Could I get a tax write off on this?

IMO I believe you can claim it as an expense on your taxes. It is for your job. Maybe I am wrong so we will wait on some expertise to come in here. Good question.

 

Only if you are doing an itemization on your tax returns. Generally, I don't believe it is a good idea for a driver to furnish equipment to their company. I've known guys that do it.

But I can tell you that I struggled along for years without the use of a pallet jack from my company. It was pretty much the same situation, they had about half enough pallet jacks to go around. And then some of the ones they had were in such poor condition they were almost useless.

The way I looked at it was this: I was paid by the hour. Sure, having the right equipment makes life easier, and stops much quicker. But if the company is not willing to give you the equipment you need, then they #### sure better not expect you to do the job in the same time frame that a well equipped driver will.

And I would make full use of one stop's equipment to get the next stop to the back of my trailer when it was necessary and possible. So they ##### at you a little, so what? If they really get upset about it, they can call the company and ##### to them. Maybe if enough of their customers complain about the drivers not having the equipment to do their jobs, they will go ahead and buy the needed pallet jacks.

Unfortunately, they do have a point as far as drivers abusing, and loosing, (if not outright selling,) their equipment. But unless YOU are one of the drivers that does this, you should not be punished by not having the needed equipment.

Then there is the other fact when you are using your own tools. What happens when you leave the company, or God forbid have a serious accident. Are you going to be able to take that equipment with you, are is the company going to try to claim ownership of it.

Worth thinking about.

 

I buy all of my own safety equipment (hard hat, safety vest, gloves, etc.) and claim it as an expense. Harbor Freight has pallet jacks for $300. The cheapest price I have seen on them so far. Its all up to you though. Just not something I would leave at work or on the truck though. It would have to go home with me and pallet jacks aren't lite to load/unload in the back of a pickup truck by yourself everyday.

 

I bought my own pallet jack because I have a certain style of jack I prefer to use - I just lock it to some racking at night and never have had a problem.

 

Taking it home if you quit if fine but, like ST2590 said "It would have to go home with me and pallet jacks aren't lite to load/unload in the back of a pickup truck by yourself everyday." If you fail to take it home when you are off shift it won't take long 'till you experience WHY the company got fed up with supplying them. You'll come to work and find it either damaged or gone.

 

It's not hard to itemize the cost of the jack. It's like you do with pens, calculators computers and even safety shoes and clothing. You just total them all up, put the amounts and what it is on a page so your accountant can figure which column it goes in and you are done!

As for taking it home every night . NAAAH . Way to much work and what if you hurt yourself dragging that thing up and down 2 times a day? I would get the one you like then take it to a welding shop and weld a hook for the chain to go through that you'll use to lock the thing to a rack or pipe and also get him to weld your name on one side of the jack.Really hard to steal something chained with a BIG linked chain and with your name in a nice pretty weld! I'd even go as far as to have it put on the bottom also.

How about looking at the handle or trigger and figure out if that can be locked also. Keep an honest person honest. A theft, if he wants it will steal it anyway his useless arse can.

Heck I would also get it sanded down and painted some color that makes it stand out!

 

Check with a accountant, if you can?, If you decide to buy one?, check craig list first, found a lot of good deals on thing there for tools and the such, better than paying out $300+ for new