Standard size pallets, including plastic pallets, are used to support goods above a floor so that they can be lifted and moved by fork tines, such as on a fork lift. For storage or shipping, the pallets may be loaded into a rack where the loaded pallets are supported only at outer edges on rails in the pallet rack.
Sometimes it is more convenient to use half-size pallets, especially when the pallets are intended to be delivered into a store or into a refrigerator or freezer where a standard-size pallet would be unwieldy. However, in a warehouse or distribution facility where there is plenty of room for standard size pallets, the half pallets still require twice as much handling, because the fork lift will have to handle each half-pallet separately. Further, the half-pallets cannot be stored on a pallet rack.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds