It’s tempting to think that a powered pallet jack truck is always going to be the best solution to your material shipping needs, but that is just not the case. Sometimes less is more. With a hydraulic (manual) pallet jack truck the burden may be placed more on the worker than the power assisted pallet jack truck, but you’ll have better maneuverability. That is an important asset that should not be underestimated. With the cost of warehouse space, more and more businesses try and squeeze as much inventory as they can into their existing square footage. A simple hydraulic pallet jack truck can be the solution to inventory control in a space conscious environment.
At Douglas Equipment, we have seen the evolving technology of material shipping equipment since 1955. We’ve been in business for 60 years and have a long track record of excellent customer service, in depth product knowledge, and affordable casters and equipment. We service all types of industry with a focus on the medical, shipping, and hospitality industries. We also make sure residential customers can purchase our quality goods at the same low prices we provide to our commercial customers. Since we’re based in South Florida, we can ship quickly and conveniently to locations in the Caribbean and South America, as well as anywhere in the United States.
The hydraulic pallet jack truck is a fantastic piece of equipment to use in a variety of industries due to its ability to maneuver in smaller areas. Unlike the electric pallet jack truck, the hydraulic pallet jack truck doesn’t have the extra bulk needed to raise and lower the pallet forks or store batteries and a battery charger. This stripped down pallet jack can be handy in a number of places
• Grocery Stores – Everybody has had trouble navigating down a grocery store aisle when another customer is approaching from the opposite direction. So imagine having to stock the cereal aisle from a pallet. A standard pallet size in the United States is traditionally 40” X 48” and expected to hold at least 2,205 pounds. So, you can’t get around the size of the pallet and the pallet jack. You need something to move that heavy pallet that can maneuver in a grocery store aisle.
Night shift stockers use a hydraulic pallet jack like our CPII Pallet Truck by Wesco. It can handle up to 5,000 pounds and has a strong hydraulic pump. The handle is designed for maximum worker comfort that allows for great control when lowering and raising the truck forks as well as turning and maneuvering the pallet as close to the desired location as possible. This pallet truck also has polyurethane wheel for smooth transport and floor protection.
• Chain Retail Store – A big box retail store can use these types of pallets as well. Consider a Target or a Walmart location. All day long, these stores sell groceries, clothes, electronics, and much more. They are teeming with customers. At night, that stock needs to be replenished and a night crew of employees usually handles these duties. A hydraulic pallet truck can help one these employees immensely. Since Target and Walmart aren’t solely a grocery store, or a clothing store, or an electronic store, the configuration of these sales floors is a mix of aisle sizes, lengths, and dimensions. Trying to get an electric powered pallet jack truck into some of those places would be extremely problematic due to its bulk and its large turning radius. A pallet jack truck like the CPII Pallet Truck would be ideal for these types of situations.
• Back Room Storage – In every grocery store and retail store, there’s a storage area for stock that’s been unloaded out of tractor trailers and is waiting to be put out on the sales floor. These stock areas are usually extremely space conscious. These are not warehouses for the company. Food Lion or Walmart has warehouses that store mass quantities of products. A store receives a small fraction of those and only stores what it expects to sell over a small period of time.
Therefore, a hydraulic pallet truck is an important tool, because the pallets must first be unloaded from the tractor trailers. These are not roomy conditions. Typically, a pallet truck grabs a pallet and takes it to its designated temporary storage location, then comes back and begins to work slowly into the trailer. There are no aisles in a trailer. Therefore, a lean and mean pallet truck is required to maneuver in the truck to get the pallet, move out of the truck, and then maneuver through the store’s stock area and place the pallet in a holding area before being deployed on the sales floor.
• Space Efficient Warehouses – Yes, large companies have large warehouses, but large companies also have large bills and costs. Many times companies try to trim the cost of doing business by maximizing space. If two or three more aisles of products can be placed within a large warehouse by narrowing the aisles to 3 feet wide, they might do that if they can cut their operating budget. That’s where having a hydraulic pallet jack helps out. It will be able to maneuver in this slimmed down environment and then take products designated for stores and put the pallets on tractor trailer trucks headed for the individual stores. An electric pallet jack can be a great thing to have, but its bulk and need for more room to operate can limit its applications in this kind of environment.
Customer Advice and Support
Sometimes it may be difficult to determine if it’s better to have a hydraulic pallet jack truck or an electric one. That is why we have an excellent knowledgeable customer support staff ready to answer any of your questions. We will listen to your needs and description of your working environment and be able to help you determine what you need. Not only that, we will be able to suggest a variety of hydraulic pallet jack trucks that might be more helpful for your individual circumstances. Contact us today and let us help you make the most of your material shipping equipment!
