Used plastic pallets in Memphis

Where the warehouses are in Memphis

Count the jobs the BLS can disclose in Memphis and you reach 27,742 in warehousing and storage for 2025, 5.3% of the metro's private work. The area covers 9 counties: Crittenden, Benton, DeSoto, Marshall, Tate, Tunica....

Memphis against Tennessee

The metro's disclosed-county total set beside the state's whole count, so the two can be read together.

Memphis ZIPs to name on a request

Census ZIP Code Business Patterns for 2023 list 5 ZIPs here with the most warehousing establishments, 143 between them. 38118 (Memphis) leads with 63, 44% of the listed total.

• 38118 Memphis: 63 warehousing establishments, 2.3 times 38654.
• 38654 Olive Branch: 28 warehousing establishments, 44% of the count in 38118.
• 38141 Memphis: 23 warehousing establishments, 37% of the count in 38118.
• 38671 Southaven: 16 warehousing establishments, 25% of the count in 38118.
• 38109 Memphis: 13 warehousing establishments, 21% of the count in 38118.

What the ratios say

County totals for Memphis are floors, since the BLS hides counties with too few employers to publish; the 27,742 jobs are the disclosed part.

• Memphis ranks 14th of the 60 metros in the data by disclosed warehousing jobs, with 27,742 against a median of 13,652.
• Spread across 9 counties, that is 3,082 warehousing jobs per county on average.
• Shelby County holds 42% of the metro's jobs and DeSoto County 42%; the gap between them is 93 jobs.
• 38118 has 63 warehousing establishments, 4.8 times as many as 38109 (13) at the other end of the list.
• Tennessee has 53,427 warehousing jobs in all, so the disclosed counties of Memphis are 52% of the state.
• Warehousing is 5.3% of private jobs in these counties; where it is higher than average, pallets are a daily cost and sellers of surplus are common.
• One Interstate in the data serves the metro, and it carries 57,377 warehousing jobs along the route.
• The metros closest in size are Las Vegas (28,250, 508 above) and Los Angeles (27,225, 517 below).
• The top three ZIPs, 38118, 38654, 38141, hold 114 of the 143 establishments in the ZIP list, or 80%.
• The ZIP list spans 3 towns, led by Memphis (99) and Olive Branch (28).
• The ZIP list averages 28.6 warehousing establishments per ZIP across 5 ZIPs, and the quietest, 38109 Memphis, has 13.
• Of the 9 counties in the metro, the BLS discloses 3 for warehousing, which together account for 27,237 of the 27,742 jobs counted.
• Memphis has 2.0 times the disclosed warehousing jobs of the median metro.
• For every warehousing job in these counties there are about 18 other private jobs, so pallet-using work is spread thinly across 9 counties.

Where Memphis ranks

Memphis and the 13 metros above it hold 58% of the 1,116,650 warehousing jobs across the 60 metros in the data. The largest, Inland Empire, counts 118,368.

Highways around Memphis

Interstate 40 is the Interstate in our data that serves Memphis.

Neighbouring metros in the data

Metros that share a corridor with Memphis, and the other metros in Tennessee, with their disclosed warehousing jobs.

The ladder around Memphis

Metros ranked by disclosed warehousing jobs: Memphis with the two above it and the two below.

Who buys pallets around Memphis

Against the national share of employment, warehousing and storage is the most concentrated pallet-using line in Memphis, at 3.7x. Warehouses with automated storage need a consistent size for conveyors and a rack rating they can read.

• Warehousing and storage: 27,742 jobs in the disclosed counties, 1.5% of the 1,901,976 across the US, or 1.00 for every warehousing job here.
• Food manufacturing: 5,686 jobs in the disclosed counties, 0.3% of the 1,775,008 across the US, or 0.20 for every warehousing job here.

When something looks wrong

• Stop unloading and photograph the fault before anything moves.
• Count how many pallets show the same fault, to see if it is a lot problem or a one-off.
• Tell the desk or the seller in writing the same day, with the photographs attached.
• Hold the affected stacks apart until you hear back.
• Keep one sample pallet unused, so the maker or an inspector can examine it.

Storing a lot properly

• Keep stacks on a flat, dry slab, away from heaters, doorways and loading-bay draughts.
• Limit stack height to what the bottom pallet and the lift truck can safely manage.
• Shield pallets from sunlight with a tarp or a roof, since ultraviolet light chalks and embrittles some resins.
• Separate footprints, makers and grades with floor markings so pickers never guess.
• Leave an aisle wide enough for a fork truck to turn without clipping a corner.

Requesting a lot for Memphis

• Footprint: 48 x 40 in, one maker
• Grade: used and clean with a stated rating
• Dock ZIP, for example 38118 or 38654
• Quantity band

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