Pallet types and how they are built

A pallet is built on stringers or on blocks, and its entry is two-way or four-way. Those two choices decide where a forklift can lift it and which racks, containers and docks accept it.

Stringer pallets

The stringers carry the weight and the deck boards spread it. Left whole, they give two-way entry along their length; notched along the edges, they let forks in from the sides. The 48 x 40 stringer pallet is the default on Jacksonville grocery and frozen-food docks and on mixed truck loads, where cost matters more than stacking strength.

Stringers split under hard forklift entry, notched ones most. Because they sit lowest, they also hold moisture longest: a stack on wet ground wicks water up and softens them from the bottom, so raise stacks on spacers. A Grade B repair may plate or replace a stringer, but a split one on a cold-room pallet gets the load turned away. Southern yellow pine is the usual softwood here; oak and other hardwoods weigh more and last longer, so compare species and weight as well as size when two prices differ.

• A crack that runs out of a notch ends the pallet.
• Check the nails on the end boards, where forks hit.
• Press the stringer with a thumbnail: soft wood is rot.
• A replaced stringer should be plated or nailed through.

Block pallets

Blocks give a flat underside and an opening on each side, which suits racks that grip the pallet from different directions, automated warehouses that handle one type only, and container loading. On the Northside that means heavy freight through Blount Island and Dames Point, and chemical and bagged product on 48 x 48 and 48 x 42 decks. Blocks earn their price on loads that sit for a long time and on pallets that come back for many trips.

The trade-off is weight. A load with a tight container weight limit can lose payload to its pallets, which is why block builds are rare on cheap one-way truck freight. A typical block pallet has nine blocks in three rows, some have six; a six-block pallet is lighter and cheaper, so count them when two quotes differ. Solid wood blocks are traditional, while pressed-fibre and plastic blocks are uniform and shrug off moisture but can crumble under a hard hit.

A cracked block is harder to fix than a cracked deck board: repairers replace the block and nail through the old holes, or replace the whole bottom deck, and a pallet that has lost two blocks is usually ground. When inspecting, check each block for splits and loose nails, look for gaps where stringers meet blocks, and check deck boards for cracks at the block edge. Ask a supplier for block material and size, block count, nail type and deck board thickness.

Two-way entry

Forks enter along one axis only, so the driver approaches from the open sides and turning the pallet costs time. On a dock that unloads the same way every day, that is no problem: truck freight between two known docks, store receiving with a pallet jack, and cheap one-way shipments all run on two-way pallets. Containers and automated racks are where it fails, because the loader works from the door end and needs to turn pallets.

Bottom boards rip off under a jack, deck boards crack at the open side and stringers lose their nails. In a pile, a solid stringer face with no opening on the long side is the sign; a stripe of tape keeps those apart from four-way stock.

Four-way entry

A block pallet is four-way by design; a stringer pallet becomes four-way when notched. Either way a forklift can turn into the pallet from any face, which is what containers at Blount Island, Dames Point and Talleyrand, the Westside and Northside distribution centres, and racked storage expect. The standard 48 x 40 GMA pallet of the 1960s permitted four-way entry (iGPS), which is why the size and the entry style are so often named together, and why clean four-way 48x40s sell first.

The notch removes wood and adds a cut, and the block adds material, so four-way costs more. One detail avoids the most common receiving complaint: a notch lets a forklift in from the side, but a hand jack, whose wheels sit below the fork opening, still cannot pass. Say whether jack access matters; a block pallet gives both. Moulded plastic pallets are usually four-way too, with no stringers to block the forks.

Which type for which dock

A dock that unloads with pallet jacks alone can use a two-way stringer pallet. A dock with forklifts that approach from several sides, racks and containers wants four-way. A heavy product on a square base wants a block pallet.

Lifespan and the cost per trip

A cheap pallet used once can cost less per trip than a strong one used a dozen times, and a strong one used once wastes money. A pallet shipped one way to a customer who keeps it makes one trip; one that cycles between a plant and a store may make many.

How to describe a pallet in a sentence

Four-way block, 48x40, Grade B, heat treated, ISPM 15 marked, ten per trailer a week. A sentence of that shape contains everything a supplier needs, and a missing item is the one to ask about.

Questions

Keep reading

• Heat-treated pallets

Sources, reviewed 12 November 2026: Pallet (Wikipedia).