Used pallets for Orlando docks, graded plainly

What "used" means here

A used pallet has already carried freight. Some come back to a dock empty and untouched; others are collected, inspected and repaired. The sorting is what makes them a product, and the grade is how the trade names the result.

A good sort stacks one size and one grade together. A bad sort leaves a pile with every size and every state mixed up, which is why mixed loads are priced and used differently from graded stacks.

The grades side by side

How to choose

Pick the least grade the load can live with. A Grade A pallet costs more than a Grade B because it has had no repairs, and a load that never meets a customer's eye gains nothing from the extra. A pallet that arrives at a receiving dock where the customer inspects it is the other case.

A plug is a short board nailed beside a cracked stringer, and it can run between 6 and 24 inches long. A pallet with plugs is Grade B by definition, which is why the grade sheet counts them as repairs.

Weight and strength

A standard 48 x 40 wood pallet weighs roughly 33 to 49 pounds unloaded and stands about 5.5 to 6 inches high. Standard pallets of this type are commonly rated at 2,000 to 2,800 pounds under dynamic loading and 2,500 to 4,600 pounds when loads sit still. A used pallet that has been repaired should be treated as the lower end of those ranges, not the upper.

Rain changes what you buy

A Grade A stack on a May delivery can be cores by August if it stands uncovered in an Orlando yard. When you order used pallets in summer, ask how they were stored, and whether the wood is under 20 percent moisture. The storage guide shows how to keep a stack sound.

Sizes you can ask for

The 48 x 40 is the most common wood pallet size in North America, so it is the default. Other sizes, notably 42 x 42, 48 x 48 and 48 x 42, are sorted and sold separately. See the size table for the full list.

What the grades are made of, measured

A study by Virginia Tech for the USDA Forest Service sorted repaired pallets the way recyclers did and counted the stringer repairs on each. Grade A averaged 0.15 stringer repairs per pallet across 570 pallets, Grade B 1.04 across 239, and Grade C 1.69 across 353. Half-companion stringers, a short length of timber nailed beside a cracked stringer, were by far the commonest repair; metal connector plates appeared in all three grades, and Grade C carried a larger share of plugs.

The survey also records that the repaired grades ran from two to eleven grade levels depending on the sampling location. So "Grade B" is a convention between a seller and a buyer, not a measurement, and a request should describe what the pallets look like as well as naming the letter.

Dry wood is part of the product

The same survey reports that the used pallets it tested had moisture content typically between 10 and 12 percent, against 17 to 20 percent in the new pallets. Seasoned used wood can be drier than fresh lumber. In an Orlando summer, though, that advantage lasts only as long as the stack stays covered.

A ten-second look at a used pallet

Start at the lead boards, the boards at each end of the deck, which take the first knocks from forks. Look at the end of each stringer for splits, then at the nail heads along the top boards for any standing proud. Press a thumb into a bottom board to test for softness. Look under the pallet for gouges across the stringers. A pallet that passes all four is ready for a load; one that fails any is a repair or a core.