A mobile automated guided vehicle pallet stacker and destacker system including an automated guided vehicle having a pallet pick that moves to pick a pallet and stably hold the picked pallet on the pick. A sensor is connected to the vehicle and configured to detect a predetermined characteristic of at least one pallet located in a stack of one or more pallets, A sensing element of the sensor is mounted to the vehicle so as to define a predetermined relation between the sensing element and a pallet pick interface. Actuation of the pick effects scanning of the stack and detection, with the sensing element, of the predetermined characteristic, A controller determines from the predetermined characteristic the at least one pallet is in a topmost pallet position of the stack, and positions the pallet pick interface of the pick to interface the stack based on the determined topmost pallet position.