How much does a pallet weigh?

A hardwood Australian standard pallet is a two person lift. A plastic nestable one goes on a shoulder. The difference decides how many fit on a small truck, what the racking beam is carrying and who is allowed to move them by hand.

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Quick answer

How much does a pallet weigh?

A pallet can weigh anything from 6 kg to 60 kg depending on the material and the build: a hardwood Australian standard 1165 x 1165 pallet weighs about 30 to 45 kg, a softwood one 20 to 28 kg, a 2 tonne heavy duty hardwood pallet 45 to 60 kg, a Euro pallet about 25 kg, a nestable plastic pallet 6 to 12 kg and a rackable plastic pallet 18 to 30 kg. The weight counts towards the truck's payload and the racking beam's load, and a hardwood pallet is a two person lift.

The numbers

What does each type of pallet weigh?

Pallet	Size	Typical weight	What moves it
Australian standard, hardwood	1165 x 1165 mm	30 to 45 kg	Timber species and moisture. New hardwood sits at the top of the range; a dry, used pallet nearer the bottom.
Australian standard, softwood (pine)	1165 x 1165 mm	20 to 28 kg	Board thickness and how many top boards it carries.
Heavy duty hardwood, 2 tonne rated	1165 x 1165 mm	45 to 60 kg	Thicker bearers and full top deck for racking at 2 tonnes.
Euro pallet	1200 x 800 mm	About 25 kg, up to 30 kg wet	Softwood build to a fixed specification, so the range is narrow.
Export pallet, softwood, heat treated	1100 x 1100 or 1200 x 1000 mm	18 to 25 kg	Built light on purpose because freight is paid on weight.
Half pallet	1165 x 582 mm	12 to 18 kg	Roughly half a standard pallet, hand moved on retail floors.
Plastic, nestable	1165 x 1165 or 1200 x 1000 mm	6 to 12 kg	Thin moulded deck, stacks inside itself, not for racking.
Plastic, rackable	1165 x 1165 or 1200 x 1000 mm	18 to 30 kg	Heavier moulding and often steel reinforcing bars, built to sit on beams.

The figures are ranges because timber is not a manufactured material: two hardwood pallets from the same stack can be 8 kg apart. Put a pallet on a floor scale if a number has to go on a manifest, and weigh it wet if it has been sitting outside. Hardwood soaks up rain and a wet pallet can carry a few extra kilograms it loses again once it dries.

Why it matters

Why does pallet weight change the price of a job?

Payload on small trucks. A 2 tonne truck carries 1,900 kg across four pallet positions, which is 475 kg a position before the pallet itself is counted. Forty kilograms of hardwood under every load is 160 kg of the payload gone before a carton is loaded. On a courier van with two positions it is the same story. The pallets per truck page has the payload for every vehicle class.

Freight charged on weight. Shared freight is charged on space or weight, whichever runs out first. Dense freight on heavy hardwood pallets hits the weight limit early, which is why exporters and air freight forwarders buy light softwood or plastic pallets and pay a little more for the pallet to save a lot on the freight.

Racking. A beam is rated for the load it carries, and the pallet is part of that load. A 50 kg heavy duty pallet under 1,500 kg of stock is 1,550 kg on the beam pair. Small on one bay, real across a run of racking that was specified to the stock weight alone. See which pallets are safe in racking.

Lifting by hand. A hardwood standard pallet is a two person lift or a forklift job; nobody should be carrying one across a yard. Softwood and nestable plastic pallets are the ones a single person can reasonably handle, which is why retail back rooms and food sites buy them even when the timber version is cheaper.

Choosing on weight

Which pallet should I buy if weight matters?

Export by air or sea, freight paid on weight: a heat treated softwood export pallet or a nestable plastic pallet. Lightest first, then check the load rating.
Racking at a tonne or more: hardwood grade A or a 2 tonne heavy duty pallet. Accept the extra weight for the strength.
Moved by hand on a shop floor: a half pallet or a nestable plastic pallet.
Food and pharmaceutical sites: rackable plastic where it goes into beams, nestable plastic where it does not. Washable, and no loose timber.
Everyday warehouse to warehouse freight on a standard truck: the standard 1165 hardwood pallet, because the whole supply chain is built around it and the weight is already allowed for.

Every type is on the pallet guide with its own page and spec table, and published from-prices for the standard grades are on the prices page.

Getting a number

Tell us the load and the vehicle, and the pallet comes with it.

Say what is going on the pallet, how it travels and whether it goes into racking, and the quote names the pallet type and grade with the weight allowed for. Priced the same business day when you ask before 2pm.

Get a price on pallets Which pallet size and grade do I need?

Questions about pallet weight

How much does a standard Australian pallet weigh?

A hardwood 1165 x 1165 pallet weighs about 30 to 45 kg. New hardwood is at the top of the range, a dry used pallet nearer the bottom, and rain adds a few kilograms until it dries out. A softwood version of the same pallet is about 20 to 28 kg.

How much does a Euro pallet weigh?

About 25 kg dry and up to 30 kg wet. Euro pallets are built to one fixed specification in softwood, so there is less variation than with Australian hardwood pallets.

How much does a plastic pallet weigh?

A nestable plastic pallet is 6 to 12 kg. A rackable plastic pallet with steel reinforcing is 18 to 30 kg, close to timber, because it has to carry a load across two beams without sagging.

Does the pallet weight count towards the truck's payload?

Yes. Payload is everything on the truck, pallets included. On a 2 tonne truck that is 1,900 kg across four positions, so forty kilograms of pallet under each load takes 160 kg off what you can carry.

What is the lightest pallet I can rack?

A rackable plastic pallet or a sound softwood pallet rated for the load. Nestable plastic pallets and one way export pallets are not built to span beams. The racking page sets out which grades are safe and why.

Can one person lift a pallet?

A nestable plastic or half pallet, yes. A hardwood standard pallet is a two person lift or a forklift job. Treat anything over about 25 kg as a shared lift on a site with manual handling rules.

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