Block or stringer: the honest decision

What 'true four-way' actually buys you

A notched stringer pallet is *partial* four-way: a forklift can enter from all four sides, but a pallet jack cannot. A jack's wheels have to roll along the full length of the entry, and a notch is only nine inches long — the wheels drop off the end.

A block pallet has continuous openings on all four sides, so a jack enters from anywhere. In an operation running manual jacks in tight spaces, that difference is not theoretical; it decides how fast a trailer gets unloaded.

It also matters for automated handling, where the system may not be able to rotate the load to present the right face.

Strength: where the block wins and why

The stringer pallet's weakness is the notch, which removes roughly 40% of the beam depth at the point of highest stress — covered in detail in why pallets break at the notch.

A block pallet has no notch. The load path runs from the top deck, through the deck runners, into nine blocks, into the bottom runners. There is no cut section anywhere in that path.

The consequence shows up most clearly in two places: racked loads, where the pallet spans open air and the notch would be bridging, and high-cycle service, where accumulated notch damage is what eventually retires a stringer pallet.

Cost, weight and the reason stringers still dominate

A block pallet contains more wood. Nine blocks plus perimeter runners top and bottom is simply more material than three stringers, and material is most of a pallet's cost.

It also weighs more, which matters twice: once in freight, and once in manual handling if anyone is moving empties by hand.

And the supply picture is decisive. In North America the reclaimed pool is overwhelmingly stringer pallets, because that is what has been built here for sixty years. A reclaimed 48×40 stringer pallet is available every day at a price a new block pallet cannot approach.

A practical decision rule

Work down this list and stop at the first yes.

• Does a pallet jack need to enter from all four sides? → Block.

• Will it be racked with heavy loads for extended periods? → Block, or an engineered new stringer build.

• Will it cycle more than roughly thirty times? → Block usually wins on total cost despite the higher unit price.

• Is it going into automated handling with tight tolerances? → Block, and specify a dimensional tolerance rather than a nominal size.

• Otherwise → Stringer, reclaimed, Grade B. This covers most freight and it is not a compromise.

We build both. Tell us the load and the handling on the quote form and we will tell you which — including when the cheaper one is right.

The hybrid nobody talks about

There is a middle option that gets overlooked: a stringer pallet with unnotched stringers, giving two-way entry only, but full beam depth throughout.

For an operation that always enters from the same side — which is more common than people realise once you look at the racking layout — this gives close to block-level stringer strength at stringer cost and weight.

It is a real answer for heavy one-directional lanes, and it is a five-minute conversation rather than a redesign.