Wholesale used plastic pallets

What repeat buying needs

Restocking only works if "used and clean" means the same thing in March as in June. There is no universal plastic grading standard, and suppliers use their own words. Two marketplace listings for the same R11 pallet show it: the Grade A listing says "Good as New, Barely Used and No Cracks", while the Grade B listing gives the grade only in its title and never defines it.

So we define ours in the open, on the grade pages, and describe each lot against those words. A buyer who restocks can hold a lot to the definition.

The terms we hold steady

What we do not state here

This site states no price, no minimum order, no turnaround and no stock counts, because there is no offer sheet behind them. A repeat buyer gets those in the reply to a request, lot by lot, along with the written wear.

• Same footprint across lots
• Same grade words across lots
• Mixed makers are always declared
• Welds and swapped parts are always declared
• Owner marks are always declared

What wholesale means for a used lot

Wholesale for new goods usually means a price break. For a used lot it means a quantity large enough that sorting, counting and loading can be done once for the whole lot. That is a matter of effort rather than discount, and this site makes no claim about price. If you resell, say so on the request; a reseller needs the same footprint and wear described in writing so that the buyer downstream can trust it.

Documents for resellers

A reseller should keep the lot description, the count and the date of the delivery, and pass them on with each sale. If a pallet later turns out to carry a mark, the record shows where it came from. Good records protect everyone downstream, and they are cheap to keep.

Storing a lot properly

• Keep stacks on a flat, dry slab, away from heaters, doorways and loading-bay draughts.
• Limit stack height to what the bottom pallet and the lift truck can safely manage.
• Shield pallets from sunlight with a tarp or a roof, since ultraviolet light chalks and embrittles some resins.
• Separate footprints, makers and grades with floor markings so pickers never guess.
• Leave an aisle wide enough for a fork truck to turn without clipping a corner.

Wear you can measure

• Deck bow: lay the straight edge across and slide a feeler between it and the deck.
• Runner flattening: compare the thickness of a worn runner with an unworn one.
• Corner loss: hold a square against the corner and note any missing plastic.
• Pocket height: measure the opening at both ends of each fork pocket.
• Weight: weigh three pallets on a platform scale and note the spread.

Words used on this page

Runners

Bottom rails that touch the floor or rack and carry the load.

Fork pocket

Opening in the pallet where the forks go.

Closed loop

Pallets that travel between known sites and come back, so they are never lost to a downstream user.

Welding repair

Plastic is hard to glue, so cracked parts are normally welded.

What the sources say

• Plastic pallets weigh about 3 to 15 lb when light and up to 300 lb when heavy; a typical GMA wood pallet weighs about 37 lb. en.wikipedia.org
• Static capacity is the highest of the three ratings; racking is often the lowest; dynamic is always lower than static. nelsoncompany.com
• An ICC article says unlisted plastic pallets may require raising the commodity hazard class by two classes, and gives an example needing about 55 percent more sprinkler water. iccsafe.org
• That Nelson model lists about 60 pallets per stack and 1,800 per truck. nelsoncompany.com

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