Nestable and Stackable Pallets: Yakima

Yakima, by road

Geography first: the Yakima Valley is orchard and hop country on I-82, east of the Cascades. That is the setting for a pallet buyer in the Yakima area of Washington.

Fruit and vegetable preserving is where this area is most concentrated, at 8.9 times the national share of employment. The area reaches into Yakima county.

ZIP codes with the most warehouses

The five largest ZIP codes hold 7 establishments between them. Grandview (98930) leads with 4, 57.1 percent of the five.

Reading the numbers

• Yakima (98903) has 1 fewer warehousing establishments than Grandview (98930), 3 against 4.
• ZIP 98930 in Grandview ranks number 1 of the five, with 4 warehousing establishments, 57.1 percent of their combined total and 1.33 times the smallest of them.
• ZIP 98903 in Yakima ranks number 2 of the five, with 3 warehousing establishments, 42.9 percent of their combined total and 1.00 times the smallest of them.
• Fruit and vegetable preserving employs 1,125 in the area, 0.86 for every warehousing job.
• Grocery and related product wholesale employs 1,602 in the area, 1.22 for every warehousing job.
• Plastics product manufacturing employs 1,005 in the area, 0.77 for every warehousing job.
• Food manufacturing employs 2,795 in the area, 2.14 for every warehousing job.
• Washington's fruit and vegetable preserving employment, 10,988, is 8.39 times the Yakima area's warehousing jobs.
• Washington's grocery and related product wholesale employment, 23,876, is 18.24 times the Yakima area's warehousing jobs.
• Seattle-Tacoma, also in Washington, has 23,062 warehousing jobs, 17.62 times Yakima's.

Who ships pallets here

In Yakima, fruit and vegetable preserving employs 1,125. Processors ask for nestables first because the return leg is empty, then check the static load for the filled stack. It tends to lean on nestable, because bins and pallets return to the grower empty, usually in 48 x 40 in, with 48 x 48 where bins are square, and to ask about the static load for the heaviest filled stack.

The empty return

An illustration, not a forecast: if each of 7 warehouses in its five largest ZIP codes in Yakima sent back 500 empty pallets in a week, that would be 3,500 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 2 metros of Washington that have a page here, Yakima ranks number 2 by warehousing jobs.

Yakima holds 3.6 percent of Washington's 36,691 private warehousing jobs. See the Washington page for the whole state.

Other metros in Washington with their own page: Seattle-Tacoma.

Words on this page

Euro pallet

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

Nest ratio

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

Interstate corridor

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

Gross cubic feet

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

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.

Dock door

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

QCEW

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

ZIP Code Business Patterns

A Census Bureau series that counts establishments by ZIP code and industry.

Bulk bag

A large woven bag, often sold as a Super Sack, that holds a ton or so of powder or granules and sits on a square pallet.