This is the document we wish every customer had. It takes about twenty minutes to write once, it becomes a part number you re-order against forever, and it eliminates the entire category of dispute that begins "but we assumed".
The fourteen lines
- Footprint: length × width in inches, length first — length being the stringer direction. State millimetres too if you trade internationally.
- Construction: stringer or block. Number of stringers.
- Fork entry: two-way or four-way. And separately: is hand pallet jack access required, and from which sides? This line prevents the most expensive mistake in the industry.
- Top deck: number of boards, board widths, flush or wing, lead board width if different.
- Bottom deck: number of boards, chamfered or square edge.
- Notches: dimensions and corner radius, if notched.
- Lumber: species or species group. Softwood, hardwood, or either.
- Board thickness: nominal, with tolerance.
- Moisture: green, air dried, or kiln dried to a stated percentage.
- Fasteners: stem-threaded, helical or smooth; staggered pattern; driven flush with no protrusion.
- Treatment: none, or ISPM-15 heat treated and marked on two opposite faces. Add: any post-treatment repair must be re-treated and re-marked.
- Grade: A, B, Combo at a stated ratio, or new. If Combo, state the ratio numerically.
- Tolerance: dimensional variance you will accept on footprint and height.
- Load case: weight, distribution, floor or racked, support orientation, stack height, expected dwell time under load.
The three lines people always leave out
Jack access. Covered above and worth repeating, because "four-way" describes forklifts and people read it as describing everything.
Post-treatment repair. Without this clause, a compliant export platform can be repaired on a dock with an untreated board and become silently non-compliant while still carrying the mark.
Load case. Everyone specifies the pallet and nobody specifies what goes on it, which means the supplier is guessing at the only thing that actually determines whether the specification is adequate.
What to do with it once written
Assign it a part number. Re-order against the number, not against the conversation. Send the same document to every supplier you quote, which is how you get comparable prices instead of seven different products at seven different prices.
And one request from our side
Send us the load case before you finalise the rest. Half the specs we receive are over-built in one dimension and under-built in another, and we can usually save you money and improve performance at the same time — but only if we see the load before the drawing is frozen.
A worked example, filled in
Part number PR-SPEC-001, as we would write it back to you after a conversation. This is a real shape of document rather than a template to admire.
- Footprint: 48.0 in × 40.0 in (1219 × 1016 mm), length = stringer direction. Tolerance ±0.5 in.
- Construction: three-stringer, notched. Hand pallet jack access required from the 40-in faces; notches dimensioned accordingly.
- Top deck: 7 boards. Leads 5.5 in, interior 3.875 in. Flush, no wing.
- Bottom deck: 5 boards, outer two chamfered.
- Notches: radiused internal corners.
- Lumber: softwood or mixed hardwood acceptable. No preference.
- Board thickness: 0.625 in nominal, ±0.0625.
- Moisture: no specification; stock to be dry to the touch and free of visible mould.
- Fasteners: stem-threaded, staggered, driven flush, no protrusion.
- Treatment: none. Domestic lanes only.
- Grade: B / #2. Plugs and companion boards acceptable; stringers may be repaired.
- Load case: 1,800 lb uniformly distributed, floor-stacked two high, fork and jack handling, dwell under load up to 10 days.
- Release: 260 units weekly, Tuesday window 07:00–11:00, delivered.
- Recovery: surplus collected on the same run, priced by grade, credited monthly.
The three clauses that prevent arguments
Non-conformance. "Photographic evidence within five business days constitutes notice; supplier collects and replaces affected units at supplier cost; physical return not required prior to replacement." This single clause removes the entire category of dispute that begins with somebody demanding the goods back before accepting there is a problem.
Post-treatment repair. For any export specification: "any repair, modification or supplementary bracing applied after treatment must use debarked ISPM-15 treated material and the unit must be re-marked." Closes the void that otherwise travels silently.
Grade ratio. For Combo: state it numerically, as a percentage, counted per delivery rather than averaged across a quarter. "Combo" without a number is an invitation to a disagreement neither party can win.
What to do with the document
Assign it a part number and re-order against the number. Send the identical document to every supplier you quote, which is how you get comparable prices for the same product instead of seven different products at seven different prices. Review it annually, not never.
And the request from our side, again
Send us the load case before the drawing is frozen. Half the specifications that arrive fully completed are over-built in one dimension and under-built in another, and we can usually improve performance and reduce cost at the same time — but only while the document is still a draft.
Marcus, yard supervisor · Pallets Recycle, 1113 Ingram Ave, Richmond VA · published July 14, 2026 · 823 words. Corrections welcome — tell us if we have this wrong.