It's a Team's Life

Lift Gates can be revenue generators

Within our first few months as expediters, we were asked to help a liftgate truck move a lot of computers to a new a new location in the middle of the night so as not to disturb business. This was going to be a new experience for us as we had up to this point never used a liftgate. To say our first experience was bad is an understatement. The liftgate was old and it did not work properly. As the gate was lowered it was at an angle and everyone had to hold onto the computer servers to keep them from falling off the gate. This left a really bad taste in our mouths for liftgate work.

After a few months though and talking to other drivers we knew a lot of money could be made using a liftgate. We started researching liftgates and also talking to other drivers about what they liked and disliked about their liftgate. We also talked a lot about loading and unloading freight and the use of pallet jacks. The pallet jack conversation was interesting as we learned about narrow and wide tines and why some worked better in certain situations. The best was a pallet jack that could be adjusted to do both. When moving a normal pallet, the tines stay wide and when moving a computer server, the tines need to be narrow.

Our research led us to get our first Palfinger liftgate in 2005 and this gate was exactly what we were looking for. No cutting of the frame rails of the truck and we did not have to worry about forklifts coming in and out of the truck. The liftgate was light and very easy to open and close but yet could hold 3300 lbs of weight. The 3300 lbs on the liftgate include the weight of us, the pallet jack, and the freight. We had to keep in mind when accepting a lift gate load how much each pallet weighs. The platform of our liftgate is 96” X 72” which gives us enough room to maneuver a pallet and remain in control. Once the pallet is in a safe position the liftgate is either raised or lowered using the foot controls leaving our hands free to stabilize the freight.

Our next requirement is that the liftgate must be self-leveling. We never wanted to be on a liftgate with a million-dollar piece of freight sitting at an angle. The liftgate is very easy to use, first, we use the switch to move the liftgate out from under the truck, then unfold the deck, and lower the gate to ground and that tells the liftgate where the ground is located. Next either using our feet controls, the hand controls on the side of the truck, or the hand-held remote we raise the gate to be level with the truck and then either load freight that is in the box or we lower it to the ground and load the freight.

The gate also has flaps that are raised to keep pallets from sliding off of the gate. Sometimes when moving heavy pallets, it is really nice to have these stops. We also have flashing lights built into the gate that can be run over and seen easily at night. The lights come on as soon as the liftgate is powered up.

Next, we set out our orange cones so that the gate when lowered falls within the area the orange cones protect. We learned to use the orange cones when delivering to hospitals as there is often not enough parking and we would come back out to the truck and a car would be parked right at the end of the liftgate making our gate impossible to use.

We have had a lift gate for the past twelve years and our gate has generated us more revenue and given us a lot more opportunities that we would not have had. The work that comes with a lift gate is often challenging and is a lot of fun and something we enjoy. The liftgate has also saved us a lot of time when we get into a situation of not having a forklift or the customer cannot get their forklift started. The process has started again of spec’ing a new truck and we will again buy another Palfinger similar to what we have now.

A liftgate can be a detriment if you are not leased to a carrier that has liftgate work. The liftgate does not allow us to use dock locks and some shippers require a truck to use a dock lock. If the freight at a company requires the use of a lot of dock locks the liftgate will lose you money. Know your company and the type of freight before investing in a liftgate.

Bob & Linda Caffee

TeamCaffee

Saint Louis MO

Expediters since January 2005

[email protected]

 

Expediting isn't just trucking, it's a lifestyle;

Expediting isn't just a lifestyle, it's an adventure;

Expediting isn't just an adventure, it's a job;

Expediting isn't just a job, it's a business.