Pallets for grocery and frozen food
A Jacksonville grocery or frozen-food dock wants clean, dry 48x40 stringers, Grade A or a sound Grade B, with no mould and no soft boards. Wood below about 20% moisture content will not support mould, and a damp deck is a reason a load is refused.
Where the freight moves
Publix's West Beaver Street distribution campus covers 127 acres with more than 950,000 square feet of buildings, and a frozen foods warehouse in West Jacksonville is planned to open in late 2027 with about 150 jobs (Daily Record). It will serve Central and North Florida and southern Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. C&S Wholesale Services closed its West Beaver Street distribution center in Baldwin in 2025, cutting 490 jobs (Daily Record).
What a cold dock rejects
| Problem | Why it matters | Check |
|---|---|---|
| Mould or dark staining | Spores spread on cartons and cold-room walls | Look under the deck boards |
| Damp wood | Above about 20% it can support mould | A moisture meter on stringers |
| Protruding nails | Cut cartons and bags | Run a hand along the deck |
| Split stringers | Fail under a loaded jack | Look at the notches |
| Gaps in the deck | Bagged and soft cartons sag through | Check deck coverage |
Deck coverage and plastic
Deck coverage is how much of the top deck is solid. Cartons and bagged goods need more coverage than drums. Where moisture is the worry, a cold dock may look at plastic pallets instead of wood, but wood stays the default for one-way freight.
Storage matters as much as the pallet
Even a slight air velocity of a few feet per second can help prevent mould on stored pallets (Pallet Enterprise). Stack pallets with air between layers, off wet ground, and out of summer rain. The mould guide walks through it.
Sizes: 48x40. Grades: A and B. The Westside page covers the district.
A receiving dock at 5 a.m.
Receiving managers at a Westside grocery distribution centre see the first trailers before dawn. The checker reads the paperwork, then pulls a pallet from the front, one from the middle and one from the back. A dark corner on a deck board, a wet stringer, a musty smell in the trailer: any of these can hold the load until someone with authority signs off. A pallet supplier is judged by what those three pallets look like.
Trade-offs worth knowing
| Choice | Benefit | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Grade A wood | Clean look, fewer rejections | Scarcer than Grade B |
| Grade B wood | Sound and cheaper | Plugs can catch cartons |
| Plastic | No water uptake | Higher outlay per pallet |
| Combo | Even strength | Not as light as used |
Surplus on the other side
A grocery dock produces cores too. Pallets leave with product to stores and come back in mixed condition. Pooled pallets in blue and red must be returned to their pool. See pooled pallets.
Questions
Does a frozen-food dock need heat-treated pallets?
Not for domestic freight. ISPM 15 covers international trade.
Is Grade B acceptable?
Often, when dry and clean. Ask the receiver.
What size do cold rooms use?
48x40 nearly always.
Sources, reviewed 12 November 2026: Publix frozen foods (Daily Record); Publix campus (Daily Record); Mould control (Pallet Enterprise).