Examples of modern skids include wood pallets without a bottom deck, or nestable pallets. Examples of such skids include Litco presswood pallets, as well as plastic distribution pallets such as those manufactured by Shuert. Examples of both of these skids were pictured earlier in this article. Many paper pallets would also be classified as skids, such as the IKEA paper pallet and top cap system pictured above.
A very important advantage of nestable pallets include cube efficiency for stacking empty pallets. In terms of reduced transportation cost, the delivery of nestable pallets is typically much more cost effective than for double faced pallets. In storage, both for shipper and receiver, the nestable pallets require significantly less storage space. The limitations of nestable pallets typically include incompatibility with conveyors and racking, although there are exceptions to these generalizations. Some nestable pallets now have enough bottom coverage to be conveyable, and some nestable pallets have bottom decks that can be affixed after shipment, thus combining benefits of nestability and performance with a bottom deck. Such innovations are not widely used.
It is important to train material handling personnel so that they understand the limitations of specific types of pallets when it comes to pallet safety. Attempting to place a non-rackable pallet in storage racks, for example, could have dangerous repercussions.
