Pallet Lingo

An Introduction to Wood Pallets

2-way wood pallet: Pallet or skid only accessible from the front and back

4-way wood pallet: Pallet or skid accessible from the front, back and sides via notches in the stringer

Banding Notch: also called a strap slot or strap notch. Recess or cut out in the upper edge of the stringer or the top or bottom pallet deck, designed to allow tie-down of a unit load to the pallet deck with strapping or banding.

Block Pallet: A type of pallet with blocks between the pallet decks or beneath the top deck.

Box: A container or case, usually rectangular. For our purposes; made of wood.

Chamfered Deckboard: A deckboard with the edges of one or two faces beveled, either along the full or specified length of board or between the stringers or blocks facilitating entry or pallet-jack wheels and tines of forklift trucks.

CAD: computer-aided-design software that allows the design of the "right" pallet at the best value; see Pallet Design System (PDS)

Connection: The structural junction of two or more members, components, or assemblies, designed to be assembled with mechanical fasteners, adhesives, welds or interlocks, or a combination of them, to transmit structural forces safely; often identified by location within the pallet as end connection, center connection, corner connection. Colloquially, the term joint is used in place of the term connection.

Crate: Slatted wood box or framework for packing, shipping.
(def 2 in the dictionary: Completely enclosed boxlike packing or shipping case)

Deck: Top or bottom surface of the pallet, consisting of one or more boards or panels, with or without space between the elements.

Deckboard: A single element or component of a pallet deck, oriented perpendicular to the stringer or stringerboad.

Deflection: The amount of flexural deformation of a pallet or pallet component due to the weight of an imposed load; sag.

Flush Pallet: A pallet with deckboards flush with the stringers, stringerboards or blocks along the ends and sides of the pallet.

Four-Way Block Pallet: A pallet with openings at both opposite pallet ends and sides sufficient to admit hand-pallet jacks; full four-way entry pallet.

Grocery Pallet: A generic reference to the pallets used in grocery manufacturing, distribution and retailing; historically, it meant "GMA pallet" which was a pallet originally specified by the Grocery Manufacturers Association.

Hardwood: A wood from broad-leaved tree species (not necessarily hard in texture or dense) (Aspen, Basswood)

Heat Treated: wood that has been in a kiln until it has achieved a minimum core temperature of 56 degrees Celsius (132.8 Fahrenheit) for a minimum of 30 minutes.

Joint: see connection

Kit: Pieces and parts of the crate/box shipped flat; needing to be assembled.

Length: Refers to the stringer or stringer board length; also refers to the first dimension given to describe a pallet, i.e., 48" x 40", where 48" is the pallet stringer or stringer board length.

Notched Stringer: A stringer with two or more notches spaced for fork-tine entry.

National Wooden Pallet and Container Association: (NWPCA) an international association with the goal of promoting the design, manufacture, distribution, recycling and sale of pallets, containers and reels.

Pallet: A portable, horizontal, rigid, composite platform used as a base for assembling, storing, stacking, handling, and transporting goods as a unit load, often equipped with a superstructure.

PDS: Pallet Design System A reliability-based computer-assisted design (CAD) program for wood pallets for determination of the safe load-carrying capacity, performance and economic life of wood pallets.

Repaired Pallet: Pallet with damaged components replaced with new or recycled components, in order to reuse it.

Recycled Pallet: A pallet that has been used, discarded, salvaged, repaired, or rebuilt in order to pass through another cycle or cycles of use environmentally responsible.

Skid: A pallet without bottom deck boards or deck.

Softwood: Wood from coniferous or needle bearing species of trees (not necessarily soft in texture or of low density) (Pine, Spruce, Fir, Cedar, Hemlock)

Span: the distance between supports.

Stringer: Continuous, longitudinal, solid or notched beam-component of the pallet used to support and space the deck components, often identified by location as the outside, interior, or center stringer; bearer; runner.

Stringer board: In block pallets, the continuous solid board member extending for the full length of the pallet, perpendicular to the deckboard and placed between the deck boards and blocks, to serve as a support of deck boards or deck.

Two-Way entry pallet: A pallet with unnotched solid stringers allowing entry only from the two opposite pallet ends; a pallet without notches in stringers

Uniform Standard for Wood Pallets: A comprehensive standard for the manufacture and repair of wood pallets that's available through NWPCA.

Wing: Overhang of deckboard or deck end from the outside edge of the stringer or stringer board, to increase unit-load area, to add pallet load-bearing capacity, to reduce deck-board-end splitting by fasteners, and to facilitate the lifting of a pallet with bar slings hanging from a crane.