Drive-In Rack in St. Louis, MO
Bulk packaging in a former city manufacturing building occupies most of the usable floor. A few repeated palletized items dominate the count, while columns interrupt what looks like an open storage rectangle on the lease drawing.
Drive-in rack supports pallets on continuous rails while the forklift enters the storage lane. It suits repeated bulk inventory rather than many independently picked items. Drive-through layouts can provide access from both ends when rotation requires it. We confirm truck dimensions, pallet bearing, lane depth, and retrieval sequence before counting the storage gain. Fit continuous storage lanes around the actual column grid and existing truck dimensions. Start with your building drawing and current load information so the proposal addresses the immediate bottleneck rather than selling capacity you cannot use.
Why St. Louis Warehouses Work With Us
Planning around North Riverfront, The Hill, and Carondelet starts with how the local operation handles material, not with a standard rack diagram. Older city industrial buildings combine changing roof heights, dense column grids, and loading doors that were positioned for a different shipping operation. Food processors, printers, and regional distributors need those constraints accounted for before more steel occupies the floor.
For this project, the central decision is straightforward: fit continuous storage lanes around the actual column grid and existing truck dimensions. Drive in pallet rack earns its footprint when lanes stay filled with suitable repeated loads. A high position count is less useful if it produces frequent partial lanes or obstructed retrieval. We review batch quantities, guide protection, mast clearances, and your loading sequence so the chosen density remains usable for the people handling the inventory.
As a division of Warehouse Equipment & Supplies Co., St. Louis Pallet Racks gives you a single point of contact for the free warehouse consultation, layout revisions, component questions, and installation planning. We explain what is included, identify unresolved measurements, and keep changes visible in an itemized quote. If your operating priorities change, the drawing is reviewed before material is released rather than leaving your team to work around a surprise.
- Free warehouse consultation
- CAD layout with storage counts
- One contact for layout, delivery, and installation
Local Project Context
Downtown, Midtown, The Hill, North Riverfront, Carondelet. Planning around the I-70 and I-55 corridors through the city.
Operations We Support
Food and beverage · Printing and packaging · 3PL distribution · Light manufacturing
How Drive-In Rack Works
Deep storage lanes for bulk inventory, with forklift access inside the rack structure.
Continuous rails, not beams
Pallets rest on rails carried by upright frames rather than individual beam levels, so a lane accepts pallet after pallet at the same elevation.
The truck enters the lane
The driver travels inside the bay to place or retrieve each load. Lane width, rail height, and mast clearance get dimensioned to that specific truck, not a generic one.
One open end or two
One open end gives LIFO and the highest density available. Two open ends give FIFO with slightly fewer positions, since each lane now needs clearance from both sides.
Guarding built into the design
Guide rails, column guards, and rail-end protection are part of the spec from the start, because a lane that takes daily contact from forklifts is a lane that will eventually show it.
What Your Drive-In Rack Project Includes
Before approval, we compare the proposed lane count with actual inventory depth and the frequency of partial-lane retrieval. The review includes receiving space, reserve replenishment, and a separate pick area where mixed orders require it. We document the load and truck assumptions so a later change in pallet dimensions or handling equipment triggers another check rather than an improvised adjustment inside the structure.
The design starts with the forklift, not the rack. Mast height, overall width, load backrest, and turning clearance decide lane dimensions, so truck specifications get collected before anything is drawn.
Next we look at SKU depth. Drive-in rewards deep lanes of a single product and punishes variety - if a lane never fills, you've built an expensive way to store less than you could have with selective. Where the inventory profile is mixed, we'll usually recommend a hybrid: selective at the pick face, drive-in behind it for reserve.
The quote itemizes frames, rails, rail supports, guide rails, and column protection, with a CAD drawing showing lane depth, rail elevations, and total positions. Installation partners anchor, plumb, and align every rail run, then verify a loaded pallet travels the full lane before handing the system over.
Because drive-in lanes take contact from lift trucks over time, we specify replaceable rails and guards so a worn section can be swapped without disturbing the rest of the lane.
What We Need to Plan It
- What forklift will enter the lanes, and what are its exact dimensions?
- How many pallets do you hold per SKU?
- Do you need LIFO, or does the product require drive-through FIFO?
- What's the clear height and floor condition in the storage area?
- How many total pallet positions are you trying to reach?
Where This Service Fits
- High volume of a small number of SKUs
- Seasonal or buffer inventory held in bulk
- Cold storage and freezer rooms where cube matters most
- Product too fragile to floor-stack more than two high
- Buildings where floor space, not height, is the binding constraint
Recent Installations
A look at pallet rack installations our crews have completed for warehouses across the St. Louis metro area.
Get a Drive-In Rack Quote
Tell us about your St. Louis operation and we will follow up with layout planning and pricing. Prefer to talk? Call (314) 338-4815.
St. Louis Pallet Racks
1118 Hampton AveSte 219
St. Louis, MO 63139
Monday - Friday: 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Saturday: 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Sunday: Closed
Drive-In Rack Questions We Hear Most
Other Storage Services in St. Louis
Pallet Rack
Also called selective pallet rack
Every pallet reachable, every time. The baseline we size everything else against.
View details
Pushback Rack
Also called push back pallet rack system
Two to six pallets deep from one aisle, without giving up much reach.
View details
Pallet Flow Rack
Also called flow through racking
Load one side, pick the other, and let gravity enforce first in, first out.
View details
Cantilever Rack
Also called cantilever warehouse racking
Arms with nothing in front of them, built for lumber, pipe, and anything a pallet can't hold.
View details
Carton Flow Rack
Also called carton flow shelving
Cases advance to the picker instead of the picker hunting for cases.
View details
Warehouse Relocation
Teardown, labeling, transport coordination, and rack reinstallation planned around your move.
View detailsDrive-In Rack Service Areas
We install industrial pallet racks throughout the city and out into the surrounding metro, so multi-building operators can keep one rack standard across every site.
Our St. Louis Business Location
Located in St. Louis, we serve the entire metro area with industrial pallet racks and warehouse storage solutions.
St. Louis Pallet Racks
Address
1118 Hampton Ave
Ste 219
St. Louis, MO 63139
Phone
(314) 338-4815Business Hours
Monday - Friday: 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Saturday: 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Sunday: Closed
Need Drive-In Rack in St. Louis?
Call (314) 338-4815 or request a free warehouse consultation.