What is a Grade A plastic pallet?

What Grade A is claimed to mean

A marketplace listing for used R11 pallets describes Grade A as "Good as New, Barely Used and No Cracks" and says available quantity needs to be verified before sale. A reconditioning guide says Grade A means good as new and suits retail display, export or high-value goods. Both agree on the spirit: nearly new, no damage.

What Grade A does not tell you

How to test a Grade A claim

1. Put the pallet on a flat floor and look for rocking.
2. Run a hand over the deck and corners for cracks and chips.
3. Look under at the runners for gouges and flattened edges.
4. Check the fork pockets for scrapes.
5. Read the deck plate and find the maker's page for the rating.

Where letter grades come from

Sellers borrow letter grades from the wood pallet trade, and the letters have drifted. One seller's Grade A is another's Grade B, and no plastic standard fixes the meaning. A buyer should translate letters into wear: ask what the deck, runners and corners show, and ask for the count of repaired pieces. This site's four names describe the wear directly so that no translation is needed.

If a seller offers Grade A without more, treat it as a headline and ask for the detail. A seller who has walked the lot can give it in a few lines.

Questions that replace the letter

Replace the letter with five questions. Has any piece been welded or replaced? Is every deck flat on a table? Do the corners show gouges deeper than a scuff? Do the runners show flattened edges? Is there any pool owner's mark? A seller who can answer all five has described a grade whatever they call it, and a seller who cannot has described only a hope.

Yard storage and weather

• Rain does little harm to plastic, but standing water in the ribs adds weight and breeds odours.
• Freezing weather makes some resins brittle, so avoid dropping or hard-forking cold pallets.
• Hot sun softens decks under load, which is how a stack ends up bowed.
• Wind can topple tall unstrapped stacks, so strap them or keep them short.
• Mud and grit on runners wear floors and conveyors, so brush them off before indoor use.

Labelling stacks

• Put a card on each stack with footprint, grade and the date it was sorted.
• Use one colour of tape for repaired pallets and another for held ones.
• Keep labels at fork-truck eye level, not on the lowest pallet.
• Update the card when a pallet is removed, so the count stays true.
• Retire old cards instead of writing over them.

Words used on this page

Fork pocket

Opening in the pallet where the forks go.

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.

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
• HDPE has resin identification code 2, a density of 930 to 970 kg/m3, melts at 131.8 C and is hard to glue, so joints are usually welded. en.wikipedia.org
• Rehrig Pacific offers the standard-duty nestable with recycled content of up to 90 percent in black, and describes it as 100 percent recyclable. rehrigpacific.com

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