Reference
Pallet glossary
In short
39 terms defined the way they are actually used on a yard floor rather than the way they appear in a standards document. Where a term is routinely confused with another — static and racked capacity, plug and companion stringer, HT and MB — the entries point at each other.
Term missing?
Send it and we will define it. Vocabulary is the single largest source of disputes in this industry, which is the entire reason this page exists.
- Bearer board
- A board running perpendicular to the bottom deck boards on a block pallet, tying the blocks together and providing a runner surface for pallet jacks.
- Block pallet
- A pallet supported by nine solid blocks in a 3 × 3 grid rather than by stringers, giving genuine four-way fork entry of equal strength on every side.See also: Stringer pallet, Four-way entry
- Butted deck board
- Deck boards laid tight against one another with no gap, used where the load would otherwise bridge a void — drums, small cases, bagged product.
- Chamfer
- A bevel cut on the leading edges of bottom deck boards so a pallet jack rolls up onto the pallet instead of catching on the board edge.
- Companion stringer
- A full-length stringer nailed alongside a cracked one to restore strength. Structurally effective, visually obvious, and the repair that drops a pallet to #2 grade.See also: Plug, Pallet grade
- Core
- A used pallet in the condition it was collected, before inspection, sorting or repair. The raw material of the recycling business.
- Creep
- Slow, permanent deflection of wood under sustained load. Why racked capacity must be derated for long-term storage.See also: Racked capacity
- Deckboard
- Any board forming the top or bottom load-bearing surface of a pallet.
- DH
- Dielectric heating — an ISPM-15 treatment method using microwave or radio-frequency energy to reach 60°C through the wood profile for one minute.See also: ISPM-15, HT
- Double-face pallet
- A pallet with both top and bottom deck boards. Most GMA pallets are double-face; a single-face pallet has no bottom deck.
- Double-wing pallet
- A pallet whose deck boards overhang the stringers on both ends, giving a lip for bar-lift or sling handling.
- Dunnage
- Loose wood used to brace, block or protect cargo in transit. Frequently forgotten in ISPM-15 compliance and a common cause of held containers.See also: ISPM-15
- Dynamic capacity
- The load a pallet can carry while being lifted and moved. Roughly half of static capacity and the governing figure for normal handling.See also: Static capacity, Racked capacity
- EPAL
- European Pallet Association — the body licensing the 1200 × 800 mm Euro pallet and controlling its exchange pool specification.See also: Euro pallet
- Euro pallet
- The 1200 × 800 mm block pallet standard across Europe, built to a fixed specification including a defined 78-nail pattern.See also: EPAL
- FIBC
- Flexible intermediate bulk container — a woven bulk bag, typically holding one tonne. Slumps outward when filled, which is why it suits a 48 × 48 base.
- Four-way entry
- Fork entry possible from all four sides. True four-way requires block construction; notched stringers give partial four-way at reduced strength.See also: Notch, Block pallet
- GMA pallet
- The 48 × 40 inch stringer pallet standardised by the Grocery Manufacturers Association. The most-produced pallet footprint in North America.
- Hog fuel
- Coarsely ground wood residue sold as boiler fuel to biomass energy plants. The lowest rung of the recovery cascade above landfill.
- HT
- Heat treated — ISPM-15 treatment raising the wood core to a minimum of 56°C for at least 30 continuous minutes. No chemicals involved.See also: ISPM-15, MB
- IPPC mark
- The wheat-sheaf stamp certifying ISPM-15 compliance, carrying country code, facility identifier and treatment code.See also: ISPM-15
- ISPM-15
- International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures No. 15, governing treatment and marking of solid wood packaging in international trade.
- Lead board
- The outermost top deck board at each end of a pallet. Wider than interior boards because it absorbs fork entry impact.
- MB
- Methyl bromide — a chemical fumigation treatment method, effectively phased out in North America and banned by a growing list of importing countries.See also: HT, ISPM-15
- Notch
- A cut-out in the outer stringers of a pallet allowing partial four-way fork entry. Removes 30–40% of bending strength at that point.See also: Stringer pallet, Four-way entry
- Overhang
- Load extending beyond the deck edge. Costs roughly 30% of unit-load stacking strength and is a leading cause of transit damage.
- Pallet grade
- A description of a recycled pallet's repair history and appearance. Conventions are widely shared but not standardised, which is why written rejection criteria matter more than letters.See also: Companion stringer, Plug
- PDS
- Pallet Design System — engineering software modelling pallet performance for a given construction, load and support condition.
- Pinwheeling
- Alternating pallet orientation within a trailer to gain an extra position. Adds capacity but complicates unloading.
- Plug
- A shaped hardwood block glued and nailed into a fork puncture in a stringer, restoring bending strength across the break.See also: Companion stringer
- Racked capacity
- The load a pallet supports across a rack beam opening, supported only at its edges, over time. The smallest of the three ratings and the only one that matters in racking.See also: Creep, Dynamic capacity
- Remanufactured pallet
- A pallet built on a jig from components recovered from dismantled units. Structurally a new pallet made from old wood.
- Shiner
- A nail head protruding above the deck surface. A quality incident in automotive and grocery receiving, and the reason our automotive line runs a dedicated final inspection.
- Slip sheet
- A thin plastic or laminated kraft sheet with a gripping tab, replacing the pallet entirely and handled with a push-pull forklift attachment.
- Static capacity
- The load a pallet supports at rest on a flat, fully supporting surface. The largest of the three ratings and the least operationally useful.See also: Dynamic capacity, Racked capacity
- Stringer pallet
- A pallet supported by three or four boards on edge running its length. The dominant construction in North America.See also: Block pallet, Notch
- Unit load
- The pallet, the product and the stretch wrap or strapping treated as a single handling entity. Strength is a property of the whole, not the pallet alone.
- Whitewood
- Generic, non-pooled wood pallets — owned outright rather than rented from a pool. The bulk of the North American pallet population.
- Wing pallet
- A pallet whose top deck boards extend past the stringers on the ends, creating a lip. Used with bar-lift and sling handling.
The eleven pairs people confuse most
Vocabulary is the single largest source of disputes in this industry. These are the pairs that cause almost all of them.
| This | Is not this | The difference that matters |
|---|---|---|
| Static capacity | Racked capacity | Factor of two to three. Using the first where the second applies is how pallets fail in racking. |
| Plug | Companion stringer | A plug fills a puncture and grades B. A companion bridges a full crack and grades #2. |
| HT | MB | Heat versus methyl bromide. One is safe to grind; the other never enters landscape or animal products. |
| Heat treated | Sterilised | HT is a phytosanitary measure for wood pests. It is not a hygiene certificate. |
| Four-way entry | Partial four-way | True four-way needs block construction. A notched stringer permits entry, not equal strength. |
| Grade A | Structurally superior | A describes repair history and appearance. A B-grade hardwood may outlast it. |
| Mould | Blue stain | One is live growth with a moisture problem behind it. The other is cosmetic and harmless. |
| Overhang | Underhang | Overhang destroys stacking strength. Underhang only wastes cube. |
| Diverted | Reused | Both count as diverted. Ground mulch and a reused pallet are nothing like equivalent. |
| Whitewood | Pooled | Owned outright versus rented. Mixing them at receiving is how liabilities appear. |
| 48 × 40 | 40 × 48 | Convention is length along the stringer axis. If a drawing says 40 × 48, confirm which axis the stringers run. |