Custom plastic pallets: what makers can change
What can change
- Colour
- Multiple colours on some models
- Marks
- Hot-stamped logos on four sides (one maker's model)
- Tracking
- RFID compatibility
- Recycled content
- Up to 30 percent black, up to 10 percent colour (one model)
- Food colours
- FDA-approved colours offered on some models
Makers offer colours, hot-stamped marks, RFID compatibility and recycled-content ranges on many models. Rehrig Pacific's 40 x 48 heavy-duty nestable, for one, is offered in multiple colours with hot-stamped logos on all four sides, a soft perimeter lip, RFID compatibility and recycled-content options.
We source custom specs from makers. Tell us which of these you need and we ask the maker what is available on the model that fits your footprint and ratings.
The options, one by one
| Option | What makers say | Check |
|---|---|---|
| Colour | Several colours; FDA-approved colours on some models | Colour can affect which resin and colourant documents you hold |
| Hot-stamped marks | Logos on all four sides on the Rehrig heavy-duty nestable | Mark position, and whether it affects the rating |
| RFID compatibility | Offered on Rehrig's nestable and rackable pallets | Tag type and where it sits |
| Recycled content | Heavy-duty nestable: up to 30 percent black, up to 10 percent colour. Standard-duty nestable: up to 90 percent in black. Rackable: up to 15 percent black. | Recycled content and food use rarely mix. Ask for the document. |
| Soft perimeter lip | On the heavy-duty nestable | Handling and stacking fit |
These are one maker's published options on three of its models. Other makers offer their own. Never assume an option exists on a model: it is a quote question.
Why buyers customise
Brand owners use colour and marks to keep their pallets out of other people's loops. A grocer's dock might use one colour for fresh and another for dry. An exporter might want a pallet that stays recognisable from plant to port. A tracked closed loop wants RFID. Each option adds a line to the spec that must repeat exactly on every later order.
How to send a custom-spec request
- State the footprint and the three ratings you need.
- List the options: colour, marks, RFID, recycled content.
- Say whether the pallet must nest, stack or rack.
- Say whether the order is one-time or a standing supply. Custom specs suit standing supply: the model repeats.
- Add the ship-to ZIP.
Send it with the form below, or read the RFID, colours and marks guide first.
What to write on a custom spec
- The footprint and the three ratings.
- The colour, as a name your maker can match, and the recycled share it allows.
- Where marks go: Rehrig hot-stamps logos on all four sides of its heavy-duty nestable.
- Whether RFID is moulded in or added, and which tag the tracking system reads.
- Whether a soft perimeter lip is wanted to protect the load.
- The quantity in uniform lots.
Custom work repeats: a mark and a colour are chosen once and then ordered again. That is the case for writing the whole line down on the first order, and keeping it with the account.
Why custom work favours a standing account
A colour and a hot-stamped mark are chosen once, then ordered many times. If the mark is wrong on the first lot, the second inherits the error unless the spec is corrected, so we write the line once and keep it with the account. Recycled content that limits colour is the other item worth settling on the first order.
Questions before a custom request
- Is a standard size with a custom colour or mark enough, or does the footprint itself need to change?
- What are the three ratings the pallet must reach, and under which test?
- How many will be needed in the first year, and in the second?
- Who owns the mould if one is built?
What a custom request can change
Custom work spans a range. At the light end it is a colour, a logo or a barcode area on a standard model. At the heavy end it is a new footprint, which needs a steel mould and a quantity large enough to justify one. Say which end you are on, since the reply will be very different.
From request to trailer
- Send the ship-to. A delivery ZIP, a footprint and a quantity, in pallets or in trailers. If you do not know a rating, describe the load.
- We match a model. We pick a maker and model whose published static, dynamic and racking load fit the load, and say so when only one maker fits.
- You get a count. The quote carries the maker's own per-trailer figure where one is published, and says plainly where none is.
- Papers and delivery. For food or pharma we attach the resin and colourant documents. A standing supply repeats the same line on every order.
What a complete request carries
- The footprint, in inches or millimetres, and whether it is fixed by a rack bay or a container.
- How many pallets, or how many 53 ft trailers.
- The ratings the load needs: static for the stack, dynamic for the move, racking only if the pallet sits on beams.
- Food, pharma, chemical, automotive, warehouse or export use, which sets the papers.
- One load now, or a standing supply with the same line on every order.
- Where it goes and when, and anything marked on the pallet: colour, logo, RFID tag.
Terms on this page
- Nestable
- Empty pallets stack inside one another, cutting empty storage space by up to 75 percent.
- Closed loop
- Pallets that travel between known sites and come back, so they are never lost to a downstream user.
- PP
- Polypropylene. More rigid than HDPE and better with heat and harsh chemicals; used where rack stiffness matters.
- Lip
- Raised edge on the deck, or an optional soft lip, that keeps the load in place.
- Rackable
- Rated to sit on rack beams, with a stated racking load.
- RFID
- Radio tag moulded or fixed into a pallet so it can be tracked.
- Edge rack
- Resting on the rack beams by the pallet's edges only, with no support in the middle.
- Recycled-content pallet
- A pallet moulded partly or wholly from post-industrial or post-consumer resin.
- Static load
- Weight a pallet carries at rest, or the bottom pallet carries when stacked. The highest of the three ratings.
- Dynamic load
- Weight a pallet carries while moving on a forklift, pallet jack or conveyor.
Questions at the dock
Can I get plastic pallets in a custom colour?
Many makers offer colours. Availability is model by model, so we ask the maker for your footprint and rating.
Can pallets carry my logo?
Hot-stamped logos on all four sides are offered on at least one maker's heavy-duty nestable. Others vary.
Do RFID plastic pallets cost more?
We state no prices. Tell us the tag you need in the form.
Keep reading
Last reviewed 2026-11-12.