Nestable and Stackable Pallets: San Francisco-Oakland

San Francisco-Oakland, by road

Geography first: the Port of Oakland and the I-80, I-880 and I-580 interchanges serve warehouses squeezed between the bay and the hills. That is the setting for a pallet buyer in the San Francisco-Oakland area of California.

Pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing is where this area is most concentrated, at 2 times the national share of employment. The area reaches into Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin counties.

Counties

ZIP codes with the most warehouses

The five largest ZIP codes hold 72 establishments between them. Hayward (94545) leads with 21, 29.2 percent of the five.

Reading the numbers

• Alameda County has 5,777 warehousing jobs, 61.0 percent of the 9,473 in the San Francisco-Oakland area.
• Contra Costa County has 2,580 warehousing jobs, 27.2 percent of the 9,473 in the San Francisco-Oakland area, 3,197 fewer than Alameda.
• San Mateo County has 848 warehousing jobs, 9.0 percent of the 9,473 in the San Francisco-Oakland area, 4,929 fewer than Alameda.
• San Leandro (94577) has 5 fewer warehousing establishments than Hayward (94545), 16 against 21.
• Hayward (94544) has 7 fewer warehousing establishments than Hayward (94545), 14 against 21.
• Livermore (94550) has 10 fewer warehousing establishments than Hayward (94545), 11 against 21.
• Union City (94587) has 11 fewer warehousing establishments than Hayward (94545), 10 against 21.
• Alameda County's 5,777 is 2.4 percent of all 236,923 warehousing jobs in California.
• Contra Costa County's 2,580 is 1.1 percent of all 236,923 warehousing jobs in California.
• San Mateo County's 848 is 0.4 percent of all 236,923 warehousing jobs in California.
• ZIP 94545 in Hayward ranks number 1 of the five, with 21 warehousing establishments, 29.2 percent of their combined total and 2.10 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 94577 in San Leandro ranks number 2 of the five, with 16 warehousing establishments, 22.2 percent of their combined total and 1.60 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 94544 in Hayward ranks number 3 of the five, with 14 warehousing establishments, 19.4 percent of their combined total and 1.40 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 94550 in Livermore ranks number 4 of the five, with 11 warehousing establishments, 15.3 percent of their combined total and 1.10 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 94587 in Union City ranks number 5 of the five, with 10 warehousing establishments, 13.9 percent of their combined total and 1.00 times the smallest of them.
• Pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing employs 10,914 in the area (partial), 1.15 for every warehousing job.
• Food manufacturing employs 16,356 in the area, 1.73 for every warehousing job.
• California's beverage manufacturing employment, 63,604, is 6.71 times the San Francisco-Oakland area's warehousing jobs.
• California's fruit and vegetable preserving employment, 27,518, is 2.90 times the San Francisco-Oakland area's warehousing jobs.
• Los Angeles, also in California, has 27,225 warehousing jobs, 2.87 times San Francisco-Oakland's.
• Inland Empire, also in California, has 118,368 warehousing jobs, 12.50 times San Francisco-Oakland's.
• Fresno, also in California, has 5,006 warehousing jobs, 0.53 times San Francisco-Oakland's.

Who ships pallets here

In San Francisco-Oakland, pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing employs 10,914 (a partial count). The questions are what the pallet is made of, how it is cleaned, and what documents travel with it. 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 72 warehouses in its five largest ZIP codes in San Francisco-Oakland sent back 500 empty pallets in a week, that would be 36,000 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 California that have a page here, San Francisco-Oakland ranks number 4 by warehousing jobs.

San Francisco-Oakland holds 4.0 percent of California's 236,923 private warehousing jobs. See the California page for the whole state.

Other metros in California with their own page: Los Angeles, Inland Empire, Fresno, Stockton and Salinas.

Interstates serving the area: I-80.

Words on this page

Nest ratio

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

Creep

Slow, permanent bending of plastic under a steady load. A pallet can hold a load for an hour and bow under it after a month.

Reefer

A refrigerated trailer or container.

Interstate corridor

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

Commodity class

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

2-way entry

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

Nest increment

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

Last mile

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

Dunnage

Loose material used to support or secure cargo inside a trailer or container.