Skids go back to Ancient Egypt and Ancient Mesopotamia at least as far back as the 1st millennium B.C.

The development of the forklift and the needs of World War II logistics operations led to substantial use of pallets.

References to the early modern pallets types are slim with a string of patents showing parts of the development. The earliest may be a U.S. patent on a skid from 1924 describing Hallowell's "Lift Truck Platform." In the late 1930s, pallets became more commonplace with the newer forklift types. George Raymond filed for a patent in 1938 (granted US Patent 2178646 in 1939^[21]) for a pallet designed to complement a new pallet jack design; the essential features of both are still in common use today. A 1939 patent from Carl Clark shows type of pallet with steel stringers. War time developments were often just patented after the war, so there is a patent from Robert Braun on a four-way pallet in 1945, and a patent from Norman Cahners (a U.S. Navy Supply Officer) shows a disposable pallet type in 1949. The complete construction principle of a modern four-way pallet is described by Darling Graeme in 1949.