How to Choose a Plastic Warehouse Pallet

Everything from raw materials to finished goods are sitting on pallets in warehouses around the world just waiting for their next move.

​How they're sitting and where they're going are both important details for choosing the right plastic warehouse pallet. Let's take a look at some questions that will help point you in the right direction.

Choosing a plastic warehouse pallet depends on your storage environment and handling equipment as well as where it is going and the type of load it is carrying.

What are Warehouse Pallets?

In broad terms, plastic warehouse pallets are strong enough to carry the designated load and rugged enough to keep up with repeated use and hard knocks by forklifts, pallet jacks and other material handling equipment. Now let's get into some of the finer details for choosing warehouse pallets.
  

• Are you Racking the Pallets?
  Looking at rackable plastic pallets is a good starting point, but you have to take it a step further. Are we talking supported or unsupported? Not sure? Check out these seven most common racking systems.
    
• Do you put Pallets on a Conveyor?
  Standard and speciality plastic pallet designs can all work with conveyors. Choosing between nestable, stringer or something else depends on both your load and system for allowing the pallet to roll down a belt or flow down a rack.
  
  
• Are you Stacking the Pallets?
  Does your warehouse double stack or block stack? You may be able to go with a lighter-weight pallet for easier handling. Just make sure you qualify the static load before making your choice. If you're working with bulk bags, you're likely looking at square dimensions.
  
  
• Are you Keeping the Pallets?
  If your warehouse pallets will stay in-house or in a closed loop system, your focus should be on durable HDPE or HDPP plastic materials to get the longest life. If you're exporting (or don't expect the pallet to return after shipping) you can consider a shorter-life material like ACM or PO.

Don't Forget the Load

Your pallet load is especially important and this is where plastic pallet material choices come further into play. How much does the load weigh? Is it evenly distributed? Is the pallet material stiff enough if you're racking? Strong enough if you're stacking? Is your load boxed, bagged or something else? Does your load include food or Pharma ingredients? (You may need a virgin plastic for direct contact.) Overwhelmed? Don't worry. Your pallet professional will help you answer these questions and more to fit your application with the right warehouse pallet.

Are you using plastic pallets in your warehouse? Tell us how you're using them or ask questions in the comments below.

Post by: Mike Cunneen, Director of Sales & Marketing