Nestable and Stackable Pallets: Lancaster

Lancaster, by road

Geography first: it is farm and food country in south-central Pennsylvania, between Philadelphia and Harrisburg on US-30 and US-222. That is the setting for a pallet buyer in the Lancaster area of Pennsylvania.

Dairy product manufacturing is where this area is most concentrated, at 4.5 times the national share of employment. The area reaches into Lancaster county.

ZIP codes with the most warehouses

The five largest ZIP codes hold 33 establishments between them. Lancaster (17601) leads with 14, 42.4 percent of the five.

Reading the numbers

• Elizabethtown (17022) has 7 fewer warehousing establishments than Lancaster (17601), 7 against 14.
• Mountville (17554) has 9 fewer warehousing establishments than Lancaster (17601), 5 against 14.
• Denver (17517) has 10 fewer warehousing establishments than Lancaster (17601), 4 against 14.
• New Holland (17557) has 11 fewer warehousing establishments than Lancaster (17601), 3 against 14.
• ZIP 17601 in Lancaster ranks number 1 of the five, with 14 warehousing establishments, 42.4 percent of their combined total and 4.67 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 17022 in Elizabethtown ranks number 2 of the five, with 7 warehousing establishments, 21.2 percent of their combined total and 2.33 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 17554 in Mountville ranks number 3 of the five, with 5 warehousing establishments, 15.2 percent of their combined total and 1.67 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 17517 in Denver ranks number 4 of the five, with 4 warehousing establishments, 12.1 percent of their combined total and 1.33 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 17557 in New Holland ranks number 5 of the five, with 3 warehousing establishments, 9.1 percent of their combined total and 1.00 times the smallest of them.
• Dairy product manufacturing employs 1,348 in the area, 0.19 for every warehousing job.
• Food manufacturing employs 8,626 in the area, 1.23 for every warehousing job.
• Warehousing and storage employs 6,994 in the area, 1.00 for every warehousing job.
• Grocery and related product wholesale employs 2,431 in the area, 0.35 for every warehousing job.
• Meat and poultry processing employs 1,426 in the area, 0.20 for every warehousing job.
• Pennsylvania's warehousing and storage employment, 123,481, is 17.66 times the Lancaster area's warehousing jobs.
• Pennsylvania's plastics product manufacturing employment, 34,094, is 4.87 times the Lancaster area's warehousing jobs.
• Pennsylvania's pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing employment, 20,358, is 2.91 times the Lancaster area's warehousing jobs.
• Pennsylvania's refrigerated warehousing employment, 4,102, is 0.59 times the Lancaster area's warehousing jobs.
• Lehigh Valley, also in Pennsylvania, has 19,122 warehousing jobs, 2.73 times Lancaster's.
• Harrisburg, also in Pennsylvania, has 17,241 warehousing jobs, 2.47 times Lancaster's.
• Philadelphia, also in Pennsylvania, has 38,250 warehousing jobs, 5.47 times Lancaster's.

Who ships pallets here

In Lancaster, dairy product manufacturing employs 1,348. Dairy moves through cold rooms and wash bays, so the pallet needs to take both without losing the rating the sheet prints. It tends to lean on stackable or nestable in a cold-friendly resin, usually in 48 x 40 in, and to ask about the maker's cold performance and wash guidance.

The empty return

An illustration, not a forecast: if each of 33 warehouses in its five largest ZIP codes in Lancaster sent back 500 empty pallets in a week, that would be 16,500 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 6 metros of Pennsylvania that have a page here, Lancaster ranks number 6 by warehousing jobs.

Lancaster holds 5.7 percent of Pennsylvania's 123,481 private warehousing jobs. See the Pennsylvania page for the whole state.

Other metros in Pennsylvania with their own page: Lehigh Valley, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Scranton-Wilkes-Barre.

Words on this page

QCEW

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

Closed deck

A solid deck that keeps small items and torn bags from falling through and wipes clean on top.

Cruciform base

A base shaped like a plus sign under the pallet, which gives a stable footprint and slides well on conveyors.

3PL

A third-party logistics company that stores and ships goods for other businesses.

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.

Nest ratio

How many empty pallets fit in the height of one: pallet height divided by nest increment.

UL

Underwriters Laboratories, a safety testing body that publishes fire test standards, including one for storage pallets.

4-way entry

A pallet that forks or a pallet jack can enter from all four sides.

Cross-docking

Moving freight from an inbound truck to an outbound one with little or no storage between.