The history of the forklift and the pallet is closely intertwined. So which came first? The answer depends partly on what we mean by a pallet. (Updated September 2026.)
Did the pallet come first, or the forklift? It is a question pallet industry pioneers were asking decades ago, including the late Bill Sardo, the first president of the National Wooden Pallet & Container Association.
The short answer is that the lift truck came first, if by pallet we mean the modern industrial platform designed to work with mechanized handling equipment. But the history is more complicated than that. Humans have been moving loads on sledges, runners and other wooden structures for thousands of years, and pallet-like platforms were later used to support and stabilize goods such as barrels and kegs. Those devices, however, should not automatically be confused with the industrial skid or pallet.
As explored in STACKED: Skidding Is Ancient. The Shop Skid Isn’t, the important development was not simply placing a load on a wooden base. It was the emergence of a portable load platform designed to interact with a separate materials-handling device. That story begins in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The Lift Truck Came Before the Modern Pallet
Early industrial trucks did not have forks. They generally relied on a platform that could be raised a short distance beneath a load. A crude low-lift hand truck capable of elevating a load a few inches appeared in the late 1800s, followed by more durable powered low-lift trucks in the early 20th century. By 1915, manufacturers were producing powered platform trucks capable of both horizontal travel and powered lifting.
These machines worked with raised load platforms supported on legs or other structures that allowed the truck platform to slide underneath. Early load platforms varied considerably. Some incorporated wood and iron or steel components, while others were fitted with casters and could be repositioned manually. Still others rested directly on legs or stringers. From this mix of equipment and load bases, the industrial skid began to emerge.
From Dunnage to the Skid
As lift trucks became capable of raising loads high enough to stack them, operators needed a better way to support and retrieve unit loads. Before suitable skids were widely available, relatively rigid loads such as lumber could be set down on wooden spacers or dunnage so the truck platform could be withdrawn.
The process was cumbersome and potentially dangerous. Operators sometimes had to leave the truck to position the spacers before lowering the load, adding labor and exposing them to the load-handling area. The introduction of forks changed the equation. Boards could be fastened across wooden stringers to create a load platform that the forks could enter directly, allowing a much broader range of products to be unitized and handled without repeatedly placing loose dunnage.
This transition is explored in more detail in Origins of the Pallet Before World War II, where the skid appears as part of a broader progression in mechanized materials handling rather than as an isolated invention.
Why Add a Bottom Deck?
The skid solved one problem, but it introduced others. When loaded skids were stacked directly on top of one another, their stringers concentrated weight onto relatively narrow areas of the load below. That could crush cartons or other products that lacked sufficient vertical strength, while the stringers themselves could also become unstable under some stacking conditions.
Adding deckboards to the bottom helped address both problems. The bottom deck distributed weight over a wider area and helped stabilize the stringer structure. That seemingly simple change was an important step toward the double-faced wooden pallet familiar today.
The evolution was gradual rather than the result of a single moment of invention. Historical records contain a variety of early platforms, skids and patented pallet designs as manufacturers worked through the practical problems of mechanized handling. George Raymond’s 1937 patent for a double-faced pallet was one notable milestone, but it was part of a much broader process already underway.
The Forklift and Pallet Evolved Together
By the 1920s, the basic elements of the modern lift truck were taking shape. Trucks capable of lifting unit loads vertically transformed the economics of warehouse and factory space because loads no longer had to remain on the floor. They could be stacked in tiers, making much better use of building height. Early high-lift machines were commonly described as tiering trucks for precisely that reason.
Pallet and lift truck development increasingly reinforced one another. Better trucks encouraged the development of better load platforms, while better pallets increased what lift trucks could accomplish. Trade publications from the period also show that palletized unit loads were occasionally being shipped between facilities by the 1920s, although palletized transportation remained unusual. Before World War II, pallets and skids were still used mainly within factories and warehouses rather than as a standard shipping platform.
The broader history of the fork truck helps show how closely the two technologies evolved together.
World War II Pushed Palletization Into the Mainstream
By the late 1930s, the essential ingredients were already available. Forklifts existed, double-faced pallets had been developed, and companies had demonstrated that unit-load handling could reduce labor and improve storage efficiency. What was still missing was widespread adoption.
World War II supplied the catalyst. The enormous volume of military supplies moving through U.S. depots exposed the limitations of hand handling, and military organizations increasingly paired forklifts with pallets to accelerate receiving, storage and shipment. Millions of pallets were procured during the war, forklift fleets expanded dramatically, and pallet handling became standard practice at many military facilities.
The war also encouraged further refinement of pallet design, including wider adoption of four-way entry and other features that improved handling flexibility. Pallets During World War II: How Wartime Logistics Made Palletization Inevitable looks at that transformation in greater detail, while Why Use Two When One Will Do? provides another glimpse into the military push for more efficient unit-load handling.
After the war, surplus equipment, experienced personnel and growing recognition of the productivity benefits of palletized handling helped spread the system throughout commercial industry.
So Which Really Came First?
If almost any raised wooden platform supporting a load is called a pallet, then pallet-like structures can be traced back far earlier than the forklift. But that broad definition obscures the more important industrial history.
The modern pallet emerged after mechanized materials-handling equipment. Low-lift platform trucks came first, the industrial skid developed alongside them, and forks and high-lift trucks expanded the possibilities for stacking. Adding a bottom deck then helped transform the skid into the modern double-faced pallet.
Neither technology developed in isolation. The forklift created the need and opportunity for better unit-load platforms, while the pallet ultimately allowed the forklift to reach its full potential. Their development together changed materials handling.
Visit our STACKED story hub, our pallet history hub and Pallet Problems: Answers to Common Pallet Questions.
Originally published in 2010. Updated in 2026 to reflect additional historical research into the development of lift trucks, industrial skids and the modern pallet.
Rick LeBlanc, EMBA, is the founder and editor of Reusable Packaging News (subscribe to the free newsletter) and editor of Western Pallet Magazine. A supply chain journalist with more than 30 years of experience, he specializes in pallets, reusable packaging, material handling and related operations. Rick is co-author of Pallets: A North American Perspective and Pallets & Progress: A Collected History of Pallets and Palletized Handling 1922–1945. He is also an advisory board member of the Virginia Tech Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design. Read Rick’s full bio.
