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 repairable white-wood pallet, yours to sell or recycle
You. It's unpainted and unmarked.
A pallet with a frame that's intact and one or two broken deck boards is normally repaired with reclaimed boards and goes back into use. It's worth less than a sound pallet but more than scrap.
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? Runners: 3 long boards (stringers), forks enter from two ends
- What shape is it in? One or two deck boards broken, frame intact
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