould in the middle of a stack | Wet pallets stacked tight with no airflow | Store off the ground, cover the top, leave side gaps | Low |
| Protruding nails tearing cases | Ungraded stock, or units repaired without re-checking | Buy graded; reject on the ticket | Free |
| Deck boards cupping | Moisture cycling between a freezer and a humid dock | Kiln-dried pool; helical fasteners | Spec change |
Keep thirty of your own broken pallets aside for a month and photograph the damage. Patterns appear quickly. We do this analysis free with any repair quote, because a customer whose damage rate halves buys from us for a decade.
Storage
Portland takes about 36 inches of rain a year and most of it lands between November and March. You do not need a building to survive that — you need three habits.
| Condition | Weight | Stiffness | Rack it? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kiln dried (≤19% MC) | 33 lb | Full rating | Yes |
| Air dried, covered | 35 lb | Full rating | Yes |
| Damp, uncovered 2 weeks | 39 lb | Reduced | Floor stack |
| Rain-soaked | 45 lb | Materially reduced | No — let it dry |
| Frozen wet | 45 lb+ | Unpredictable | No |
Nine pounds of water per pallet is nine pounds of freight you pay to move. Across 600 units that is more than two and a half tonnes of water on a truck. Field notes on moisture
Freight
Pallet counts per vehicle and container, so you can sanity-check a quote before you accept it.
| Equipment | Floor positions (48×40) | Empty pallets stacked | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 53' dry van | 30 | up to ~560 | The standard North American trailer |
| 48' dry van | 26 | up to ~500 | Still common on regional lanes |
| 48' flatbed | 26 | up to ~520 | Our workhorse for yard-to-yard moves |
| 53' curtain-sider | 30 | up to ~560 | Weather protection with side access |
| 26' box truck, lift-gate | 12 | up to ~240 | Urban docks with no forklift |
| 40' ocean container | 20 | up to ~400 | ISPM-15 marking required |
| 40' high-cube container | 20 | up to ~460 | Extra height, same floor |
| 20' ocean container | 10 | up to ~200 | Heavy, dense loads |
| 40 yd hook-lift container | n/a | ~90 loose cores | For standing recycling bins |
Pallet freight is almost always weight-constrained before it is cube-constrained, which is why tare weight is a real cost line. How we price a lane
Reference
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.
Next step
Email reaches the same yard team that graded the stock. Written quotes, one business day, no phone tag.
