Abstract: There is disclosed a sheet handling apparatus wherein sheets are delivered onto a conveyor belt traveling at a slower speed than the speed at which the sheets are delivered. The leading end of a sheet is sucked against the conveyor belt such that a trailing end of the sheet flips upwardly and allows the leading end of the succeeding sheet to pass therebeneath. These sheets are conveyed in lapped relationship by the conveyor belt. At a discharge end of the conveyor the lapped sheets drop sequentially in vertical orientation onto a carrier. A movable retainer plate contacts the initial sheet of the stack and is horizontally displaced thereby as the stack builds up, to maintain the sheets upright and in tightly abutting relationship. The retainer is mounted at the end of a freely movable, horizontally extensible pair of rods onto which the sheets fall, such that displacement of the retainer produces extension of the rods to accommodate additional sheets.