The Different Types of Pallets Explained

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If you go to any of the pallet suppliers in Australia, you will probably think that all the pallets look very similar, there is no big difference to those stacks of wooden pallets, or even other types like plastic pallets, at the end of the day your eye can only see stacks of pallets with hollow centres coming in different sizes, but as one of the leading pallets suppliers in Sydney, we are here to let you know that no two pallets are alike.

Walking into a pallets warehouse, what types of pallets should you expect to see?

  1. Block Pallet

This is also known as ‘Four-way entry pallet’, as it can be accessed by a forklift in a warehouse or storage facility from all four sides. They can be made of a range of materials, including timber, plastic and plywood. They are generally formed of 4 to 12 cylindrical wooden posts to stabilize the top deck boards. Block pallets are usually more expensive than typical stringer pallets.

Block pallets come in different configurations, or you can order custom pallets from your local pallets’ supplier. They can either have bottom boards or not, they do have a great handling efficiency, as their design is based on both perpendicular and parallel stringers.

2. Stringer Pallet

This design gets its support from the stringers between the top and bottom deck, which is board-shaped and replacing the blocks in the former design. They are cost-efficient and can be supplied in 2 different main configurations: the ‘two-way stringer pallet’ and ‘four-way stringer pallet’. The names explain how those pallets can be accessed from by a forklift, from two sides for the former, and four sides for the latter.

The four-way stringer pallet can be further classified into those with notched stringers and those with block designs. The difference between both designs is how they allow entry with pallet jacks. Notched stringer pallets allow two-way entry only, while block design pallets allow four-way entry with pallet jacks. Both designs though allow four-way entry with forklifts.

3. Single-face & Double-face Pallet

Pallets can come in two main categories: single-face and double-face. The difference is within the presence of decks on the bottom of the pallet or not, which aids in increasing the strength of the pallet by evenly distributing the weight of the loaded items.
The double-face pallet can be supplied in two types: reversible and non-reversible, which basically means a pallet can be flipped to load items on either side the pallet for the reversible pallet, and the non-reversible pallet generally have one surface with more densely packed planks for storing and packing.

4. Double-wing Pallet

This pallet is constructed in such a way to have the top and/or bottom decks extending out beyond the stringers or stringer boards, which creates an optical illusion of a pallets with wings. It has the benefit of being stronger with high weight bearing capabilities without the need of adding another stringer board, however the end boards of wing can damage easier.

5. Solid Deck Pallet
This type of pallets has one large sheet of wood with no gaps, making them ideal for the transport of small items. They are also easier to clean and transport and have a more appealing look than most other pallets. These pallets are considered aesthetically appealing to many end-users.

As a leading pallet manufacturer in Sydney, we have covered some of the major pallet types we supply to a range of customers. If you would like to place an order for custom pallets, talk to us today, we are committed to providing our clients with the highest quality pallets across Australia.