Why Pallet Prices Are Up in 2026 (and What Georgia Buyers Can Do About It)

Pallet prices in Georgia are up in 2026 because the two biggest inputs — low-grade lumber and diesel — both jumped at the same time. Low-grade lumber is up 27% since January, and diesel hit $5.40 a gallon early this year. If your quotes look higher than they did last fall, that's the whole story right there.

Lumber tariffs are squeezing the boards pallets are made from

Pallets don't get built from the pretty lumber. They're cut from #3 and #4 southern yellow pine — the low-grade stuff sawmills used to almost give away. Combined tariffs on Canadian softwood are now running north of 40%, and when Canadian supply gets expensive, everybody who used to buy it comes shopping in the Southeast for the same SYP we use.

More buyers, same trees. The low-grade lumber composite is up 27% since January 2026.

Here's what that looks like on a real quote: a new 48x40 stringer pallet uses roughly 12 to 15 board feet of lumber. When your board cost climbs a quarter in six months, that's a couple dollars per pallet before anyone touches a nail gun. A buyer ordering 500 pallets a month is looking at a four-figure difference on the same PO they signed last year.

Can you wait it out? Honestly, we wouldn't plan on it. Tariff cases move slowly, and mills have already adjusted their pricing. If you've got steady volume, locking in a standing order now beats spot-buying every month and riding the curve up.

Diesel and freight are hitting the delivered price

Diesel spiked to $5.40 a gallon in early 2026 — the highest it's been since 2022. Truckload costs are up 16 to 17% year over year on top of that.

If your pallet supplier books freight through a broker, you're paying that increase twice: once in the broker's margin and once in the carrier's fuel surcharge. We run our own trucks out of White, GA, so when we quote delivered pricing to Cartersville, Canton, or the Atlanta metro, there's no broker markup stacked on the fuel cost. It doesn't make diesel cheaper. It just means you're not paying a middleman to pass the increase along.

One practical move: consolidate. Two half-loads a month cost more to deliver than one full load. If your dock can handle it, taking a full trailer of 500-plus pallets on one drop cuts your per-pallet freight noticeably.

Recycled cores are tight — and that props up recycled prices too

You'd think expensive new pallets would just push everyone to recycled and call it a day. Problem is, recycled pallets have to come from somewhere. When freight volume softens and companies hold onto their pallets longer, fewer cores come back into the system. Tighter core supply means recyclers pay more for them, and Grade A recycled prices follow new pallet prices up — just on a delay.

Recycled is still the cheaper option, usually by 30 to 40% against a comparable new pallet. But the gap you remember from 2023 isn't the gap you'll see quoted today.

This is also where a buyback program earns its keep. If you're accumulating empty pallets at your dock, they're worth real money right now. We buy back 48x40 cores across North Georgia — that check offsets your next order, and those cores go straight back into Grade A production instead of a dumpster.

Want a current number instead of last year's assumptions? Get a quote at heritagepallets.com/get-a-quote or call 770-607-0867.