The stringer pallet, drawn exploded
A stringer pallet has three or more parallel timbers running its length, with deck boards nailed across them top and bottom.
- Size
- 48x40 and others
- Build
- Stringer
- Entry
- Two-way; four-way if notched
- Grade
- Any
- Trades
- Grocery, general freight
The parts
- Stringers: the three long timbers that carry the load
- Top deck boards, laid across the stringers
- Bottom deck boards, which keep the stringers spaced
- Fasteners, nails or screws, which hold the stack together
How a fork finds it
The gaps between stringers are the fork openings. On a plain stringer pallet they face the two short ends, so forks enter from the ends only. Notching the stringers, which means cutting a profile in each, opens the long sides too, and that is how a stringer pallet gets four-way entry.
Why it is the common one
The GMA pallet is a stringer pallet, and 48x40 stringer pallets are the most produced wood pallet in North America. Three timbers and a handful of boards are simple to build, simple to repair and cheap to stack in a yard.
| Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|
| Simple to repair with plugs and plates | A cracked stringer can fail a whole pallet |
| Light for its load | Two-way entry unless notched |
| Widely stocked in 48x40 | Forks from the long side can damage deck boards |
When to choose another build
A block pallet allows every side. A skid skips the bottom boards. Compare them in stringer versus block and skid versus pallet.
Deck boards and spacing
A stringer pallet's top deck is a row of boards with gaps between them. The gaps let air through and save lumber, but a small carton can drop into a wide gap. The cutting-list tool uses three top-board counts for a 48 inch pallet: six for an open deck, seven for standard, nine for near-solid.
Plugs, plates and companion stringers
Because a stringer pallet is a few long pieces, the way it breaks is simple: a stringer cracks, a board splits. The repairs are just as simple. A plug is a short board nailed beside a broken one, 6 to 24 inches long. A metal plate holds a cracked stringer together. A companion stringer is a second stringer fastened beside a cracked one.
Those repairs are why stringer pallets form so much of the used market. See the repair guide and Grade B.
A three-stringer count
A standard stringer pallet has three stringers, each 1.5 by 3.5 inches in cross-section on nominal sizing. A 48 inch pallet needs three of them, each 48 inches long, plus the deck boards.
Stringer pallets and wrapping
Because the bottom deck of a stringer pallet has gaps, stretch wrap can be passed under the load to anchor it to the pallet. A solid deck gives no such option. Many plants use a wrap pattern that catches the bottom board, and a missing or broken bottom board spoils it.
Reading a stringer pallet
A stringer pallet has three parallel boards, the stringers, running the length of the pallet, with deck boards nailed across top and bottom. Notches cut into the stringers allow four-way entry on some designs.
Check for cracked stringers, especially near a notch, and for deck boards that have split at the nails. These are the usual points of failure.
Source: Wikipedia, "Pallet" (read 10 November 2026).
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