Nestable pallets, footprint by footprint
Nestable pallets come in six footprints on PHS Plastic's list and at least two more elsewhere. The container you load decides which one.
Footprint by footprint
| Footprint | What it is for | Page |
|---|---|---|
| 48 x 40 in (1219 x 1016 mm), GMA | General shipping, grocery, retail, manufacturing; the North American standard | 48 x 40 |
| 48 x 48 in | Chemical and drums: holds four 55-gallon drums without overhang | 48 x 48 |
| 48 x 45 in | North American automotive; matches heavy-duty auto parts bulk containers | 48 x 45 |
| 45 x 45 in (1140 x 1140 mm) | CP9 chemical standard; bags, boxes, drums; container cubing | 45 x 45 |
| 43 x 43 in (1100 x 1100 mm) | Bulk bags; food additives, feed, pharmaceuticals; the Asian standard | 43 x 43 |
| 42 x 42 in | Second most produced pallet size in the US across all materials; one plastic supplier lists it as a nestable best seller | 42 x 42 |
| 48 x 32 in (1200 x 800 mm), Euro | Often required for shipments into Europe; many lightweight one-way versions | Euro |
| 1200 x 1000 mm (ISO 2) | Europe and Asia; Nelson lists a nestable model | 1200 x 1000 |
How to choose without reading eight sheets
Start with what rides on the pallet, not with the size you have used before. Four 55-gallon drums fit a 48 x 48 in pallet without overhang. Bulk bags, the kind sold as Super Sacks, point at 43 x 43 in. Auto parts bulk containers point at 48 x 45 in. Chemical bags and boxes cube into a container on 45 x 45 in.
If nothing on that list is yours, 48 x 40 in is the default. It is the North American standard and, on one supplier's plastic list, just over half the pallets. That means it also has the most models to choose from, and so the widest rating range.
Whichever footprint you land on, the next question is the same: what is the nest increment? The nest calculator takes the maker's own pallets-per-stack and per-trailer figures for any footprint.
Trailers for your volume
Suppose 2,910 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 2,910 to 15,260.
| Pallets to return | Rehrig Pacific Heavy-duty nestable (1,200 per trailer) | Rehrig Pacific Standard-duty nestable (1,260 per trailer) | Nelson Company Nestable, stackable, rackable (1,800 per trailer) | PHS Plastic EXP 116 nestable (1,260 per trailer) | PHS Plastic EXP 100 nestable (2,340 per trailer) | Rackable (540 per trailer) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,910 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| 5,380 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 10 |
| 7,850 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 15 |
| 10,320 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 9 | 5 | 20 |
| 12,790 | 11 | 11 | 8 | 11 | 6 | 24 |
| 15,260 | 13 | 13 | 9 | 13 | 7 | 29 |
Questions to put to the maker
- How many empties can stand in one nested stack before the stack leans?
- Is the nest increment measured on a new pallet, or one that has been in service?
- Is the pallets-per-trailer number for nested empties, or for loaded pallets?
- How is a nested stack counted when it arrives: by stack, or by pallet?
- Does a nested stack need a strap or wrap to ship, and who supplies it?
- Do the legs ever jam when pallets are nested warm and then cold?
- Can nested stacks be handled by a pallet jack, or do they need a clamp or forks?
- Where on the pallet is the model name moulded, so a returned stack can be matched to its sheet?
From the dock
- A pallet that nests well but cracks at the corner after a season is not a bargain; ask for the service record.
- Nesting pays only when pallets come back. A one-way shipment gains nothing from a deep nest except cheaper freight out.
- A trailer loaded to the roof is limited by cube, not weight, which is why empties are priced by the trailer.
- Mixing two models in one nested stack can fail: legs that differ by a fraction of an inch will wedge rather than seat.
- 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.
- Count empties by stack height against a mark on the wall, not pallet by pallet, and the tally takes seconds.
Words on this page
- Footprint
- The length and width of a pallet deck. It is chosen to fit the container, the drum, the bag or the receiving rack.
- Racking load
- The weight a pallet holds when it rests on two rack beams with an open gap between them. It is usually the lowest rating and only exists for pallets built for racks.
- UL
- Underwriters Laboratories, a safety testing body that publishes fire test standards, including one for storage pallets.
- 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.
- Nest ratio
- How many empty pallets fit in the height of one: pallet height divided by nest increment.
- GMA pallet
- The 48 by 40 inch North American standard, named for the Grocery Manufacturers Association that popularised it.
- Pallet pooling
- A rental model where a company owns the pallets and moves them between customers, instead of each customer buying its own.
- Cube utilisation
- How well loaded freight fills the volume of a trailer or container. Taller or wider-than-floor pallets waste cube.
Questions people ask
Is 48 x 40 the only size with nestable models?
No. PHS Plastic lists nestable models in 48 x 40, Euro 32 x 48, 43 x 43, 45 x 45, 48 x 48 and 45 x 48 in, and Nelson lists a nestable 1200 x 1000 mm model.
Tell us the footprint and how many stacks you move.
We work out the empty trailer, then take the request for a load.