You may have attempted to move a vending machine with a normal hand truck. If you have attempted to do so, you will no doubt have remembered the struggle! Vending machines are extremely heavy items and should be moved very carefully to avoid injury. All that empty space within the heart of the machine may give the illusion that a vending machine is a vacant shell, but that’s not the case – there’s a lot of heavy machinery in vending machines, and the ‘shell’ itself is usually made of steel and is quite heavy.
Finding the Right Tool for the Right Job
When it comes to vending machines, the adage ‘the right tool for the right job’ has never been so appropriate. You should be extremely careful when moving these items as statistics published by the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System indicate nearly 2,000 people are injured every year by vending machines. The typical injury comes when an item jams up in the machine and the purchaser attempts to ‘rock’ the machine to free it. The second-most common injury comes when a vending machine is transported and the wrong type of equipment has been used for the machine’s transportation.
Specialty vending machine hand trucks really are required when moving vending machines from one place to another.
Why Do I Need a Specialty Vending Machine Hand Truck?
There are several reasons why a standard hand truck is not suitable when moving vending machines, a few of which include:
- The nose plate is not suitable – The nose plate is the flat part at the bottom of a hand truck. Typically, a nose plate is designed to be wide and narrow. That’s because it’s really to be used as a tipping mechanism to guide an item back to the supporting frame. Once tipped and in position, the item can then be moved with the wheels taking the brunt of the weight. A typical nose plate is not designed to be strong enough to cope with the weight of a vending machine, making a non-specialty hand truck at best unsuitable, and at worst, dangerous.
- A hand truck is likely to be the wrong shape – Hand trucks are designed to move light-to-moderate weight items, or several items stacked on top of each other. For vending machine movement, the handle of a standard hand truck is likely to be too short, or the frame of the truck is too narrow to give adequate support. As a result, it will be difficult to adequately balance a vending machine on a standard hand truck, causing potentially danger.
- Movement is hard when wheels are small – When it comes to any sort of item of transport, the general rule is ‘the heavier the load, the larger the wheel’. This is why you see skateboard wheels on skateboards, and monster truck wheels on monster trucks, and not vice versa! Standard hand truck wheels are not very large – typically around six inches or less in diameter. Even if you successfully and safely mount a vending machine on a hand truck, the chances are you will find it very difficult to move, mainly due to the hand truck’s small wheels. You really need the larger wheels (at least eight inches in diameter) found on a vending machine hand truck.
- Your hand truck will not last the distance – Imagine if an MLB player went out to face a star pitcher with a bat made out of plastic. Sure, the team would be saving money by using plastic bats instead of wooden ones, but how long do you think a plastic bat would last once in contact with a 90mph fastball? You’ll likely be replacing it on a fairly frequent basis! It’s far more cost effective to make the purchase of a proper piece of material handling equipment.
One Suitable Hand Truck for Transporting Vending Machines
A vending machine hand truck has a lot more going for it than a basic one. For a starters, the frame is typically higher which gives you a greater amount of tilt and more stability during the transportation process. The frame is also usually padded with rubber, which prevents the vending machine from being scratched or sliding out of place during transport.
Nose plates are usually wider – 2 feet or so is the typical width of a vending machine hand truck nose plate. The depth is around 6 inches. This is sufficient to slip neatly under the vending machine and provide lift.
Vending machine hand trucks also usually come with specialty items that make transportation even easier. These include straps for securing the vending machine in place, and treads that make for less back-breaking transportation up and down flights of stairs.
Why Buy Vending Machine Hand Trucks in Bulk?
Many companies are specialty vending machine installers and maintainers. Other businesses transport other appliances as well, such as appliances. A fleet of hand trucks is always a good idea. Your company will not be limited by the logistics of how many hand trucks you have available. Vending machine hand trucks are also very versatile, as they can be used to transport much more than vending machines. Their sturdy design means they will also give you years of dedicated service before they need replacing.
Buying in bulk will also save you money in the long run. Wholesale orders save suppliers money in production and transportation costs, and they should be willing to pass some of those savings onto you.
Where Can I Buy Vending Machine Hand Trucks in Bulk?
Here at Douglas Equipment, we’d be glad to help you find an optimal vending machine hand truck based on your unique needs. To learn more about the options available to you, please feel free to call us today toll free at 1-800-451-0030, or you can use the online contact form available on our website.
