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Pallet Calculator

Table of contents

Types of palletsWhat are the standard pallet sizes?How many packages fit on a pallet?How much weight can a pallet hold?How to use the pallet calculatorFAQs

The pallet calculator can easily find the maximum number of packages 📦 you can fit on a pallet paired with the package placement needed to achieve that. You can change the options in the calculator to suit your needs, including pallet dimensions, package dimensions, maximum height, and maximum load weight.

Below, you'll find a short text detailing:

  • How many packages fit on a pallet?

  • How much weight can a pallet hold?

  • How to calculate pallet volume.

  • How to use our pallet calculator.

    Even though our tool is straightforward, we'll give a few examples of its different use cases.

Types of pallets

Before calculating how many bricks fit on a pallet, we need to determine the type of pallet we are talking about.

Pallets are used to store, transport, or stack any goods. They come in different standardized sizes and materials according to their use in each industry.

Each of them has its own design and supports different weights than the others, so be sure to check with your supplier for that information.

💡 Pair this tool with our freight class calculator to build a complete analysis of your shipping costs.

What are the standard pallet sizes?

Here's the list of the most commonly used pallet sizes and the regions where they are used the most:

Size

Region(s)

1219×1016 mm or 48×40 inches

North America

1200×1000 mm or 47.24×39.37 inches

Europe and Asia

1165×1165 mm or 42×42 inches

Australia

1100×1100 mm or 43.30×43.30 inches

Asia

1067×1067 mm or 42×42 inches

North America, Europe, and Asia

1200×800 mm or 47.24×31.50 inches

Europe

How many packages fit on a pallet?

If you want to know how many packages fit on a pallet, don't worry. We'll explain everything you need to know 😊

To find the maximum number of packages/boxes we can fit on a pallet within a limited volume, we need to test each possible pallet stacking pattern and keep the one with the highest package count.

Possible pallet stacking patterns

Picture yourself looking at an empty pallet from the top: What are all the possible ways to arrange the packages on the first layer?

Let's begin by describing one of these possible arrangements for a single package.

Assume we first position the package on the top left corner so that its width is parallel to the pallet's width and one of the other sides is parallel to the pallet's length. We keep placing packages next to each other using this orientation until we run out of space on the pallet's width. This is our first row. Parallel to this row, we place an equal row of packages and repeat until we run out of space on the pallet's length. That completes our first layer and is one of the possible arrangements.

Remember, we didn't specify which side was parallel to the pallet's length. By placing the package's width parallel to the pallet's width, we can choose either the package's length or height to be parallel to the pallet's length, with the remaining side parallel to a vertical plane.

We can repeat this thought process and conclude that we have two possible arrangements for each side we choose to be parallel to the pallet's width. That leaves us with six possible arrangements:

Parallel to pallet's width

Parallel to pallet's length

Parallel to a vertical plane

Side A

Side B

Side C

Side A

Side C

Side B

Side B

Side A

Side C

Side B

Side C

Side A

Side C

Side A

Side B

Side C

Side B

Side A

Finding the maximum number of packages

Now that we know all the different ways in which we can place the packages, we need to find the pallet stacking pattern that allows us to store a greater number of them. For that, we need to count the boxes in all the different arrangements and take whichever is the largest.

This is a tedious process that should be done by a computer or, better yet, a pallet calculator!

🙋 Notice that you can use this logic with any object with a cube or rectangular cuboid shape. You can easily find how many bricks fit on a pallet by specifying the dimensions of a single brick and choosing any from the standard pallet sizes.

Feel free to check our brick calculator 🧱, too, to aid with your construction projects.

How much weight can a pallet hold?

About 4600 pounds. A standard North American pallet (48×40 inches) can hold a maximum load of about 4600 lb or 2087 kg. However, this load capacity varies significantly with the pallet's material and design.

Our pallet calculator also allows you to input a custom weight limit and package weight to further tweak the tool to your needs.

How to use the pallet calculator

To use our tool, follow these simple steps:

  1. Select your pallet size or choose the 'Custom size' option to type in your own.

  2. Type in the maximum load height (so it doesn't include the height of the pallet itself).

  3. Input the dimensions for each package.

  4. Our calculator will automatically find the best possible arrangement (if possible), the number of packages it contains, and instructions on replicating it.

You can also use the 'Take weight into account?' option to specify the weight limit of your pallet.

Example

Assume we want to find out how many 15×20×10 cm boxes fit on a 1200×1000 mm pallet with a maximum load height of 100 cm.

  1. We select the 'Pallet type' option and pick '1200×1000 mm (47.24×39.37 inches)'.

  2. Now, we write the maximum load height (100 cm) in the field with the same name.

  3. Lastly, we input the length of each side of the boxes in the 'Side A', 'Side B', and 'Side C' fields. You can input the sides in any order.

  4. We can check the results and see that this pallet can hold 480 boxes with these dimensions.

  5. Our calculator will also output helpful information, such as the number of packages per layer and pallet utilization figure %. This last number is obtained by dividing the sum of the volume occupied by each package by the total pallet volume, and a greater number means more efficient use of space.

If you intend to use this pallet calculator to aid you with shipping orders or logistics 🚚, the CBM calculator might interest you too!

FAQs

How do I calculate a pallet's volume?

To calculate a pallet's volume, follow these steps:

  1. Write down the width and length of your pallet.

  2. Write down the maximum load height allowed by your pallet. This height should not account for the pallet's height, only the load's.

  3. Multiply these three parameters to get the pallet's volume:

    width × length × height = volume

How many bricks fit on a pallet?

1022. Approximately 1022 bricks fit on a standard 48×40 inches (1219×1016 mm) pallet. Assuming a maximum load weight of 4600 lb and 4.5 lb on average per brick, you can divide one number by the other to get the maximum amount of bricks you can place on the pallet 4600/4.5 = 1022.22 rounded down to 1022.

Pallet Dimensions

Package dimensions

Your result will appear here after filling all the fields.

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