A pallet is a flat, usually wooden, platform that forms the structural base of a unit load. Its standardized deck boards and stringers create forklift and pallet-jack openings, allowing material handlers to easily grasp, lift, and transport goods while simultaneously giving the load limited protection from ground contact and minor impact. Crates, drums, and wire-mesh containers may also be wood or metal, but they are enclosed (crates), cylindrical (drums), or fabricated of steel mesh; none serves primarily as the open, graspable handling base described in the question.

A. Crates are fully or partially enclosed wood boxes; forklift access is indirect—handlers grasp the crate, not an integrated handling base.

C. Wire mesh containers are steel, not wood, and resemble cages, not flat handling bases.

D. Drums are cylindrical barrels (metal, plastic, or fiber); they lack integrated fork openings and are seldom wooden.

1. National Wooden Pallet & Container Association, “Pallet Design System Manual,” Sect. 1.1, Definition of a Pallet, pp. 1–2.

2. F. White & M. Hamner, “Wood Pallets: A Review,” Forest Products Journal 56(4), 2006, p. 20 (DOI:10.13073/0015-7473-56.4.19).

3. Georgia Institute of Technology, ISyE 3103 “Manufacturing & Supply Chain Engineering” course notes, Unit 5: Materials Handling, slide 12—definition and function of pallets.