Conveyor hang-ups
A plate edge standing even slightly proud can catch roller and chain conveyors. On an automated line that is a stoppage, and stoppages in automated facilities are costly.
Pallet basics
Why metal plates make a poor pallet repair
In short
A steel plate nailed across a cracked stringer restores some bending strength quickly and cheaply. It also introduces a hard, sharp metal edge into a wood structure that will be handled over and over. Plates can catch on conveyors, tear stretch film, cut hands and damage product, and many receivers refuse them. A hardwood plug or companion stringer does the structural job without those consequences.
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Why plates exist at all
Because they are fast. A cracked stringer takes real time to plug properly: cut the plug, glue it, nail it. A plate takes seconds and a nail gun. On a repair line measured by units per hour, that difference is large, and it is the entire reason the practice survives.
The structural argument is not absurd either. A correctly applied plate does bridge a crack and does restore a meaningful amount of bending strength. If a pallet were a static object that nobody touched, plating would be defensible.
What actually goes wrong
Film and strap damage
Stretch film runs across the pallet base. A plate edge cuts it, containment drops, and the load arrives leaning, with the pallet blamed for something the plate did.
Hand injuries
Pallets are handled manually far more than people admit. A plate corner that has lifted is a laceration waiting for somebody reaching under a deck.
Product damage
In automotive and appliance work, a plate contacting a painted surface becomes a quality incident.
Receiver rejection
Many grocery distribution centers and automotive plants refuse plated pallets outright. A load of them becomes a return trip at somebody's cost.
Recycling contamination
Plates survive dismantling and can reach the grinder, where they damage knives and risk ending up as metal in mulch.
The alternative takes a little longer
A shaped hardwood plug, glued and nailed into the void left by a fork puncture, restores strength across the break with no foreign material in the structure. It usually grades as B rather than A because it is visible, and it suits floor-stacked and general distribution use. For a full-length crack, a companion stringer sandwiches the failure and is structurally strong, though it generally drops the unit to #2.
Both can be made from wood recovered from dismantled pallets, so the repair needs little new material. Both are slower than a plate. If repair quality matters to you, ask a supplier how repairs are done and how they are checked, not just how many they turn out.