Walk any dock and you will hear it: 'We only run A-grade.' Ask why, and the honest answer is usually that A-grade looks better, and looking better feels safer. But the repair techniques that drop a pallet from A to B are structural, not cosmetic.
What a plug is
A plug is a piece of lumber fitted into a damaged stringer and nailed or plated in place. Done properly, a plugged stringer carries its rated load. What it does not do is look continuous — and that single visual cue is the whole difference between two price tiers.
What a companion board is
A companion board is a second board nailed alongside a cracked one, sharing the span. It adds mass and, in bending, often adds stiffness. It also announces loudly that this pallet has been repaired.
Where A-grade is genuinely worth it
- Automated systems with tight tolerances — a plug can foul a conveyor rail.
- Retail floor-ready display, where the pallet is part of the merchandising.
- Food and pharma programmes with documented cosmetic criteria.
- Export shipments where a customs officer's judgement is in play.
Where it is not
Internal plant moves. Yard storage. Raw-material staging. Construction supply. Bulk inbound. In those lanes a B-grade platform does identical work at roughly 60–70% of the cost, and it keeps a serviceable pallet out of the grinder for another eighteen months. That is not a compromise. That is the whole point.
Written by the Pallets Recycle yard crew, Richmond VA. Corrections welcome — tell us if we have this wrong.