Moving heavy freight with pallet truck

[QUOTE="semi" retired;4234761]Hi Tracy, an uphill dock? I can say in all my years, I don't remember too many uphill ones. Those steep downhill ones can be pretty tense. Many times, the pallet started to gain speed, and I had to drop the pallet. Man, I don't miss that crap at all.[/QUOTE]

It was ridiculous! Why on earth anyone would build a dock that is uphill to get product off of a truck is beyond me. When I say uphill, it was probably a 4 inch difference between the front of the box to the back. Doesn't seem like much, but it is a nightmare when you have a fully loaded pallet!

 

As has been mentioned, make absolutely sure those wheels are in good condition. We roll small size pallets at work that weigh about 1100lbs. If I'm on a smooth floor, I can roll one using my little finger.

 

One alternative is to break down the pallet if you can, just make sure you have an empty pallet to break it down onto. It's a little more work, but it gets the job done and that's what it's about, right?

 

I hear ya, if you can, spin the pallet around. I found it was easier pushing the pallet, than trying to drag it.

 

First off, forget about electric pallet jack. It ain't gonna happen. YOU are easier to replace than it is. . . Man I had a LOT of these heavy loads, and they aren't fun. I never had ANY problem in asking for help. And if it was refused, I never had ANY problem in telling the consignee, "hey, if you don't want your freight, I don't care." I'll just note your response on the BOL, take the crap back to the dock, and then your employer can pay a charge for re-delivery. Now then, what is your name again?"

Got some griping, beatching and complaining, even some sniveling. But I also got some help.

What really sucks, is when the pallets are in such bad shape that you can't get a pallet puller on them. If you can steal a chain and pallet puller off your dock, carry it in the cab with you, that way you always have one. And it isn't really stealing, as it is company property and you are using it for company business.

OK, let's talk about downgrades for a minute. Be VERY careful when doing this. Voice of experience here. I went to pull a 2500 # pallet to the back of the truck, on a down grade. It started getting away from me, and when I tried to drop the pallet jack, the lever would NOT release. (Something was wrong with this pallet jack, where the lever would not release until the handle was lowered at least half way down.) I found myself being pushed toward of the back of the trailer, where if I had done nothing, I would have been pushed OUT of the trailer, and that 2500 # pallet would have come down right on top of me. I did the only thing I could do and slammed the pallet into the wall of the trailer to stop it. Worked OK, except for one thing. My FOOT was caught between the pallet and the trailer. Smashed the hell out of it.

Make sure your pallet jack is working correctly! In the above case, I had the freight and pallet jack preloaded when I picked up the trailer. I only had the one pallet on board, in the nose of course, as that pallet was delivering way out away from the dock, and my next stop would be to start pickups in that same area.

Because design engineers and architects are are idiots. So are the people who are responsible for buying or leasing the buildings you will be delivering to. These are office dweebs who would kill themselves if they ever had to do our jobs.

[QUOTE="semi" retired;4234845]I hear ya, if you can, spin the pallet around. I found it was easier pushing the pallet, than trying to drag it.[/QUOTE]

Not only easier, but a whole lot safer!

 

If it was an uphill where I had to get the pallet out, I pretty much had to pull as opposed to pushing it out. Even if I could get it turned around, at only 115 lbs, the pallets were MUCH heavier and I had a very difficult time keeping them from rolling backwards on me and I didn't want to get smushed in between two pallets! I would just ask for help. Everyone was very accomodating when I asked for help. It was very rare that I asked, but when I did, I would get help. Of course, that could be because I am female.

 

Hi Tracy, I was wondering if you were a female. Now, I'm all for women in trucking, don't get me wrong, but there are situations, just like you described, where you physically might not have the strength to do some tasks in trucking. Not that I'm Charles Atlas, but even I had trouble with some things. Please be careful.

 

Tracy, if you are moving the pallet UPHILL, then for heaven sakes DON'T push it. Try to keep your body on the uphill side of ANY even half way heavy pallet. Can you say "squish?"

 

I may have worded that wrong. If it is uphill, I PULL it out, because I DON'T want to get squished! I never push!

 

I feel your pain. Our company policy is that we are not even allowed to use our customer's forklifts if they are available (but driverless). Complete BS. I had to move two separate 2K pallets of clay that were at the nose of a 48 ft liftgate trailer... all while parked on a down slope with snow coming inside of the tail.