Lightly used plastic pallets, sound and clean

Reading used and clean

Used and clean is the grade most buyers end up with, and it is the one that most needs describing. The pallets have made many trips. The corners show fork-strike gouges. The runners are scuffed from floors and racks. The colour has faded unevenly. What they do not show is a crack, a missing part or a weld.

Where it sits against other scales

Fit and limits

These pallets are good for general shipping and storage, for pallet jacks and conveyors where the runners are whole, and for uniform closed-loop lots. They are not described for racking or food contact. A static load such as a stack of loaded pallets is the load to watch, because slow bending under a long heavy load is how plastic ages.

• Fit: general shipping, storage, pallet jacks
• Fit: closed loops of one maker
• Check: the bottom pallet of any stack
• Not described for racking, food contact or pharma

What clean means here

Clean covers three things: no residue, no odour and no loose debris in the ribs. It does not mean washed to a food standard, and it does not mean stain-free. Ask what the pallets carried before, whether they were washed, and what the decks look like under bright light. A used-and-clean lot should be ready for a dry general warehouse; a food room needs more than a grade can promise.

Who this grade suits

Used and clean is the working grade for ordinary warehouse jobs: conveyors, pallet jacks, standard racks with a rated plate, and floor storage. It balances wear against cleanliness, so most buyers start there. If your job asks for more, such as a documented resin or a pharmaceutical standard, move up a grade and ask for papers. If it asks for less, look at repaired or mixed lots.

Edge cases

Some pallets fall between grades: spotless but heavily gouged, or smooth but faintly stained. When you meet one, grade by the more serious fault. A clean pallet with a deep gouge in a runner is a used pallet to be watched; a lightly stained pallet with flat decks is used and clean with a note.

Photographs worth taking

• One wide shot of each stack with a tape or a person for scale.
• The four corners of a sample pallet, close enough to show gouges.
• The underside, including the runners and the bottom of each fork pocket.
• Any plate, label, moulded number or mark, shot square on and in raking light.
• Repairs and cracks, with a coin or a ruler beside them to show size.

Comparing two lots fairly

• Use the same footprint for both, measured in the same units.
• Compare grade by wear, not by the seller's letter.
• Count makers present in each, since fewer makers means a more uniform lot.
• Compare the share of repaired pieces, and where the repairs sit.
• Set freight, timing and handling beside the wear, rather than in place of it.

Words used on this page

Racking load

Weight a pallet carries bridging an open span in unsupported racking. Often the lowest rating.

Runners

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

Welding repair

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

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.

What the sources say

• That Nelson model is under 5 in tall, which the page says suits air freight, and works with automation and most roller conveyors. nelsoncompany.com
• HDPE is the most common resin in plastic pallets; PP is more rigid and the page recommends it for unsupported racking. nelsoncompany.com
• Static capacity is the highest of the three ratings; racking is often the lowest; dynamic is always lower than static. nelsoncompany.com
• Plastic pallets can deform (creep) under heavy long-term loads and are hard to repair. en.wikipedia.org

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