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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
Every pallet has three load ratings. Static is what it can hold sitting still on the floor. Dynamic is what it can hold while being moved by a forklift or jack. Racked — the smallest and most important number — is what it can hold when supported only at its edges in a rack beam.
A pallet rated 2,800 lb dynamic might be rated only 2,200 lb racked, because unsupported decking deflects. If you rack, specify the racked number and nothing else.
Specifications
Published, honoured, and quoted back to you in writing on every order.
| Pallet | Static | Dynamic | Racked (edge support) | Safe stack height |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 48×40 GMA, Grade A | 8,000 lb | 2,800 lb | 2,200 lb | 3 high loaded |
| 48×40 GMA, Grade B | 6,500 lb | 2,200 lb | 1,500 lb | 2 high loaded |
| 48×40 block, 4-way | 9,000 lb | 2,500 lb | 2,400 lb | 4 high loaded |
| EPAL / Euro 1 | 8,800 lb | 3,300 lb | 2,200 lb | 3 high loaded |
| 42×42 beverage | 7,500 lb | 2,600 lb | 1,900 lb | 3 high loaded |
| 48×48 drum | 9,500 lb | 3,000 lb | 2,300 lb | 2 high loaded |
| 48×20 half | 3,000 lb | 1,400 lb | 900 lb | 2 high loaded |
| Heavy skid 96×48 | 16,000 lb | 12,000 lb | Not for racking | 1 high |
Weight enters through the top deck boards, transfers into the stringers or blocks, and leaves through the bottom deck or directly into the floor. Failure almost always begins at a nail line, not in the middle of a board, because that is where fibre has been displaced.
This is why a repaired pallet with new companion stringers can be stronger than the original: the new timber is fresh, dry and nailed with helical fasteners that resist withdrawal.
First, never rack a pallet on a rating you have not been given in writing. Second, load heavy product over the stringers, not between them. Third, do not overhang — an inch of overhang can cut effective capacity by a tenth. Fourth, downgrade for moisture: a soaked pallet can lose a quarter of its stiffness until it dries.
If your racking is wire-decked, you can be more relaxed. If it is two beams and nothing else, be conservative and ask us for the edge-support number.
Retire a pallet when a stringer is cracked through at a nail line, when more than two bottom boards are missing, when the deck is delaminating or soft with rot, or when it is visibly out of square by more than half an inch across the diagonal.
Do not throw it away, though. Send it back to us: it becomes repair stock, shelving, mulch or fuel. That is what the Pallet Passport is for.
If a supplier quotes you a single number with no qualifier, assume it is static — the largest and least useful of the three. Ask which of static, dynamic and racked it refers to, and ask for the racked figure in writing if anything will go into beam racking.
Published ratings also assume evenly distributed, non-overhanging loads at ordinary moisture content. A soaked pallet, an overhanging load, or weight concentrated between stringers invalidates all three numbers simultaneously.
Four half-barrel kegs on a pallet is not a 640 lb distributed load. It is four point loads landing wherever the kegs happen to sit, and if they sit between stringers the deck boards carry the whole thing in bending.
The fixes are cheap: load round product over the stringers, specify thicker decking, or move to a square footprint such as 42×42 or 48×48 that centres round product by geometry. Beverage and chemical plants figured this out decades ago; everybody else rediscovers it after a failure.
| 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
The racked figure, measured with edge support only. On our Grade A 48×40 that is 2,200 lb; on Grade B it is 1,500 lb. Never rack on a dynamic number.
Yes. A soaked pallet can lose a meaningful share of its stiffness until it dries. Our rule is simple: never rack a visibly wet pallet at its published rating — floor stack it until it is light again.
Three high loaded for Grade A, two for Grade B, four for block pallets, one for heavy skids — assuming even loads and a flat floor. Published figures are on this page.
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
Triage is the whole business. A load that sits unsorted for a week loses value every day it waits.…
A pallet that cycles between a freezer and a loading dock lives a harder life than one that crosses an ocean.…
Delivering loaded pallets and leaving with empties halves the truck movements. The hard part is not the idea; it is the …
A soaked pallet can lose a quarter of its stiffness, gain nine pounds, and transfer mould to your packaging. In Oregon t…
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.
