Nestable and Stackable Pallets: Oregon

Oregon, by road

Oregon is a place where i-5 holds the Willamette Valley together, and I-84 follows the Columbia River east. Pallets here follow I-5, I-84 and I-205, and the distance they travel empty is the cost a nestable cuts.

The counties with the most warehousing jobs are Multnomah (7,435), Marion (4,206) and Linn (1,681), which is 79.5 percent of the state's 16,750. It shares a land border with Washington, Idaho, Nevada and California.

Warehousing in numbers

Refrigerated space matters because a freezer is hard on plastic; the cold guide says what to ask for. Oregon held 139 million cubic feet of gross refrigerated warehouse capacity on October 1, 2025.

Reading the numbers

• Multnomah County has 7,435 warehousing jobs, 44.4 percent of Oregon's 16,750, the most in the state.
• Marion County has 4,206 warehousing jobs, 25.1 percent of Oregon's 16,750, 3,229 fewer than Multnomah County.
• Linn County has 1,681 warehousing jobs, 10.0 percent of Oregon's 16,750, 5,754 fewer than Multnomah County.
• Fruit and vegetable preserving employs 9,076 people in Oregon, 0.54 for every warehousing job.
• Beverage manufacturing employs 7,137 people in Oregon, 0.43 for every warehousing job.
• Food manufacturing employs 28,203 people in Oregon, 1.68 for every warehousing job.
• Oregon holds 0.88 percent of US warehousing jobs, about one in every 114, spread over 267 establishments averaging 63 jobs each.
• Portland accounts for 8,157 warehousing jobs, 48.7 percent of Oregon's.
• Washington has 36,691 warehousing jobs, 2.19 times the 16,750 in Oregon.
• Idaho has 2,445 warehousing jobs, 0.15 times the 16,750 in Oregon.
• Nevada has 42,113 warehousing jobs, 2.51 times the 16,750 in Oregon.
• California has 236,923 warehousing jobs, 14.14 times the 16,750 in Oregon.

Who ships pallets here

In Oregon, fruit and vegetable preserving employs 9,076. 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.

Fruit and vegetable preserving is the trade where Oregon is most concentrated, at 4.1 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 267 warehouse establishments in Oregon sent back 800 empty pallets in a week, that would be 213,600 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 Oregon with their own page: Portland.

Words on this page

Dynamic load

The weight a pallet holds while it is moved by a forklift, pallet jack or conveyor. It is lower than static because motion adds shock.

Dock door

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

Stretch wrap

Elastic film wound around a loaded pallet to hold the load together.

FM Approvals

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

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.

RFID tag

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

Polypropylene

Another common pallet resin, lighter and stiffer than some others, with its own behaviour in the cold.

Slip sheet

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

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.