Straight answers about pallets

BOX 01Where to start

If you are buying, Grade A versus Grade B is the first read, then block versus stringer. If you are exporting, read ISPM 15 and then the stamp. If you ship by the trailer, pallets per trailer shows the arithmetic. If your dock gets damp, keeping pallets dry is the one.

Each guide carries its sources and the date it was last reviewed. Where a figure comes from a standard, the standard is named.

BOX 02Reading order for a first-time seller

1. Pallets per trailer, to understand the unit of freight.
2. Grade A versus Grade B, to describe condition.
3. Block versus stringer, to name the build.
4. Keeping pallets dry, to protect value.

BOX 03Where the numbers come from

Where a guide gives a number, it either gives its working or cites a source. A trailer count shows the division. A heat-treatment figure cites the standard. If you find a number without either, treat it as a rough guide and check it.

BOX 04Sources

Each guide cites the sources it draws on at the bottom. Most are trade publications, standards documents and manufacturer explanations. If a guide contradicts something you were told on a dock, trust the dock and tell us through the request form.

BOX 05Facts the guides rest on

The ISPM 15 guides rest on one rule: wood is heated to a core temperature of at least 56 °C (133 °F) for at least 30 minutes, and a treated pallet must be stamped on two opposite sides, marked HT for heat or MB for methyl bromide (Wikipedia). The trailer guide rests on the federal 102-inch width limit (FHWA). The forklift pallet itself dates to the 1920s and 1930s: the earliest possible patent is a 1924 US patent for a lift truck platform, and a pallet built for a new pallet jack was filed in 1937 and granted in 1939.