Nestable and Stackable Pallets: Georgia

Georgia, by road

Savannah is the Southeast container gateway and Atlanta is where I-75, I-85 and I-20 meet. For a plastic pallet buyer in Georgia, the geography sets the route and the route sets the empty return: I-75, I-85, I-20, I-16 and I-95 carry most of what leaves, and every empty pallet that comes back has to ride the same road.

The counties with the most warehousing jobs are Fulton (18,317), Henry (7,904) and Cobb (6,201), which is 38.3 percent of the state's 84,730. It shares a land border with Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Warehousing in numbers

Refrigerated space matters because a freezer is hard on plastic; the cold guide says what to ask for. Georgia held 304 million cubic feet of gross refrigerated warehouse capacity on October 1, 2025.

Reading the numbers

• Fulton County has 18,317 warehousing jobs, 21.6 percent of Georgia's 84,730, the most in the state.
• Henry County has 7,904 warehousing jobs, 9.3 percent of Georgia's 84,730, 10,413 fewer than Fulton County.
• Cobb County has 6,201 warehousing jobs, 7.3 percent of Georgia's 84,730, 12,116 fewer than Fulton County.
• Meat and poultry processing employs 42,030 people in Georgia, 0.50 for every warehousing job.
• Refrigerated warehousing employs 4,453 people in Georgia, 0.05 for every warehousing job.
• Warehousing and storage employs 84,730 people in Georgia, 1.00 for every warehousing job.
• Food manufacturing employs 74,165 people in Georgia, 0.88 for every warehousing job.
• Georgia holds 4.45 percent of US warehousing jobs, about one in every 22, spread over 1,150 establishments averaging 74 jobs each.
• Atlanta accounts for 49,050 warehousing jobs, 57.9 percent of Georgia's.
• Savannah accounts for 6,384 warehousing jobs, 7.5 percent of Georgia's.
• Gainesville, GA accounts for 656 warehousing jobs, 0.8 percent of Georgia's.
• Florida has 105,401 warehousing jobs, 1.24 times the 84,730 in Georgia.
• Alabama has 21,880 warehousing jobs, 0.26 times the 84,730 in Georgia.
• Tennessee has 53,427 warehousing jobs, 0.63 times the 84,730 in Georgia.
• North Carolina has 54,551 warehousing jobs, 0.64 times the 84,730 in Georgia.

Who ships pallets here

In Georgia, meat and poultry processing employs 42,030. These plants ask about drainage and cleaning first, then about static load for the product stacked on the pallet. It tends to lean on a washable nestable or stackable that drains, usually in 48 x 40 in, and to ask about whether the deck drains and how the maker says to clean it.

Meat and poultry processing is the trade where Georgia is most concentrated, at 2.4 times the national share of employment. A buyer in that trade will tend to ask the questions in the last column first.

The empty return

An illustration, not a forecast: if each of 1,150 warehouse establishments in Georgia sent back 500 empty pallets in a week, that would be 575,000 pallets. The table counts the 53 ft trailers that takes at three makers' published nestable figures, beside the 540 per trailer of a rackable.

Next door

Metros in Georgia with their own page: Atlanta, Savannah and Gainesville, GA.

Words on this page

QCEW

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

Edge rack

A rack arrangement where the pallet rests on the edges of the beams. It is the common test case for a racking rating.

FM Approvals

A testing and certification body whose classifications insurers and sprinkler designers read.

Open deck

A deck with slots or a grid, which drains water, sheds dust and weighs less than a solid one.

Reefer

A refrigerated trailer or container.

Pallet pooling

A rental model where a company owns the pallets and moves them between customers, instead of each customer buying its own.

RFID tag

A small radio tag moulded into or attached to a pallet so readers can track it through a plant or a loop.

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.

GMA pallet

The 48 by 40 inch North American standard, named for the Grocery Manufacturers Association that popularised it.