Five Pallet Terms for Packaging Pupils

When you’re purchasing or researching pallets, you might come across a lot of terms that you don’t recognize. This can easily become overwhelming, so we want to help shed a little light on some unfamiliar terms.

Sometimes, you might see words you already know that take on a completely new meaning in the context of the packaging industry. It’s not always immediately clear what we mean when we use some of these words when referring to pallets, so we would like to bring our customers a bit more clarity on the topic.

Our goal is to help you make the most informed decisions about your pallets as possible. A little extra pallet knowledge can go a long way, so check out these five pallet terms below!

1. Cup – The cup is a conical, square or rectangular spacer designed to facilitate pallet nesting.
2. Deck – The deck is the top or bottom surface of a pallet. Decks can be slatted, close-boarded or solid.
3. Deflection – Deflection is the amount of flexural deformation or bending due to the weight of a load
4. Entry – The entry is the opening between decks to permit passage of lifting devices such as forklifts.
5. Step – Step is surface unevenness of a wood component, which results from sawing or planing.

Did you enjoy this mini-pallet lesson, or do you have bigger and bolder questions that need answered? Let us know in the comments, and we'll do our best to address your questions as they come.

Note: These terms and their definitions were provided by the Approved American National Standard on Pallets, Slip Sheets and Other Bases for Unit Loads.