Heavy Duty Pallets: Up to 3,500 lb static

Who sits in this band

The lightest nestables and the export pallets are rated here, because light is the point. Cabka describes plastic export pallets as built for the one-way trip, and PHS Plastic's nestable list starts at 2,204 lb static, the bottom of its 19-model range. A load of cartons that weighs a few hundred pounds never gets near these ratings.

The dynamic ratings in this band are modest as well. PHS Plastic lists nestable models with dynamic ratings from 1,102 lb up, which is the floor of its list. A pallet jack moves a 1,000 lb load without trouble; a 2,000 lb one is closer to the sheet.

What it costs and what it saves

A light pallet nests deep and weighs little, so it is the cheapest to return and the cheapest to ship empty. The trade is margin: the rating leaves little room for an uneven load, a rough dock or a stack that waits a long time.

Check before you buy

• Static, dynamic and racking, each from the sheet.
• Whether the rating covers a stack, or only a single pallet.
• Whether the pallet is meant to come back.

A stack worked out

Take a stackable rated 30,000 lb static. The bottom pallet carries the pallets above it, so with each loaded pallet weighing 1,954 lb it can hold 15 above, a stack of 16. With 5,996 lb per pallet it can hold 5 above. This is a ceiling on a flat floor for a still stack, not a promise for a stack that moves or waits.

Light does not mean fragile

A pallet rated below 3,500 lb static is not delicate; it is rated for the loads it was built for. Cartons of consumer goods, light retail displays and many export loads weigh a fraction of that. The risk is not the load but the abuse: a fork tine through a deck, a dropped corner, a stack in the wrong place.

Ask how the pallet is expected to be handled, and if the maker says it is for a single trip, plan for a single trip.

Who should stay in this band

Stay in this band when the pallet rides once, carries light cartons and is not racked. If the same pallet will be reused many times, stacked three high or put on beams, the static rating alone is too thin a basis and the heavier bands, or a model with a printed racking load, are the safer reading of the sheet.

Words on this page

Nest ratio

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

Cube utilisation

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

HDPE

High-density polyethylene, a tough resin used in many plastic pallets, valued for strength against its weight.

Recycled content

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

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.

Pallet pooling

A rental model where a company owns the pallets and moves them between customers, instead of each customer buying its own.

Footprint

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

Pallet jack

A hand or powered truck with two forks, used to move a pallet short distances.