What "Grade A" actually means — and why it belongs in writing
Ask five pallet vendors what a Grade A is and you'll get five answers — which is exactly how grade disputes happen at receiving. The market standard: a Grade A recycled 48x40 has all deck boards intact, all stringers sound, and no block or companion-board stringer repairs (metal plate and corrugate repairs are accepted under the standard). Grade B allows repaired stringers — a structurally sound pallet at a better price.
The number that matters isn't the letter — it's the specification behind it. Every Ranger load ships against a published spec sheet with a 48-hour replacement guarantee, so "that's not an A" becomes a question the document answers, not an argument at the dock.
Request the Grade A / Grade B spec sheets →
Indexed pricing vs. the surprise letter
Lumber and panel prices have moved 25-80% over recent years — and most supply contracts handle that with a letter: "due to market conditions, prices increase 30% next month." No formula, no proof, no ceiling, and never a decrease.
Indexed pricing replaces the letter with a machine agreed in advance: a fixed base price, adjusted quarterly only if a published index (Random Lengths / Fastmarkets) moves beyond a ±5% band, scaled to the material share of the product — and applied in both directions. When the market falls, the customer gets a decrease notice automatically. That's the entire Ranger pricing pledge: no unexplained increases, ever, from us or the market.
ISPM-15 and the plywood exemption, explained
ISPM-15 requires solid-wood packaging crossing international borders to be heat treated and stamped — every stringer and board carrying the mark. Miss it, and a container gets refused at a foreign port.
The exemption most shippers don't know: plywood, OSB, and other processed wood are exempt — the manufacturing process already eliminates pest risk. An all-plywood pallet ships export with no stamp, no treatment step, and no compliance exposure, which is why engineered plywood platforms are increasingly the answer for medical and high-value export programs.
We build both: all-plywood custom platforms for exempt lanes, and HT-stamped solid wood through certified facilities where the mark is required.
Ask about export-ready builds →