Glossary of Pallet Terms:

# Block: rectangular, square, multi-sided or cylindrical deck or deck-mat spacer, often identified by its location within the pallet as corner block, end block, edge block, inner block, center or middle block.

# Block Pallet: a type of pallet with blocks between the pallet decks or beneath the top deck

# Bottom Deck: Assembly of deckboards comprising the lower, load bearing surface of the pallet

# Butted Deckboard: An inner deckboard placed tightly against an adjacent lead deckboard during pallet assembly

# Captive Pallet: A pallet intended for use within the confines of a single facility, system or ownership; not intended to be exchanged

# 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 of pallet-jack wheels and tines of forklift trucks

# Closed "Loop" or Closed Distribution System: a shipping system restricted to moving goods between specified plants and facilities

# Cost-Pass-Through: A cost-share system where the partial cost of a pallet is passed-through from the purchaser to the receiver of the pallet

# Cost Per Trip: average cost of pallet or container use for a single one-way movement of the unit load consisting of four to six handlings

# Deck: One or more boards or panels comprising the top or bottom surface of the pallet

# Deckboard: Element or component of a pallet deck, oriented perpendicular to the stringer or stringerboard

# Deckboard Spacing: Distance between adjacent deckboards

# Deckboard Span: Distance between deckboard supports (stringers, stringerboards or blocks)

# Deflection: The amount of deformation or bending in a pallet or pallet component under load

# Economic Life: the number of trips the pallet will make over its lifetime, provided it is properly repaired, which maximized the return on the investment (an output of the PDS software)

# Exchange Pallet: a multiple-use pallet intended for use among a designated group of shippers and receivers where possession of the pallet is transferred with the ownership of the unit load; pool pallet

# Expendable Pallet: a pallet intended for a limited series of handlings during a single unit load movement from shipper to receiver

# Fastener: a device for connecting pallet components such as nails, staples, screws, bolts, lag bolts, adhesives and welds

# Fastener Shear Index: measure of the estimated shear resistance of the pallet fastener relative to the shear resistance of a high-quality "baseline" pallet nail

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

# Fork Entry: Opening between decks, beneath the top deck or beneath the stringer notch to admit forks

# 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

# Free Span: the distance between spacers within the pallet; distance between external pallet supports, as in a warehouse rack

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

# Hand (Wheel) Jack Opening: Space provided in the bottom deck to allow pallet jack wheels to bear on the floor

# Hardwood: a wood from broad-leafed tree species (not necessarily hard in texture or dense)

# Inner Deckboard: Any deckboard located between the end deckboards

# Joint: Intersection and connection of components, often identified by location within the pallet as the end joint, center joint and corner joint

# Length: Refers to the stringer or stringerboard (in block pallets) length; also refers to the first dimension given to describe a pallet i.e., 48" x 40", where 48" is the pallet stringer/stringerboard length

# Life to First Repair: the number of one-way trips of the pallet prior to requiring any repair

# Limited Use Pallet: a pallet designed for an average of up to nine trips, with an average of five handlings per trip in an average environment

# Load Bearing Surface: the interface between pallet top deck and the unit load supported by the pallet; interface between pallet bottom deck and pallet-supporting area

# Multiple Use Pallet: a pallet designed for repeated uses for more than one unit load with an average minimum life-to-first repair of ten trips or more, with an average of five handlings per trip in an average handling environment

# Non-Reversible Pallet: A pallet with bottom deckboard configuration different from top deck

# Notched Stringer: a stringer with two or more notches spaced for fork-tine entry (partial four-way entry)

# Opening Height: The vertical distance measured between decks, from the floor to the underside of the top deck, or from the floor to the top of the stringer notch

# Overall Height: The vertical distance measured from the floor to the top side of the top deck

# Overhang: The distance the deck extends from the outer edge of the stringer or stringerboard; wing; lip; distance the unit load extends beyond the deck

# Pallet Dimensions: When specifying pallet size, the stringer or stringerboard (block pallet) length is always expressed first; for example, a 48" x 40" pallet has a 48" stringer or stringerboard and 40" deckboards

# Pallet Jack: Hand-propelled wheeled platform, equipped with a lifting device for moving palletized unit loads

# Pallet Life: the period during which the pallet remains useful under given maintenance conditions, expressed in units of time or in the number of one-way movements of the pallet

# 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

# Rental Pallet: a pallet owned by other than the user and rented by the user

# Returnable/Reusable Pallet: a pallet designed to be used for more than one trip; multiple-use pallet

# Reversible Pallet: a pallet with identical or similar top and bottom decks, to allow either one to support the unit load

# Shipping Pallet: a pallet designed to be used for a one-direction movement of the unit load from shipper to receiver; it is then recycled or disposed of

# Skid: a pallet without bottom deckboards or deck

# Slave Pallet: a rigid or platform; single, thick panel used as a support base for a palletized load in warehouse rack-storage facilities or production systems

# Softwood: wood from coniferous or needlebearing species of trees (not necessarily soft in texture or of low density)

# Solid Deck Pallet: A pallet constructed with no spacing between deckboards

# Span: The distance between stringer or block supports

# Strapping: Thin flat bands used to secure load to pallet

# 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

# Stringerboard: In block pallets, continuous, solid board member extending for the full length of the pallet perpendicular to deckboard members and placed between deckboards and blocks

# Take-It-Or-Leave-It Pallet: A pallet fitted with fixed cleats on the top deckboards to permit fork truck tines to pass beneath the unit load and remove it from the pallet

# Top Cap: Panel to be placed on top of a unit load to allow for tight strapping without damaging the unit load

# Top-Deck of the Pallet: The assembly of deckboards comprising the upper load-carrying surface of the pallet

# Trip: a series of four to six handlings of a pallet, required to move a palletized unit load from the shipping point to the receiving point

# Two-Way Entry Pallet: A pallet with un-notched solid stringers allowing entry only from the ends

# Unit Load: Assembly of goods on a pallet for handling, moving, storing and stacking as a single entity

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