The phrase "GMA pallet" has drifted. Strictly it describes a specification: 48 by 40 inches, four-way notched stringer, seven top boards, five bottom boards, ⅝-inch nominal thickness, hardwood, chamfered lead boards. In practice the market uses it to mean any pallet that is 48 by 40.
Four pallets, one name
We regularly see four distinct constructions sold as GMA. A full-specification deck with seven and five boards. A six-and-four deck, which is the most common recycled configuration and perfectly serviceable. A five-and-three economy deck, which is adequate under dense small-footprint loads and inadequate under light cartons. And an unnotched stringer deck, which is 48 by 40 but admits forks from two sides only.
All four will be described identically on a purchase order that says "48×40 GMA". Three of them will surprise somebody.
Where the difference bites
Board count determines how the load bridges. A five-board top deck has wider gaps, and under light cartons that means crush damage at the gap edges — which gets blamed on the carton supplier roughly nine times out of ten. Notching determines whether your pallet jacks can work the way your aisles are designed.
- Specify the board count: "7 top / 5 bottom" is unambiguous.
- Specify entry: "four-way notched" or "two-way".
- Specify thickness if your load is light: ⅝ inch nominal.
- Ask whether repairs are companions or plugs.
- Put all four in the purchase order. It is the whole remedy and it costs nothing.
What we send when you say GMA
Six or seven top boards, four or five bottom, notched stringers, hardwood, from the grade lane you ordered. If you need the full seven-and-five specification, say so and we will pull from the A lane. If you need two-way only because of a conveyor, say that too — it is cheaper, and we would rather sell you the cheaper thing that works.
Written at the Meeks Blvd yard, St. Louis, and published on July 16, 2024. Markets and specifications move; if a figure here no longer matches what you are seeing, tell us and we will update it. Our model constants live on the Carbon Ledger.
How this was written
Drafted at the grading line from our own weighbridge records, line notes and customer correspondence. Figures quoted as ours are measured; figures quoted from the wider industry are labelled as estimates. Nothing here was written to rank for a search term, and we correct articles rather than quietly deleting them.
- Author
- Yard desk
- Published
- July 16, 2024
- Category
- Standards
- Reviewed
- Annually, with the model constants
- Corrections to
- sales@repalletshop.com
What to do with this
- Check the figures against your own invoices before acting on them.
- Ask us for the underlying scale tickets if you need audit evidence.
- Send the article to whoever owns your pallet spec — most of this is their decision.
- Disagree in writing. Several of these pieces exist because a customer corrected us.
How to cite
Yard desk, “Your 48×40 might not be a GMA pallet”, Repallet Shop, July 16, 2024. repalletshop.com/blog/your-48x40-might-not-be-gma