Plastic pallets delivered in Nevada

Two freight markets, 440 miles apart

Nevada's freight splits between the north and the south, with mostly empty desert between them. Reno and Sparks sit on I-80 just east of the Sierra Nevada. Las Vegas sits on I-15 in the far south, closer to Los Angeles than to Reno.

US 95 is the main highway between the two, so a buyer with sites in both cities is often better off quoting two deliveries than routing one load across the state.

Reno, Sparks and the industrial center east of town

Reno sits a few hours' drive from the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento over Donner Pass, which makes it a common place for distribution buildings that serve Northern California. The warehouse districts in Sparks, the North Valleys and along I-80 east of town hold many of them.

The Tahoe Reno Industrial Center in Storey County, off I-80 near McCarran, is one of the largest industrial parks in the US. Tesla's Gigafactory Nevada is there, along with battery recyclers, data centers and many distribution and manufacturing tenants.

Battery and electronics plants often run returnable packaging between suppliers and the line. Those loops want a pallet with a known racked rating and, sometimes, an RFID pocket for tracking pallets through the plant.

Northeast Nevada, around Elko and Winnemucca along I-80, is the heart of the largest gold-mining district in the US. Mines there take in process chemicals, lubricants and parts in drums and totes, which ride best on a 48x48 or 44x44 drum pallet with a rated dynamic load that covers four full drums.

• Plastic pallets with RFID →
• Rackable plastic pallets →
• Drum plastic pallets →

Las Vegas runs on food service

Las Vegas resorts serve enormous volumes of food and drink, and broadline food service distributors feed the Strip and the valley's restaurants from warehouses in North Las Vegas and Henderson. Beverage distributors bring in beer, spirits and soft drinks by the truckload.

Food service coolers and freezers favor a washable HDPE pallet that won't absorb spills or shed wood into a kitchen supply chain. Under FSMA's sanitary transportation rule, equipment used to move food must be adequately cleanable, which a plastic deck makes easy to show.

Beverage loads are dense. Check the dynamic rating on the maker's sheet against a full layer of cases, not just the static figure.

Henderson and Apex, northeast of Las Vegas along I-15, also hold chemical plants and building-material yards. Chlorine and specialty chemical makers ship drums and totes that need a pallet whose dynamic rating covers four full drums.

• Plastic pallets for beverage →
• Cold storage warehousing →

Heat and the desert

Southern Nevada summers push trailer interiors far above the air temperature outside. Plastic softens as it heats, so a heavy static stack left in a hot trailer or yard can sag over time. Ask the maker how the exact model's static and racked ratings hold at high temperatures, and keep loaded pallets inside when you can.

• Reading load ratings →

Truckload, LTL and nestables

Full orders come on a 53-foot dry van, about 110 inches tall inside. Nestable pallets suit long one-way hauls into Nevada because a stack of them takes a fraction of the height. Rehrig Pacific publishes 1,200 of its heavy-duty nestable 40x48 to a 53-foot trailer.

LTL serves Reno and Las Vegas on frequent schedules. Elko, Winnemucca, Ely, Pahrump and other rural points are reachable with longer transit.

• Nestable plastic pallets →

Selling pallets out of Nevada

Distribution buildings turn over tenants, and returnable loops retire pallets when a program ends. To sell, send the count, footprint, resin, condition and pickup ZIP. We reply with an offer as reusable pallets or as regrind. Winter closures on Donner Pass or summer heat warnings don't change an offer, but they can shift the pickup date, so name a flexible window.