Plastic pallets for refrigerated warehousing, bought by the load
Refrigerated Warehousing
- NAICS
- 49312
- US jobs, 2025
- 73,136
- Establishments
- 1,811
- Leading state
- California, 9,969
- Dock pattern
- what cold does to a resin
Cold stores care about what freezing does to a resin, and about racking load, because most cold-store pallets sit on beams. Freezing can make some pallet materials brittle and reduce performance, so the temperature range comes before the price of any model.
USDA NASS counted 931 refrigerated warehouses on October 1, 2025, and 3.99 billion cubic feet of gross capacity. Public warehouses held 2.46 billion of it, 62 percent.
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 refrigerated warehousing dock checks first
- The maker's stated temperature range for the model.
- Racking load, with the rack span and beam spacing.
- Unblended HDPE or LDPE as a starting point for deep-freezer use.
- Fire listing, because sprinkler design affects cold stores.
- Entry type for the handling equipment.
The pattern for this dock is what cold does to a resin. Ask for resin, the temperature range, and a fire listing (FM 4996 or UL 2335) if the building's sprinkler design depends on it. Keep the listing with the model name.
Footprints and the rating to read first
| Footprint | Why it comes up | Read first |
|---|---|---|
| 48 x 40 | Common footprint in racked storage | Racking load |
| 48 x 48 | Drum and bulk loads where used | Static |
Cold stores usually need a stable spec on a repeating supply. Write the model once and refer to it. Trailer counts are examples from the maker.
Where the jobs are
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 73,136 average private jobs in refrigerated warehousing (NAICS 49312) across 1,811 establishments in 2025. That is 40 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 | 9,969 | 13.6% |
| Texas | 6,638 | 9.1% |
| New Jersey | 5,388 | 7.4% |
| Georgia | 4,453 | 6.1% |
| Pennsylvania | 4,102 | 5.6% |
California alone holds 13.6% of the national total, and the five leading states together hold 41.8%. 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 | 2,320 |
| Middlesex County, New Jersey | 1,661 |
| San Bernardino County, California | 1,565 |
| Cook County, Illinois | 1,552 |
| Wayne County, Michigan | 1,041 |
| Maricopa County, Arizona | 871 |
Cold-store details to write down
USDA NASS counted 931 refrigerated warehouses on October 1, 2025: 476 public and 455 private or semiprivate. Public warehouses held 62 percent of the gross capacity. A public cold store holds other people's goods, so its pallet spec has to work for many owners at once and the fire listing is a question the customers' insurers will ask.
- Temperature range of the coldest room.
- Racking load, with the span between beams.
- Fire listing: FM 4996 or UL 2335.
- Four-way entry for the handling equipment.
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.
- HDPE
- High-density polyethylene, resin code 2. The most common resin in plastic pallets; tough and moisture resistant.
- PP
- Polypropylene. More rigid than HDPE and better with heat and harsh chemicals; used where rack stiffness matters.
- FM 4996
- FM Approvals standard that rates a pallet as equal to wood in fire tests.
- UL 2335
- UL fire-test standard for storage pallets, with an idle pallet test and a commodity storage test.
- Stackable
- Loaded pallets can sit on top of each other, up to the static rating.
- Nest ratio
- How many empty pallets fit in the height of one.
- Fork pocket
- Opening in the pallet where the forks go.
- Open deck
- Top deck with gaps between slats or ribs; lighter and drains.
- Closed deck
- Solid top deck with no gaps; keeps small items from falling through.
Questions at the dock
Which states have the most cold storage?
By gross capacity on October 1, 2025: California 400 million cubic feet, Georgia 304 million, Washington 301 million, Wisconsin 297 million and Texas 254 million.
Can plastic pallets go in a freezer?
Some. Freezing can make materials brittle. Ask for the temperature range.
Keep reading
Last reviewed 2026-11-12.