Field key
Whose pallet is this?
Answer one question at a time about the pallet in front of you. The key ends with who most likely owns it and whether it's yours to sell, recycle or return. Nothing is stored.
A white-wood pallet, and it's yours to sell
You. Unpainted pallets with no owner mark are bought and sold outright, so they belong to whoever received them.
Sound white-wood pallets in common sizes are reused as they are. That's the best outcome for the wood and usually the best price for you.
Count them by size, then send us the count. We buy reusable pallets and collect them.
Your answers so far:
- What is the pallet made of? Wood: boards and nails
- Are the blocks or board ends painted one solid color? Painted another color
- Is there a stenciled or branded owner mark? No owner mark
- How is it built: blocks, or long runners? Blocks: 9 short posts under the deck, forks enter on all four sides
- What shape is it in? Sound: no broken or missing boards
How the key decides
Ownership is marked on the pallet. Rental pools paint their pallets a solid color and stencil or mold their name on them, because they need strays to be recognized and sent back. A pallet with no paint and no owner mark is almost always a white-wood pallet, bought and sold outright. Construction and condition don't change who owns a pallet; they decide whether it's reused, repaired or recycled.
What the key won't tell you
It can't read a pallet you can't see, and colors fade. When a stencil names an owner, the stencil wins over the color. When in doubt, treat a painted pallet as someone else's and ask the company named on it.
All the outcomes
- A rental pallet. It goes back to its owner
- A rental pallet. It goes back to its owner
- A plastic rental pallet. It goes back to its owner
- Probably yours: a plain plastic pallet
- Someone else's pallet: contact the company on the mark
- A white-wood pallet, and it's yours to sell
- A repairable white-wood pallet, yours to sell or recycle
- Scrap: yours to recycle