Current views indicate that negative skin friction on piles can be mobilized at small relative deformations and should be considered in all designs, primarily for serviceability conditions.  An elastic-plastic closed-form solution is presented that permits an estimate of down-drag forces and the location of the neutral plane.  It is shown that the conventional rigid-plastic solution may overestimate down-drag forces by as much as 50% and may also overestimate the depth of the neutral plane.