Free pallets: what to know first
Free pallets are free for a reason. Some are fine and some are unsafe: a pallet that held chemicals, sat in the rain or carries a methyl bromide mark should not go near food or a home. Read the stamp, smell the wood and check the frame before you take any.
Where free pallets come from
Stores, restaurants and warehouses clear pallets because they have no room. A dock with a pile outside will often let you take a few. The ones worth taking are the ones you can inspect in daylight. The ones to refuse are the ones you cannot.
A five-point check
| Check | What you want | What to refuse |
|---|---|---|
| Stamp | HT, or no mark on a domestic pallet | MB (methyl bromide fumigation) for anything indoors or near food |
| Smell | Wood, nothing else | Chemical, sour or mildew |
| Moisture | Dry to the touch | Damp, dark or growing fuzz |
| Frame | Tight, no cracks through the stringers | A split stringer or loose nails |
| Paint | No color, or a spray stripe | Blue or red; those belong to a pooler |
Wood below 20% moisture will not support mold, mildew or decay (Pallet Enterprise).
Pallets are free; moving them is not
A pallet weighs somewhere between 33 and 48 lb unloaded, and a stack of a dozen is a truck job. Add the time to sort them and the space to store them, and the pallets are not free for you. If you only need a few, take sound ones. If you need many, buy a sorted lot; see buy used pallets.
When a load is worth paying for
- You need one size, one grade, on a schedule.
- The pallets go to a customer who will reject a broken one.
- You ship food, medicine or anything near a clean room; see mold.
The hidden costs of a free pallet
Free pallets cost time: finding them, loading them, sorting out the bad ones and storing the rest. They also cost risk, since a pallet of unknown history can carry mold, chemical residue or pests. A business that ships product on a free pallet is taking that risk on behalf of its customer.
The alternative is not always expensive. A sorted lot of used pallets from a desk that has read them costs little and removes the guesswork.
Why free pallets are rarely free
A pallet someone has left outside still belongs to someone: the store, the shipper, or a pooling company if it is blue or red. Taking pallets without asking is the easy way to start a dispute, and pooled pallets are the property of their owner whatever shape they are in.
If you want pallets for a project, ask the business that has them. Many are glad to have a pile cleared, and some will say no because the pallets go back into their own supply.
A sound way to ask
- Ask a manager, not a passing employee.
- Say how many you want and when you will collect them.
- Skip anything marked as a pooling company’s.
- Check for a stamp and for smell: a musty pallet is a pallet to leave.
Questions
- Is it safe to reuse free pallets for furniture?
- Only if the stamp is HT or absent, the wood is dry and clean, and the pallet did not carry chemicals.
- What does MB on a pallet mean?
- The pallet was fumigated with methyl bromide. We keep them away from food and indoor use.