Your modern caster bears little resemblance to its primitive forebears. In the olden days, you would have a caster with a metal frame with a hard plastic wheel. After a year or two (if you were lucky) the plastic would snap and a new caster would be required. We’re pleased to inform you that contemporary casters are much more reliable than their predecessors.
The team at Douglas Equipment believes that casters manufactured by Shepherd are among the most reliable in the business, and we feel privileged that we are able to supply their products to our customers.
Here are a few things that you should know before you place a bulk order of Shepherd Casters:
1. Do Your Homework!
You may feel that the best way to make your caster purchases is on an as-needed basis. In truth, you might be going about your caster-buying tasks completely wrong! You are more likely to be wasting money if you go about purchasing casters in this manner, and of course in the tough world of business, that’s a sin.
It’s a pretty obvious rule-of-thumb – the initial outlay when buying in bulk may be sizable, but in the long run, it’s often the cheapest option.
2. Work Out Just How Much Money You Will Save
If you do your due diligence and work out the cost of individual purchases as opposed to the cost of buying in bulk, the you might just be surprised at how much money you can save. In fact, surprised may not be the word – staggered would be a more likely reaction!
If you already have a fleet of items using casters, and if those casters are beginning to fail on a fairly regular basis, then it might be worth your while to replace all your casters in one fail swoop with a single, bulk purchase order. That way, you will only be using truly excellent casters with contemporary designs and modern reliability. Think about it – it could be years before you have to start thinking about replacing your casters again!
3. Make Sure You Understand Your Requirements
The potential range of casters is truly immense. If you worked out the different configurations available, the different types of wheels, the sizes and load-bearing capacities and the accessories, then it could be said that there are thousands of different varieties based on your needs.
Navigating this minefield is truly a source of headaches, even for people who have made countless caster purchases in the past. Just like automobiles, there seems to be some new, improved model on the market every week. You may find a much better option for your requirements if you look around.
Additionally, your needs may not be what they once were. Businesses tend to evolve, rather than stagnate. The type of caster you need may not be same as the bulk order you made previously.
Make sure you get your numbers right, too. Buying too many casters is not such a problem as you will likely use them all in the long term anyway. Buying too few casters is an issue though, as you will have to make up the shortfall with an additional purchase, likely wasting money.
An Introduction to Some of Shepherd’s Casters That Are Available for Bulk Purchase
The Regent Series
These are one of the most popular types of casters designed by Shepherd for general purpose needs. This is a simple yet effective and reliable caster that’s available in a tight range of options, including threaded stem, grip ring and neck stem, expanding adapter, swivel top plate and rigid top plate.
The Regent series of casters are suitable for fixtures, carts, institutional equipment, medical equipment and furniture, and can be supplied with a dynamic load-bearing capacity of between 75 and 160 lbs.
Options include brakes (friction or tread lock), fastenings and finishes. The standard finish is zinc, but other finishes can be arranged.
These casters have NSF-approved less thread guards, and are RoHS compliant.
Heavy Duty Institutional
Casters from the Regent series look great, but sometimes effectiveness in getting the job done is more important than being good looking.
For a hard-working model, you’re unlikely to get any better than the Heavy Duty Institutional Series from Shepherd. This model of caster comes in threaded stem, swivel top plate and rigid top plate configurations.
If you deal with hospital equipment, utility carts, institutional equipment or office equipment, or you are in the warehouse nurseries or food services industry, then these casters will be of interest to you.
They are made from high-strength steel for added durability with a dual ball bearing raceway and a zinc-plated finish. Their load capacity ranges from 250 lbs. all the way up to a mammoth 400 lbs.
PDT Caster
For a good-looking caster, look no further than the PDT Caster. This nicely-designed caster is a real piece of eye candy, and is suitable for use with electronic equipment, seating and medical equipment.
Made from tough urethane, this caster has a sleek, all-plastic body and has a total lock lever integrated into the body. It also comes with matching thread guards, and a non-marking polyurethane thread.
With a thread width of 1”, and a mounting height of 4.75”, this caster has a dynamic load capacity of 75 lbs.
What You Need to Know Before a Bulk Purchase of Shepherd Casters
Douglas Equipment has been dealing in casters for several years, now. We truly are one of the best and biggest caster experts in all of Florida, and we stock thousands of models, as well as dozens of examples of material-handling equipment too.
To start your purchase off on the right track, please feel free to contact a member of our expert sales and support team. Our people are ready to take your call right now, feel free to give us a call toll free at 1-800-451-0030. You may also use the online contact form
