Nestable and Stackable Pallets: Philadelphia

Philadelphia, by road

I-95, I-76 and the Delaware River ports serve warehouses across the river in New Jersey and Delaware as well. Philadelphia is counted here as the metropolitan area in Pennsylvania that the Census Bureau delineates, and its pallet traffic is set by that geography.

Pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing is where this area is most concentrated, at 2.3 times the national share of employment. The area reaches into Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Bucks, Chester and Montgomery... counties.

Counties

ZIP codes with the most warehouses

The five largest ZIP codes hold 115 establishments between them. Camden (08102) leads with 33, 28.7 percent of the five.

Reading the numbers

• Burlington County has 10,713 warehousing jobs, 28.0 percent of the 38,250 in the Philadelphia area.
• Gloucester County has 9,948 warehousing jobs, 26.0 percent of the 38,250 in the Philadelphia area, 765 fewer than Burlington.
• Philadelphia County has 4,671 warehousing jobs, 12.2 percent of the 38,250 in the Philadelphia area, 6,042 fewer than Burlington.
• New Castle (19720) has 8 fewer warehousing establishments than Camden (08102), 25 against 33.
• Swedesboro (08085) has 10 fewer warehousing establishments than Camden (08102), 23 against 33.
• Burlington (08016) has 12 fewer warehousing establishments than Camden (08102), 21 against 33.
• Bristol (19007) has 20 fewer warehousing establishments than Camden (08102), 13 against 33.
• Burlington County's 10,713 is 8.7 percent of all 123,481 warehousing jobs in Pennsylvania.
• Gloucester County's 9,948 is 8.1 percent of all 123,481 warehousing jobs in Pennsylvania.
• Philadelphia County's 4,671 is 3.8 percent of all 123,481 warehousing jobs in Pennsylvania.
• ZIP 08102 in Camden ranks number 1 of the five, with 33 warehousing establishments, 28.7 percent of their combined total and 2.54 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 19720 in New Castle ranks number 2 of the five, with 25 warehousing establishments, 21.7 percent of their combined total and 1.92 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 08085 in Swedesboro ranks number 3 of the five, with 23 warehousing establishments, 20.0 percent of their combined total and 1.77 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 08016 in Burlington ranks number 4 of the five, with 21 warehousing establishments, 18.3 percent of their combined total and 1.62 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 19007 in Bristol ranks number 5 of the five, with 13 warehousing establishments, 11.3 percent of their combined total and 1.00 times the smallest of them.
• Pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing employs 15,593 in the area (partial), 0.41 for every warehousing job.
• Chemical manufacturing employs 28,734 in the area, 0.75 for every warehousing job.
• Pennsylvania's warehousing and storage employment, 123,481, is 3.23 times the Philadelphia area's warehousing jobs.
• Pennsylvania's plastics product manufacturing employment, 34,094, is 0.89 times the Philadelphia area's warehousing jobs.
• Pennsylvania's pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing employment, 20,358, is 0.53 times the Philadelphia area's warehousing jobs.
• Pennsylvania's refrigerated warehousing employment, 4,102, is 0.11 times the Philadelphia area's warehousing jobs.
• Lehigh Valley, also in Pennsylvania, has 19,122 warehousing jobs, 0.50 times Philadelphia's.
• Harrisburg, also in Pennsylvania, has 17,241 warehousing jobs, 0.45 times Philadelphia's.
• Pittsburgh, also in Pennsylvania, has 9,826 warehousing jobs, 0.26 times Philadelphia's.

Who ships pallets here

In Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing employs 15,593 (a partial count). Pharma plants care about clean surfaces and a paper trail. A used 48 x 40 model one maker lists is described as pharma and food safe but not approved for direct food contact, which is the kind of careful wording to expect. It tends to lean on clean, washable stackable or nestable with a paperwork trail, usually in 48 x 40 in, and to ask about resin and colourant documents and the maker's cleaning guidance.

The empty return

An illustration, not a forecast: if each of 115 warehouses in its five largest ZIP codes in Philadelphia sent back 800 empty pallets in a week, that would be 92,000 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 6 metros of Pennsylvania that have a page here, Philadelphia ranks number 1 by warehousing jobs.

Philadelphia holds 31.0 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, Pittsburgh, Lancaster and Scranton-Wilkes-Barre.

Interstates serving the area: I-95.

Words on this page

Pallet jack

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

Cruciform base

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

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.

3PL

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

2-way entry

A pallet that can be lifted from only two opposite sides.

Recycled content

The share of a pallet moulded from reground plastic. Makers print it as a range, often by colour.

Euro pallet

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

Cube utilisation

How well loaded freight fills the volume of a trailer or container. Taller or wider-than-floor pallets waste cube.

Slip sheet

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