Nestable and Stackable Pallets: Minneapolis-St. Paul

Minneapolis-St. Paul, by road

Geography first: i-35W, I-35E, I-94 and I-494 weave through the Twin Cities. That is the setting for a pallet buyer in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota.

Food manufacturing is where this area is most concentrated, at 0.6 times the national share of employment. The area reaches into Anoka, Carver, Chisago, Dakota, Hennepin and Isanti... counties.

Counties

ZIP codes with the most warehouses

The five largest ZIP codes hold 51 establishments between them. Saint Paul (55121) leads with 19, 37.3 percent of the five.

Reading the numbers

• Hennepin County has 3,616 warehousing jobs, 54.8 percent of the 6,599 in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.
• Anoka County has 1,119 warehousing jobs, 17.0 percent of the 6,599 in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, 2,497 fewer than Hennepin.
• Washington County has 779 warehousing jobs, 11.8 percent of the 6,599 in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, 2,837 fewer than Hennepin.
• Saint Paul (55113) has 9 fewer warehousing establishments than Saint Paul (55121), 10 against 19.
• Minneapolis (55428) has 10 fewer warehousing establishments than Saint Paul (55121), 9 against 19.
• Minneapolis (55418) has 12 fewer warehousing establishments than Saint Paul (55121), 7 against 19.
• Shakopee (55379) has 13 fewer warehousing establishments than Saint Paul (55121), 6 against 19.
• Hennepin County's 3,616 is 20.2 percent of all 17,921 warehousing jobs in Minnesota.
• Anoka County's 1,119 is 6.2 percent of all 17,921 warehousing jobs in Minnesota.
• Washington County's 779 is 4.3 percent of all 17,921 warehousing jobs in Minnesota.
• ZIP 55121 in Saint Paul ranks number 1 of the five, with 19 warehousing establishments, 37.3 percent of their combined total and 3.17 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 55113 in Saint Paul ranks number 2 of the five, with 10 warehousing establishments, 19.6 percent of their combined total and 1.67 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 55428 in Minneapolis ranks number 3 of the five, with 9 warehousing establishments, 17.6 percent of their combined total and 1.50 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 55418 in Minneapolis ranks number 4 of the five, with 7 warehousing establishments, 13.7 percent of their combined total and 1.17 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 55379 in Shakopee ranks number 5 of the five, with 6 warehousing establishments, 11.8 percent of their combined total and 1.00 times the smallest of them.
• Food manufacturing employs 14,543 in the area (partial), 2.20 for every warehousing job.
• Chemical manufacturing employs 9,984 in the area (partial), 1.51 for every warehousing job.
• Minnesota's meat and poultry processing employment, 17,525, is 2.66 times the Minneapolis-St. Paul area's warehousing jobs.
• Minnesota's dairy product manufacturing employment, 5,085, is 0.77 times the Minneapolis-St. Paul area's warehousing jobs.
• Minnesota's fruit and vegetable preserving employment, 4,721, is 0.72 times the Minneapolis-St. Paul area's warehousing jobs.
• Minnesota's food manufacturing employment, 47,829, is 7.25 times the Minneapolis-St. Paul area's warehousing jobs.

Who ships pallets here

In Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, food manufacturing employs 14,543 (a partial count). The buyer here is usually a plant or sanitation manager, and the questions are cleaning, deck type and what paperwork comes with the model. It tends to lean on nestable or stackable that washes down, open or closed deck by product, usually in 48 x 40 in, and to ask about resin and colourant documentation, since FDA does not approve pallet models.

The empty return

An illustration, not a forecast: if each of 51 warehouses in its five largest ZIP codes in Minneapolis-St. Paul sent back 500 empty pallets in a week, that would be 25,500 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 1 metros of Minnesota that have a page here, Minneapolis-St. Paul ranks number 1 by warehousing jobs.

Minneapolis-St. Paul holds 36.8 percent of Minnesota's 17,921 private warehousing jobs. See the Minnesota page for the whole state.

Interstates serving the area: I-35 and I-94.

Words on this page

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.

4-way entry

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

QCEW

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

3PL

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

Slip sheet

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

Commodity class

A fire-protection category for stored goods and their pallets, used to design sprinkler systems.

Drayage

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

Interstate corridor

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

Euro pallet

A 1200 by 800 millimetre pallet, about 48 by 31.5 inches, widely used in Europe.