Plastic pallets for warehousing and storage, bought by the load
Warehousing and 3PL
- NAICS
- 493
- US jobs, 2025
- 1,901,976
- Establishments
- 23,345
- Leading state
- California, 236,923
- Dock pattern
- racking load and entry
Warehouses and third-party logistics operators care about racking load and entry type first. They move many owners' goods on one pallet pool, so the footprint has to be standard and the rating clear.
The industry employs 1,901,976 people across 23,345 establishments, 1.4% of private-sector jobs. The five states with the most jobs hold 39% of the national total.
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 warehousing and storage dock checks first
- Racking load, first, if the pallet sits on beams.
- 4-way entry to speed loading and unloading.
- Static load for floor stacks.
- Fire listing, because NFPA requires wood and plastic pallets to be stored outdoors or in a detached structure unless sprinklers protect them.
- Closed loop or one-way: who gets the pallet back.
The pattern for this dock is racking load and entry. Ask for the model sheet and the fire listing. A 3PL that handles food for a client should also hold the resin and colourant papers.
Footprints and the rating to read first
| Footprint | Why it comes up | Read first |
|---|---|---|
| 48 x 40 | The standard footprint | Racking load |
| 48 x 32 Euro | Import flows | Dynamic |
A distribution centre buys by the trailer and often switches a whole stock at once. Plan the switch with the wood to plastic guide.
Where the jobs are
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 1,901,976 average private jobs in warehousing and storage (NAICS 493) across 23,345 establishments in 2025. That is 81 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 | 236,923 | 12.5% |
| Texas | 175,579 | 9.2% |
| Pennsylvania | 123,481 | 6.5% |
| Florida | 105,401 | 5.5% |
| Ohio | 98,354 | 5.2% |
California alone holds 12.5% of the national total, and the five leading states together hold 38.9%. 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 |
|---|---|
| San Bernardino County, California | 67,058 |
| Riverside County, California | 51,310 |
| Dallas County, Texas | 44,657 |
| Maricopa County, Arizona | 42,291 |
| San Joaquin County, California | 28,518 |
| Clark County, Nevada | 28,250 |
| Middlesex County, New Jersey | 26,309 |
| Will County, Illinois | 25,357 |
A 3PL's switch plan
A third-party warehouse serves many owners from one floor, so the pallet is part of the service and has to be uniform. Plan the move in lanes: pick one customer or one aisle, switch it, measure damage and handling, then extend. The guide on moving from wood sets out the order.
- Racking load first, and the beam span it assumes.
- Four-way entry for jacks and forks.
- Fire listing where sprinkler design assumed wood.
- A label or colour that marks the 3PL's pallets as separate from customers'.
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
- Static load
- Weight a pallet carries at rest, or the bottom pallet carries when stacked. The highest of the three ratings.
- Racking load
- Weight a pallet carries bridging an open span in unsupported racking. Often the lowest rating.
- 4-way entry
- Forks or a jack can enter from all four sides.
- Closed loop
- Pallets that travel between known sites and come back, so they are never lost to a downstream user.
- Lip
- Raised edge on the deck, or an optional soft lip, that keeps the load in place.
- Anti-slip
- Textured deck or rubber grommets that reduce load slip.
- 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.
Questions at the dock
How many warehouse jobs are there?
The BLS counts 1,901,976 average private jobs in warehousing and storage in 2025.
Which counties lead?
San Bernardino and Riverside, California; Dallas, Texas; Maricopa, Arizona; and San Joaquin, California.
Keep reading
Last reviewed 2026-11-12.