Nestable and Stackable Pallets: Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City, by road

Geography first: i-35, I-40 and I-44 meet here, so freight crosses the continent in both directions through the city. That is the setting for a pallet buyer in the Oklahoma City area of Oklahoma.

Warehousing and storage is where this area is most concentrated, at 1.1 times the national share of employment. The area reaches into Canadian, Cleveland, Grady, Lincoln, Logan and McClain... counties.

Counties

ZIP codes with the most warehouses

The five largest ZIP codes hold 35 establishments between them. Oklahoma City (73179) leads with 9, 25.7 percent of the five.

Reading the numbers

• Oklahoma County has 8,307 warehousing jobs, 99.7 percent of the 8,336 in the Oklahoma City area.
• Canadian County has 29 warehousing jobs, 0.3 percent of the 8,336 in the Oklahoma City area, 8,278 fewer than Oklahoma.
• Oklahoma City (73127) has 0 fewer warehousing establishments than Oklahoma City (73179), 9 against 9.
• Oklahoma City (73108) has 2 fewer warehousing establishments than Oklahoma City (73179), 7 against 9.
• Oklahoma City (73131) has 4 fewer warehousing establishments than Oklahoma City (73179), 5 against 9.
• Oklahoma City (73128) has 4 fewer warehousing establishments than Oklahoma City (73179), 5 against 9.
• Oklahoma County's 8,307 is 42.2 percent of all 19,669 warehousing jobs in Oklahoma.
• Canadian County's 29 is 0.1 percent of all 19,669 warehousing jobs in Oklahoma.
• ZIP 73179 in Oklahoma City ranks number 1 of the five, with 9 warehousing establishments, 25.7 percent of their combined total and 1.80 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 73127 in Oklahoma City ranks number 2 of the five, with 9 warehousing establishments, 25.7 percent of their combined total and 1.80 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 73108 in Oklahoma City ranks number 3 of the five, with 7 warehousing establishments, 20.0 percent of their combined total and 1.40 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 73131 in Oklahoma City ranks number 4 of the five, with 5 warehousing establishments, 14.3 percent of their combined total and 1.00 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 73128 in Oklahoma City ranks number 5 of the five, with 5 warehousing establishments, 14.3 percent of their combined total and 1.00 times the smallest of them.
• Warehousing and storage employs 8,336 in the area (partial), 1.00 for every warehousing job.
• Grocery and related product wholesale employs 4,281 in the area (partial), 0.51 for every warehousing job.
• Oklahoma's meat and poultry processing employment, 11,968, is 1.44 times the Oklahoma City area's warehousing jobs.
• Oklahoma's food manufacturing employment, 20,047, is 2.40 times the Oklahoma City area's warehousing jobs.

Who ships pallets here

In Oklahoma City, warehousing and storage employs 8,336 (a partial count). Most of the demand is for general pallets in the common footprint, with the choice split between rack service and block stacking. 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 35 warehouses in its five largest ZIP codes in Oklahoma City sent back 500 empty pallets in a week, that would be 17,500 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 Oklahoma that have a page here, Oklahoma City ranks number 1 by warehousing jobs.

Oklahoma City holds 42.4 percent of Oklahoma's 19,669 private warehousing jobs. See the Oklahoma page for the whole state.

Interstates serving the area: I-40 and I-35.

Words on this page

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.

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.

Pallet jack

A hand or powered truck with two forks, used to move a pallet short distances.

Establishment

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

Reefer

A refrigerated trailer or container.

Nest increment

The extra height each additional empty pallet adds to a nested stack, measured in inches. A small increment means a short stack.

Dock door

The opening where a trailer backs to a building so pallets can be loaded and unloaded.