Double Deep Pallet Racking: More Positions From the Same Footprint

Double deep pallet racking stores two pallets front to back at each aisle face, on back-to-back double-deep rows. It is a configuration of selective pallet racking rather than a separate system, built on the same upright frames and beams. Other rack types reuse those same frame and beam standards but rearrange the geometry to trade access for density, and double deep is the smallest version of that trade. The rear pallet is reached with a deep reach truck, and the front pallet has to be moved before the one behind it can be pulled.

A deep-reach truck. It carries a pantograph, an extending mechanism that reaches past the front position to place and retrieve the pallet behind it, which a standard counterbalance forklift cannot do. Double-deep reach trucks typically operate in aisles of 9 to 12 ft, and that range should be verified with your forklift manufacturer for the specific model you run. The truck sets the aisle and the aisle sets everything downstream, so it is the first thing we ask about. Our pallet rack spacing requirements guide covers aisle widths by equipment type.

Think about the mechanics rather than the label. Within each two-deep pair, the rear pallet sits behind the front one and can only come out after the front pallet moves, so in practice these positions usually run last in, first out. That is workable when both pallets in a pair hold the same product and the same lot. It stops being workable when strict rotation applies at the pallet level, which is where selective racking or a gravity flow system is the better answer.

It depends entirely on your building, your pallet dimensions, and the aisle your truck needs, so there is no single number worth quoting. The mechanism is that fewer aisles serve the same number of rows, which converts aisle floor into pallet positions. As a real example, the brief on our Channelview, TX project for a Houston 3PL was to nearly double storage in the same aisles, and the delivered system came to 8,014 pallet positions using more than 600,000 pounds of steel. The customer consolidated storage and downsized their leased footprint. We size the actual gain against your floor plan before quoting.

When you rarely hold more than 8 to 10 pallets of one SKU at a time, since at that volume selective almost always wins. When rotation discipline is strict at the pallet level, because the rear pallet is trapped behind the front one. And in high-variety pick zones, where mixing SKUs in a deep position forces operators to relocate pallets all day to reach what they need. Plenty of warehouses run both systems for exactly this reason, keeping selective in the pick zones and putting the bulk reserve in a dense block. If your SKU count is high across the board, that is worth saying out loud before anyone draws a double deep layout.

There is no useful per-position number, because the drivers move independently. Component counts differ from a selective layout of the same pallet count, upright height and load rating change the steel, seismic requirements change the engineering, and high-pile permits and sprinkler work vary by jurisdiction. The deep-reach truck is its own line item and often the one that gets missed. Our pallet racking cost guide walks through how a racking quote is actually built, and we price against your building conditions rather than an estimate that ignores them. Send us the details through contact and we will scope it.