I can't say that I have ever seen that (pallets stacked on top of each other). In terms of the gross weight limit for the trailer, it's unlikely that the double stacked pallets would be a particular problem. My experience has always been that a typical pallet of standard records boxes is 40 to 48 boxes (40 is more typical). This would be five to six layers of 8 boxes (don't forget -- you always want to make sure that the label on every box is accessible without having to tear apart the pallet).  In some instances, you can interlock them, but they are typically stacked five high. If the bottom boxes are full enough, you can generally get away with six high. Shrink wrap on the pallet should be mandatory. Loads shift in trucks and on forklifts. You may also want to discuss the load with the truck driver as the center of gravity for the trailer (and on a 53 foot trailer, you're talking about perhaps 50,000 to 60,000 pounds of freight) becomes much higher
 with that sort of density. The other concern would be weight per axle and that would be the trucking company's consideration so they don't get fined at a scale.

As far as stacking them goes, I would be very wary of that. It's rare that I have seen really good quality wooden pallets that are consistently the same size and have no broken boards or exposed nails (clearly, for a major move, you can buy pallets new and get decent and consistent quality and measurements). The plywood isn't a bad idea, but you would need to consider the load on that plywood and probably use 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch plywood and ensure that the pallets don't slide off the edge (that plywood adds weight and cost to the load). A 40 box pallet is 1200 pounds of weight. You'd want a very skilled forklift operator and considerable care about the condition of the pallets so that they rest flat and don't snag anything. The last thing that you need is for 1200 pounds to rest right on the edge of some boxes because the pallet slipped off the plywood. Another concern would be a loading dock where the trailer stands on an incline. I would be
 concerned about those top-stacked pallets sliding off.

Another concern is the ability of the forklift to lift the pallets inside the trailer. In some instances, the forklift mast is too tall to reach up the four or five feet to stack pallets without poking through the roof of the trailer. While your loading dock may be equipped to stack the pallets, the receiver may not be prepared to do so. Hand unloading a truck is a very bad day (speaking as someone who once got a 48 foot trailer of records boxes that were loaded on the floor without pallets). There's also some likelihood on some trailers that you couldn't load the entire trailer that way (if you had a roll up door, for instance), so the driver would need to use straps and so forth to keep the load from shifting.

Lastly, all it takes is a couple of lightly loaded boxes or really crappy single wall boxes in the wrong place, and you have crushed boxes. And since we all know that records boxes are not always packed consistently, that would be a problem.

Here's a website with typical dimensions of truck trailers: http://www.worldtraderef.com/WTR_site/Truck_Trailers/Guide_to_Truck_Trailers.asp  By my estimate, you would be hard-pressed to fit stacked pallets of more than 40 boxes each in a typical trailer. My guess is that the best that you could do is a five high and a four high, when you account for the pallets, plywood, and a little room to lift the pallets inside the trailer. You generally have 106 inches to 110 inches in the interior, so at best, that's 11 boxes high with no pallets or plywood and your boxes are jammed against the roof of the trailer. Furniture / moving vans have slightly greater dimensions, but typically have wheel wells that get in the way of pallets and are not designed for the sort of load we're describing here.

I personally would recommend against stacking pallets, but your mileage may vary. And clearly some folks have had some success.
 Patrick Cunningham, CRM
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