Guide: How many nestable pallets fit on a truck

The numbers makers print

One supplier prints a 30-stack turned pattern for 48 x 40 pallets on a 53 ft dry van. 30 stacks of 78 is 2,340 and 30 stacks of 60 is 1,800, which is how those two figures arise. The 40-per-stack model at 1,260 works out to 31.5 stacks, so its maker evidently assumes a different pattern.

The stack, in inches

The nest increment sets how tall a stack of empties is. For the Rehrig Pacific heavy-duty nestable, 6.5 in tall with a 2.55 in increment, the table shows the height of stacks from 5 to 40.

What the trailer count leaves out

• Weight limits. A trailer full of 28.5 lb pallets weighs little, but a full count of heavier models adds up.
• Doors and floor. A turned pattern needs the pallets to load without a wasted gap.
• Height. The stack must clear the roof and sprinklers at the dock.
• Reality. Pick a number from the maker, not from a hope.

Use the nest calculator to turn your count and a maker's figure into trailers.

Trailers for your volume

Suppose 2,970 empty pallets come back in a month. At the maker figures on file that is 3 trailers of Rehrig Pacific heavy-duty nestables (1,200 each), 2 of PHS Plastic's EXP 100 (2,340 each) or 6 of a rackable (540 each). The table runs the same sum for 6 volumes, from 2,970 to 15,580.

Questions to put to the maker

• Is the pallets-per-trailer number for nested empties, or for loaded pallets?
• Is the nest increment measured on a new pallet, or one that has been in service?
• Does a nested stack need a strap or wrap to ship, and who supplies it?

From the dock

• Hollow legs collect meltwater and grit; a rinse before nesting keeps stacks from sticking together.
• Spare capacity at a depot makes nesting less urgent; scarce floor space makes it the whole argument.

Words on this page

Cube utilisation

How well loaded freight fills the volume of a trailer or container. Taller or wider-than-floor pallets waste cube.

Dynamic load

The weight a pallet holds while it is moved by a forklift, pallet jack or conveyor. It is lower than static because motion adds shock.

UL

Underwriters Laboratories, a safety testing body that publishes fire test standards, including one for storage pallets.

Nest ratio

How many empty pallets fit in the height of one: pallet height divided by nest increment.

Static load

The weight a pallet holds while standing still on a flat floor, spread evenly across the deck. It is the highest of the three ratings.

GMA pallet

The 48 by 40 inch North American standard, named for the Grocery Manufacturers Association that popularised it.

Footprint

The length and width of a pallet deck. It is chosen to fit the container, the drum, the bag or the receiving rack.

Recycled content

The share of a pallet moulded from reground plastic. Makers print it as a range, often by colour.