Plastic pallets for grocery and related product wholesale, bought by the load
Grocery Wholesale
- NAICS
- 4244
- US jobs, 2025
- 829,364
- Establishments
- 49,933
- Leading state
- California, 109,827
- Dock pattern
- mixed loads and many docks
Grocery wholesalers move mixed loads through many docks, so the pallet has to be a common footprint with a stated rating. The 48 x 40 GMA is the default.
Nationally the industry employs 829,364 people across 49,933 establishments: the largest count of establishments of any industry on this site. That is many small docks, not a few large plants.
What the receiving dock sees: stacks in the dock door and a counterbalance lift truck carrying a stack on its forks. Schematic, not to scale.
What a grocery and related product wholesale dock checks first
- Footprint: 48 x 40 for most of the flow.
- Racking load, because wholesale racks are common.
- Entry type, because many docks use pallet jacks.
- Closed loop or one-way: who gets the pallet back.
- Resin papers for the food that rides on it.
The pattern for this dock is mixed loads and many docks. Ask for the model sheet and the resin papers. For a wholesaler with many docks, a single written spec simplifies every reorder.
Footprints and the rating to read first
| Footprint | Why it comes up | Read first |
|---|---|---|
| 48 x 40 | The default footprint | Racking, then static |
| 48 x 32 Euro | Euro footprint, where inbound goods use it | Dynamic |
With nearly 50,000 establishments, the average wholesaler is smaller than a plant. Order by trailer where a depot consolidates the demand, and say so in the request.
Where the jobs are
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 829,364 average private jobs in grocery and related product wholesale (NAICS 4244) across 49,933 establishments in 2025. That is 17 jobs per establishment on average, a computed figure (jobs divided by establishments) that shows whether the industry is made of large plants or many small sites.
| State | Jobs, 2025 | Share of US |
|---|---|---|
| California | 109,827 | 13.2% |
| Texas | 75,474 | 9.1% |
| Florida | 63,967 | 7.7% |
| New York | 50,594 | 6.1% |
| Illinois | 48,629 | 5.9% |
California alone holds 13.2% of the national total, and the five leading states together hold 42.0%. Shares are computed from the BLS figures shown. They show where the freight and the docks are, not how many pallets the industry buys.
| County | Jobs, 2025 |
|---|---|
| Los Angeles County, California | 36,194 |
| Cook County, Illinois | 23,404 |
| Miami-Dade County, Florida | 14,422 |
| Harris County, Texas | 14,172 |
| Dallas County, Texas | 12,337 |
| Maricopa County, Arizona | 9,996 |
Many docks, one specification
A grocery wholesaler may run dozens of docks. A written pallet specification, with the footprint, the three ratings and the entry type, means each dock orders the same thing. The industry has 49,933 establishments and 829,364 jobs, about 17 jobs per establishment, which is why consolidated orders by the trailer beat site-by-site buying.
- Footprint: 48 x 40 for most of the flow.
- Racking load where the aisles are racked.
- Entry: four-way for pallet jacks.
- Whether returns are expected, which makes it a closed loop.
Dock checks for a grocery wholesaler
- Mixed pallets are the norm, so the deck must carry uneven loads without bowing.
- Cold rooms add a temperature question for the resin.
- Ask whether pallets will be returned or whether the retailer expects to keep them.
From request to trailer
- Send the ship-to. A delivery ZIP, a footprint and a quantity, in pallets or in trailers. If you do not know a rating, describe the load.
- We match a model. We pick a maker and model whose published static, dynamic and racking load fit the load, and say so when only one maker fits.
- You get a count. The quote carries the maker's own per-trailer figure where one is published, and says plainly where none is.
- Papers and delivery. For food or pharma we attach the resin and colourant documents. A standing supply repeats the same line on every order.
What a complete request carries
- The footprint, in inches or millimetres, and whether it is fixed by a rack bay or a container.
- How many pallets, or how many 53 ft trailers.
- The ratings the load needs: static for the stack, dynamic for the move, racking only if the pallet sits on beams.
- Food, pharma, chemical, automotive, warehouse or export use, which sets the papers.
- One load now, or a standing supply with the same line on every order.
- Where it goes and when, and anything marked on the pallet: colour, logo, RFID tag.
Terms on this page
- Racking load
- Weight a pallet carries bridging an open span in unsupported racking. Often the lowest rating.
- Closed loop
- Pallets that travel between known sites and come back, so they are never lost to a downstream user.
- Multi-trip pallet
- A pallet designed to be returned and reused many times.
- One-way pallet
- A cheaper pallet shipped with the load and not expected back.
- Captive pallet
- A pallet owned and kept inside one company or loop.
- Edge rack
- Resting on the rack beams by the pallet's edges only, with no support in the middle.
- Recycled-content pallet
- A pallet moulded partly or wholly from post-industrial or post-consumer resin.
- Static load
- Weight a pallet carries at rest, or the bottom pallet carries when stacked. The highest of the three ratings.
- Virgin resin
- New, unblended resin that has not been through a product before.
- 4-way entry
- Forks or a jack can enter from all four sides.
Questions at the dock
Which states have the most grocery wholesale jobs?
California (109,827), Texas (75,474), Florida (63,967), New York (50,594) and Illinois (48,629).
What footprint do wholesalers use?
The 48 x 40 GMA is the standard footprint in North America.
Keep reading
Last reviewed 2026-11-12.