Nestable and Stackable Pallets: Memphis

Memphis, by road

The Mississippi River, I-40 and I-55 cross here, and the airport is a FedEx hub. The Memphis area sits in Tennessee, and the freight pattern follows the roads above.

Warehousing and storage is where this area is most concentrated, at 3.7 times the national share of employment. The area reaches into Crittenden, Benton, DeSoto, Marshall, Tate and Tunica... counties.

Counties

ZIP codes with the most warehouses

The five largest ZIP codes hold 143 establishments between them. Memphis (38118) leads with 63, 44.1 percent of the five.

Reading the numbers

• Shelby County has 11,727 warehousing jobs, 42.3 percent of the 27,742 in the Memphis area.
• DeSoto County has 11,634 warehousing jobs, 41.9 percent of the 27,742 in the Memphis area, 93 fewer than Shelby.
• Marshall County has 3,876 warehousing jobs, 14.0 percent of the 27,742 in the Memphis area, 7,851 fewer than Shelby.
• Olive Branch (38654) has 35 fewer warehousing establishments than Memphis (38118), 28 against 63.
• Memphis (38141) has 40 fewer warehousing establishments than Memphis (38118), 23 against 63.
• Southaven (38671) has 47 fewer warehousing establishments than Memphis (38118), 16 against 63.
• Memphis (38109) has 50 fewer warehousing establishments than Memphis (38118), 13 against 63.
• Shelby County's 11,727 is 21.9 percent of all 53,427 warehousing jobs in Tennessee.
• DeSoto County's 11,634 is 21.8 percent of all 53,427 warehousing jobs in Tennessee.
• Marshall County's 3,876 is 7.3 percent of all 53,427 warehousing jobs in Tennessee.
• ZIP 38118 in Memphis ranks number 1 of the five, with 63 warehousing establishments, 44.1 percent of their combined total and 4.85 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 38654 in Olive Branch ranks number 2 of the five, with 28 warehousing establishments, 19.6 percent of their combined total and 2.15 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 38141 in Memphis ranks number 3 of the five, with 23 warehousing establishments, 16.1 percent of their combined total and 1.77 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 38671 in Southaven ranks number 4 of the five, with 16 warehousing establishments, 11.2 percent of their combined total and 1.23 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 38109 in Memphis ranks number 5 of the five, with 13 warehousing establishments, 9.1 percent of their combined total and 1.00 times the smallest of them.
• Warehousing and storage employs 27,742 in the area (partial), 1.00 for every warehousing job.
• Food manufacturing employs 5,686 in the area (partial), 0.20 for every warehousing job.
• Tennessee's motor vehicle parts manufacturing employment, 38,791, is 1.40 times the Memphis area's warehousing jobs.
• Tennessee's motor vehicle manufacturing employment, 19,453, is 0.70 times the Memphis area's warehousing jobs.
• Tennessee's chemical manufacturing employment, 27,214, is 0.98 times the Memphis area's warehousing jobs.
• Tennessee's warehousing and storage employment, 53,427, is 1.93 times the Memphis area's warehousing jobs.
• Nashville, also in Tennessee, has 19,548 warehousing jobs, 0.70 times Memphis's.
• Knoxville, also in Tennessee, has 1,751 warehousing jobs, 0.06 times Memphis's.

Who ships pallets here

In Memphis, warehousing and storage employs 27,742 (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 143 warehouses in its five largest ZIP codes in Memphis sent back 1,200 empty pallets in a week, that would be 171,600 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 Tennessee that have a page here, Memphis ranks number 1 by warehousing jobs.

Memphis holds 51.9 percent of Tennessee's 53,427 private warehousing jobs. See the Tennessee page for the whole state.

Other metros in Tennessee with their own page: Nashville and Knoxville.

Interstates serving the area: I-40.

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.

Gross cubic feet

The total volume of a refrigerated warehouse. Usable space is smaller once aisles and equipment are subtracted.

Establishment

A single physical location where a business operates, such as one warehouse. A company with ten warehouses has ten establishments.

Cross-docking

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

One-way pallet

A light pallet built to carry cargo to a destination and stay there, often used in export.

Interstate corridor

A freight route named for its highway, together with the metros along it.

Drayage

The short haul of a container between a port or rail ramp and a warehouse.

Last mile

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

RFID tag

A small radio tag moulded into or attached to a pallet so readers can track it through a plant or a loop.