Lift Gates vs Ramps

i have done food AND beverage (liquor+beer). Right now i'm in LTL and we do have liftgates on most of our trailers and trucks except the 48' and 53's and those are used mostly for volume loads and pickups where the customer has a dock.

1) Now to answer the original question, i think there are actually going to be more injuries with ramps than liftgates because most ramps aren't setup right. Look at the pic you posted---the angle is rather steep. Ok, fine if you have brakes great but it's still a pretty good angle that you still have to balance the hand truck all the way down. And in a lot of cases there is a drop from the trailer floor to the ramp itself---when i did liquor the people training me didn't tell me this---i had to figure it out on my own. i think most drivers just let it sit in that position because it's less work?

a) And then the ramp itself is usually very heavy.

b) Going up and down that ramp is VERY STRENUOUS not to mention just moving the hand truck around with that much weight on it.
What you need is something like this:
http://www.magliner.com/product/ss-hand-truck/ss-vs-traditional

Equip it with brakes and the cargo push off thing and then you've got something good.

2) As far as electric jacks and liftgates needing a lot of maintenance. i think it depends if you have decent equipment or not. Some of the companies i worked for cheaped out and yes the gates would get stuck and even stop working---in the middle of the route!
Here at UPS we use top quality equipment (well, the liftgates at least.....) and there's rarely a problem.

3) i think if i was operating a food distribution outfit i would do it like this:
First you need a low deck:
http://www.kidron.com/products/empg2_dropdeck_opt.php
http://dallassmithcorp.com/products/lo-floor-trailer-chassis-modules/

Make it swing door, or if roll up make it so that the door opens and closes easy.
Then, i think you would not need a big, heavy ramp. A small one that could fold out and fold up into the trailer when done.

i would then have the product elevated by dowels or mini-pallets so that you could just slide the hand truck underneath instead of stacking each and every box.

i'm all about making it easy for the driver.

 

I am pretty sure (as in 99.987%) that every single warehouse worker in every single warehouse and industry has the opposite approach. I swear they do some of this stuff on purpose.

 

I understand where you are coming from here! Used to feel that way myself. But in looking back on it, after being retired for years, I tend to think it is just the way stuff happens. No they won't go out of their way to help you, but they also won't go out of their way to make it harder for you. They just do what is the easiest for them, regardless.

 

Drop deck would be awesome. Then I could go out with 2000 cases instead of 1600, with even taller, more unstable pallets

I don't think that's true most of the time. That would require thought and effort. The selector does what is convenient for the selector, and the loader does what is convenient for the loader. The sucky part about that is the customer doesn't care. They want what they ordered. If someone doesn't do his right, I'm the one that has to fix it.

Some days this driver does what is convenient for him. I ask customers if they need the little box I can't find, and if they say no I take it back. One day I took back 25 cases.

 

I move pallets up to 2500 lbs with a manual pallet jack and lift gate every day. No problem. As far as a brake, keep your hand on the lever and drop the pallet really fast for an emergency stop.

 

Of course that depends on both the pallet jack and the liftgate being in proper working order.

 

Yes, when they put a broken jack on my truck, I take it off and tell them to find me one that works properly or we can talk to the safety department about it. Now there is a good jack with my name on it and it is on my truck 99% of the time.

 

Interesting video on the subject. Granted it's in the interest of the lift gate but for those who have no experience with one or the other it's pretty neat.

I don't know why it's 8 minutes long though. You kind of get the point after 2.

Edit: it's a side loader not a ramp but just pretend okay

 

nope exact same ramps as every other bedbugger out there. some guys just have been useing the same ramps since they started driving 30 years ago and there just plain worn out.