Nestable and Stackable Pallets: Atlanta

Atlanta, by road

Geography first: i-75, I-85 and I-20 meet inside the I-285 perimeter, and the airport is a major air-freight and passenger hub. That is the setting for a pallet buyer in the Atlanta area of Georgia.

Warehousing and storage is where this area is most concentrated, at 1.4 times the national share of employment. The area reaches into Barrow, Butts, Carroll, Clayton, Coweta and Dawson... counties.

Counties

ZIP codes with the most warehouses

The five largest ZIP codes hold 176 establishments between them. Mcdonough (30253) leads with 51, 29.0 percent of the five.

Reading the numbers

• Fulton County has 18,317 warehousing jobs, 37.3 percent of the 49,050 in the Atlanta area.
• Henry County has 7,904 warehousing jobs, 16.1 percent of the 49,050 in the Atlanta area, 10,413 fewer than Fulton.
• Cobb County has 6,201 warehousing jobs, 12.6 percent of the 49,050 in the Atlanta area, 12,116 fewer than Fulton.
• Atlanta (30336) has 7 fewer warehousing establishments than Mcdonough (30253), 44 against 51.
• Forest Park (30297) has 23 fewer warehousing establishments than Mcdonough (30253), 28 against 51.
• Fairburn (30213) has 24 fewer warehousing establishments than Mcdonough (30253), 27 against 51.
• Atlanta (30349) has 25 fewer warehousing establishments than Mcdonough (30253), 26 against 51.
• Fulton County's 18,317 is 21.6 percent of all 84,730 warehousing jobs in Georgia.
• Henry County's 7,904 is 9.3 percent of all 84,730 warehousing jobs in Georgia.
• Cobb County's 6,201 is 7.3 percent of all 84,730 warehousing jobs in Georgia.
• ZIP 30253 in Mcdonough ranks number 1 of the five, with 51 warehousing establishments, 29.0 percent of their combined total and 1.96 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 30336 in Atlanta ranks number 2 of the five, with 44 warehousing establishments, 25.0 percent of their combined total and 1.69 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 30297 in Forest Park ranks number 3 of the five, with 28 warehousing establishments, 15.9 percent of their combined total and 1.08 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 30213 in Fairburn ranks number 4 of the five, with 27 warehousing establishments, 15.3 percent of their combined total and 1.04 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 30349 in Atlanta ranks number 5 of the five, with 26 warehousing establishments, 14.8 percent of their combined total and 1.00 times the smallest of them.
• Warehousing and storage employs 49,050 in the area (partial), 1.00 for every warehousing job.
• Food manufacturing employs 22,288 in the area (partial), 0.45 for every warehousing job.
• Georgia's meat and poultry processing employment, 42,030, is 0.86 times the Atlanta area's warehousing jobs.
• Georgia's refrigerated warehousing employment, 4,453, is 0.09 times the Atlanta area's warehousing jobs.
• Georgia's warehousing and storage employment, 84,730, is 1.73 times the Atlanta area's warehousing jobs.
• Georgia's food manufacturing employment, 74,165, is 1.51 times the Atlanta area's warehousing jobs.
• Savannah, also in Georgia, has 6,384 warehousing jobs, 0.13 times Atlanta's.
• Gainesville, GA, also in Georgia, has 656 warehousing jobs, 0.01 times Atlanta's.

Who ships pallets here

In Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, warehousing and storage employs 49,050 (a partial count). Racks decide the order of questions: a pallet that sits on beams needs a racking load that matches the span, and a floor-stacked pallet needs a static load that matches the bottom of the stack. It tends to lean on rackable where the pallet lives on beams, stackable for block stacking, nestable for the empties that go back, usually in 48 x 40 in, and to ask about the racking load, and the beam span it was rated on.

The empty return

An illustration, not a forecast: if each of 176 warehouses in its five largest ZIP codes in Atlanta sent back 500 empty pallets in a week, that would be 88,000 pallets. The table counts the 53 ft trailers that takes at three makers' published nestable figures, beside the 540 per trailer of a rackable.

In its state

Among the 3 metros of Georgia that have a page here, Atlanta ranks number 1 by warehousing jobs.

Atlanta holds 57.9 percent of Georgia's 84,730 private warehousing jobs. See the Georgia page for the whole state.

Other metros in Georgia with their own page: Savannah and Gainesville, GA.

Interstates serving the area: I-85 and I-75.

Words on this page

GMA pallet

The 48 by 40 inch North American standard, named for the Grocery Manufacturers Association that popularised it.

Location quotient

A place's share of employment in a trade divided by the national share. Above 1 means the trade is more concentrated there than average.

Static load

The weight a pallet holds while standing still on a flat floor, spread evenly across the deck. It is the highest of the three ratings.

Slip sheet

A thin sheet of plastic or fibreboard used under a load in place of a pallet, handled by a push-pull attachment.

ZIP Code Business Patterns

A Census Bureau series that counts establishments by ZIP code and industry.

Edge rack

A rack arrangement where the pallet rests on the edges of the beams. It is the common test case for a racking rating.

Closed loop

A route where pallets return to the sender after delivery, so the empty trip is a standing cost.

Last mile

The final leg of a delivery, from a local depot to the customer.

QCEW

The Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, a Bureau of Labor Statistics count of jobs and establishments taken from unemployment insurance records.