Heavy duty nestable pallets

How heavy "heavy duty" gets

Among nestables, heavy duty means a higher static and dynamic rating bought with a thicker section. Rehrig Pacific's heavy-duty 40 x 48 weighs 28.5 lb and is rated 10,000 lb static and 3,500 lb dynamic. PHS Plastic lists a nestable rated 15,000 lb static, the EXP 116, at 40 pallets per stack.

The step up costs in two places. Per trailer, Rehrig's heavy-duty fits 1,200 where its standard-duty fits 1,260. Per stack, PHS's 15,000 lb model nests 40 against 78 for the lighter one. Neither is large for a closed loop; both are real.

Rating is not rack rating

The page for the Rehrig heavy-duty nestable lists no racking rating. Static is a rating at rest, evenly spread. Racking is across an open span between beams, and it is lower. For a rack, look at rackable pallets or at a multi-use model that prints a racking figure, like Nelson Company's, which lists 2,700 lb racking with 10,500 lb static.

• Ask for the racking load and the beam span it was rated on.
• Ask for the temperature range if the pallets go through a freezer.
• Ask whether the heavy-duty can be made with recycled content: Rehrig offers up to 30 percent in black and up to 10 percent in colour, and says it is RFID compatible.

Trailers for your volume

Suppose 4,600 empty pallets come back in a month. At the maker figures on file that is 4 trailers of Rehrig Pacific heavy-duty nestables (1,200 each), 2 of PHS Plastic's EXP 100 (2,340 each) or 9 of a rackable (540 each). The table runs the same sum for 6 volumes, from 4,600 to 24,160.

How tall the empties stand

Stack height is the other half of the return leg. For the Rehrig Pacific heavy-duty nestable, a stack of 6 stands 19.25 in and a stack of 18 stands 49.85 in, against 117.0 in un-nested.

A note on this page

Heavy-duty nestables are bought by people who tried the standard kind and were let down once. Write down what went wrong the first time, such as a bowed deck on a rack or a cracked leg on a dock plate, and hold each candidate model against that note.

Questions to put to the maker

• What happens to the rating if a stack is stored outside in the sun?
• How many empties can stand in one nested stack before the stack leans?
• Does a nested stack need a strap or wrap to ship, and who supplies it?
• Does the nest figure change with the deck type, open or closed?
• Is the pallets-per-trailer number for nested empties, or for loaded pallets?
• Is there a version of the model with a lower nest increment, and what does it give up?
• Is the nest increment measured on a new pallet, or one that has been in service?
• Where on the pallet is the model name moulded, so a returned stack can be matched to its sheet?

From the dock

• Forklift operators prefer stacks that stand square to the tines; a leaning stack gets re-stacked by hand.
• Nesting pays only when pallets come back. A one-way shipment gains nothing from a deep nest except cheaper freight out.
• Hollow legs collect meltwater and grit; a rinse before nesting keeps stacks from sticking together.
• Warehouses with low ceilings find nested stacks fit under sprinkler lines that tall un-nested stacks would hit.
• Return legs are often the cheapest freight a carrier hauls, which is why closed loops lean on the nest figure.
• Mixing two models in one nested stack can fail: legs that differ by a fraction of an inch will wedge rather than seat.
• A trailer loaded to the roof is limited by cube, not weight, which is why empties are priced by the trailer.

Words on this page

Nest increment

The extra height each additional empty pallet adds to a nested stack, measured in inches. A small increment means a short stack.

Dunnage

Loose material used to support or secure cargo inside a trailer or container.

Footprint

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

GMA pallet

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

UL

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

Recycled content

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

Closed loop

A route where pallets return to the sender after delivery, so the empty trip is a standing cost.

HDPE

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