Stackers

A pallet stacker — also sold as a stacker truck, pedestrian stacker, walkie stacker or pallet jack stacker — pairs the wheeled chassis of a pallet truck with a lifting mast, so one operator can pick a pallet off the floor, move it and set it down on a racking beam or a stack without a counterbalance forklift. Every stacker on this page is a GPC VULCAN pedestrian machine, CE marked to EN 1757-1 (the semi-electric straddle model to EN 1757-2), and the range runs from a 1,000 kg hydraulic stacker with a 1,600 mm lift to a 1,500 kg fully powered counterbalance stacker with a 4,000 mm mast. Prices below are taken from the live product pages and include VAT.

The seven stackers in the range at a glance

Three of the seven listings do not state a plated capacity for the stocked variants, and we would rather say so than guess: the semi-electric straddle stacker, the fully powered stacker and the fully powered straddle stacker all publish lift height, battery and chassis data but not a rated load. Ask us for the specification sheet before ordering one of those three for a known pallet weight, and never load any stacker beyond the capacity plate fitted to the machine.

Manual, semi-electric or fully powered?

The range splits three ways by how much of the work the machine does for you, and the price steps between the three tiers are clean enough to put numbers on.

Hydraulic stackers (manual stackers)

The hydraulic stackers are pushed by hand and lifted by a hydraulic pump. There is no battery, no charger and nothing to plug in, which makes them the right choice for a few lifts a day, for a cold store or yard where a battery would suffer, or as a first stacker in a small unit. The fixed-fork model is rated 1,000 kg and runs on two 180 mm swivel rear castors and 75 mm front rollers; the straddle version adds manually adjustable forks and outrigger legs that pass around the pallet. On the fixed-fork model, going from a 1,600 mm to a 2,500 mm lift costs £121.50 and the further step to 3,000 mm costs £96.96 — the whole 1,400 mm of extra reach is £218.46, about 13% on the base price.

Semi-electric stackers

A semi-electric stacker keeps the manual push and steer but powers the lift from a 12 V 150 Ah battery with a built-in charger, so the operator is no longer pumping a 1,000 kg pallet up to beam height by hand. The fixed-fork SESCT10 is rated 1,200 kg at 1,600 mm and costs £2,718.12 — £1,051.62 (63%) more than the equivalent 1,000 kg hydraulic stacker. That premium buys 200 kg of capacity and, more importantly, removes the pumping from every cycle, which is what matters once a machine is doing tens of lifts a shift rather than a handful. The straddle version has a 1,500 W electro-hydraulic power pack, a 600 mm load centre, a 1,350 mm turning radius, 1,150 mm forks, and adjustable forks and legs that give an overall width of 1,100 to 1,380 mm.

Fully powered stackers

The fully powered stackers drive as well as lift. Both the standard and straddle models run on two 12 V 85 Ah maintenance-free batteries (larger 106 Ah batteries are available to order), have a built-in charger with a discharge indicator and automatic lift cut-off, a duplex mast, a 1,485 mm turning radius and an offset tiller so the operator can see the forks when stacking high. The step from the semi-electric fixed-fork stacker to the fully powered one is £633.00 (23%) at the same 1,600 mm lift height, which is a small step for powering the travel as well as the lift, and it is worth noting that the fully powered fixed-fork stacker at £3,351.12 is cheaper than the semi-electric straddle stacker at £3,559.26. If you are already at semi-electric money and do not need straddle legs, the fully powered machine is the better buy.

Straddle or counterbalance: what the legs cost, and what removing them costs

A standard stacker has outrigger legs that run forward under the forks. That keeps the machine short and stable, but the legs mean it cannot pick up a closed-bottom pallet from the floor and it cannot reach into the first beam level of racking if the legs foul the base of the frame. A straddle stacker spreads its legs to either side so the forks can drop to floor level with the pallet sitting between them; across this range the straddle premium is £482.10 on the hydraulic 1,600 mm model, shrinking to £392.94 at 3,000 mm, and £651.78 on the fully powered 1,600 mm model. A counterbalance stacker removes the legs entirely and carries a heavy chassis behind the mast instead, which is why the GPC counterbalance model is described as ideal for getting the unit close to racking where space is at a premium, can pick up closed-board pallets as well as standard UK and Euro pallets, and has adjustable fork spread. The price of doing without legs is steep: at a 1,600 mm lift the 600 kg counterbalance stacker is £8,489.22 against £4,002.90 for the fully powered straddle stacker — more than twice the money for a lower stated capacity. Within the counterbalance range the capacity steps cost far more than the height steps: 600 kg to 1,200 kg at 1,600 mm adds £3,082.26, while taking the 1,200 kg machine from 1,600 mm to 3,000 mm adds £719.82 and the 1,500 kg machine from 1,600 mm to 4,000 mm adds £648.90. Buy the capacity you need and the height is comparatively cheap.

How to choose a pallet stacker

Lift height. Match the mast to the highest beam you will actually load, not the highest in the building. Stocked lift heights run from 1,600 mm to 3,200 mm across the standard and straddle stackers, and to 4,000 mm on the counterbalance stacker. Remember the mast has a lowered height too — the semi-electric straddle stacker's mast stands 1,790 mm lowered on the 2,500 mm model and 2,040 mm on the 3,000 mm model — so check doorways and mezzanine clearances on the route the machine will travel.

Load and load centre. Rated capacities on this page run from 600 kg to 1,500 kg, quoted at the load centre on the plate (the semi-electric straddle model states 600 mm). A pallet that is heavier at the far end effectively moves the load centre out and reduces what the machine can safely lift. Our guide to load ratings, UDL and SWL covers how to read a capacity plate.

Pallet type. Open-bottom UK and Euro pallets can be picked from the floor by a legged stacker; closed-board pallets and pallets with bottom boards across the fork line need a straddle or counterbalance machine. Our UK pallet sizes guide sets out the common footprints.

Aisle and turning room. The published turning radii are 1,350 mm for the semi-electric straddle stacker and 1,485 mm for the fully powered stackers; the semi-electric straddle model is 1,100 to 1,380 mm wide across its legs. Measure your narrowest aisle and the space at the end of it before assuming a straddle machine will turn into a bay.

Duty cycle. A few lifts a day suits a hydraulic stacker; regular lifting through a shift suits semi-electric; if the operator is also covering distance between pick and put-away, a fully powered stacker with an 8 to 9 hour traction battery (the figure GPC quotes for the counterbalance model) earns its money. If your pallets never leave the floor, a pallet truck is the cheaper answer — our pallet stacker vs pallet truck guide works through that decision, and the how to choose a pallet stacker guide goes deeper on the three tiers.

What we do not stock

Being clear about the gaps saves you a phone call. We sell new machines only — no used or refurbished stackers and no hire. There is no ride-on or stand-on rider stacker in the range; every model here is pedestrian-operated. There is no mini stacker or platform stacker in the 150 to 400 kg class that appears in the £300 to £600 band elsewhere; our entry point is a 1,000 kg industrial hydraulic stacker at £1,666.50, which sits in the upper part of the UK manual stacker price band. Capacities above 1,500 kg (the 2,000 kg fully powered and straddle models) are available to order rather than stocked. The batteries across the powered range are the 12 V lead-acid type described in the listings; no lithium-battery stacker is currently listed. For a lifting table rather than a stacker — raising a load to working height rather than stacking it — see lift tables and level loaders.

Compliance and safe use

A pallet stacker is work equipment under PUWER 1998, so it must be suitable, maintained, inspected at an appropriate interval and used only by trained operators. Because it lifts a load clear of the ground it is generally also treated as lifting equipment under LOLER 1998, which requires a thorough examination by a competent person at least every twelve months for equipment that does not lift people; our LOLER vs PUWER guide explains the distinction and what to record. There is no licence for a pedestrian stacker in the way there is for a car, but the employer must be able to show that the operator has been trained on that class of machine. We supply the equipment; we do not carry out LOLER examinations, PUWER inspections or operator training, and the competent person examining your stacker should be independent of whoever sold it. For the pre-use check, the lifting sequence and the mistakes that cause tip-overs, see our guide to using a pallet stacker safely, and for how high a stack can safely go, pallet stacking heights and patterns. The warehouse health and safety guide sets stacker traffic in the wider context of segregating vehicles and pedestrians.

Racking, pallet trucks and the rest of the handling range

A stacker is usually bought alongside the racking it will load. Our pallet racking and wider racking and shelving pages cover beam levels and load notices; the first beam height is the number that decides whether you need a straddle or counterbalance machine. For moving pallets at floor level, the manual pallet trucks and electric pallet trucks pages sit alongside this one, and the electric pallet trucks guide covers the battery and duty-cycle questions that apply equally to powered stackers. Every stacker here is part of the GPC VULCAN range, manufactured by GPC Industries in the UK.

Stackers are lifting equipment, so both PUWER and LOLER apply. Our PUWER guide explains the inspection duty and what to record.