An estimate of 71 percent of all freight services within the United States involve the use of trucks. At some point, while all of these deliveries are being made, there will be moments where there will not be proper gear on-site to provide safe and secure offloading of merchandise or product.
When a package within a shipment weighs over 150 pounds offloading it can prove to be a challenging task. This is especially true if you’re depending entirely on human resources to accomplish this, which can lead to an increased risk of accidents and or damaged goods.
If you are looking into getting shipments transported onto your property and you do not possess the equipment to offload it, you will want to look into using what is called a liftgate service.
What Is A Liftgate Service?
Commonly referred to as a tail lift, this is a device usually attached to the back of a truck to allow the handling of goods and merchandise. It typically takes cargo from the ground to the truck bed or the other way around.
A large number of liftgates use pneumatic, hydraulic, or mechanical devices to do this type of work. The operator usually uses some sort of electronic switch to control its movement.
Liftgate is usually utilized when there is no equipment to offload/load or when using that type of equipment is not possible or advised.
How Does Liftgate Work Usually?
This type of procedure typically begins with the liftgate being in a folded position either underneath the truck or tucked into the back of it. The operator, who, more likely than not, is also the driver of the truck, will lower and raise it to create a lifting platform.
Offloading, on the other hand, is done by placing the goods onto the liftgate and then lowering it to the specified level.
When Should You Use Liftgate?
Liftgate services usually are necessary when the facility in question does not possess the necessary staffing or equipment to load and or offload the freight to the trailer safely. Continue reading to discover when you may need to use these types of services.
- If You Do Not Have Access To A Loading Dock
Usually, facilities that tend not to operate a shipping bay or loading dock will not load up a standard trailer without a forklift.
Needless to say, these types of facilities usually are fine without this as long as their cargo does not exceed 150 pounds in weight. But if you do happen to run into a situation where you are handling cargo over 150 pounds per unit, it may be a good idea to look into liftgate services.
- Construction Sites
A lot of construction sites either do not have any shipping docks or do not have one adequate enough already built.
Regardless of this fact, since construction sites usually have a large number of heavy materials being transported in and out, proper delivery has to be provided. A liftgate service, in this case, could be considered crucial.
- Residential Delivery
Somewhere over 100 million people within the United States are in need of frequent delivery of freight. Regardless of this fact, it is still quite common for many homes to not be equipped with the necessary equipment.
If you’re looking into acquiring items such as homebuilding materials and furniture, you may want to find out about liftgate services in your area to help with this process.
Benefits Of Using Liftgate Services
There are a vast array of benefits that make liftgate services a vital asset.
- Injury Prevention
The act of lifting and moving around heavy objects is the leading cause of injury on any job site. Injuries like this happening onsite can waste heaps of time and money as well as incite lawsuits.
Injuries of this nature tend to stem from workers over-exerting energy or improperly attempting to lift boxes or packages.
Using a liftgate can nearly 100 percent assure that this type of thing will never occur upon your job site.
- Damage Prevention
The average height of the trailer of a truck is already entirely enough to ensure the breakage of goods that may fall.
This could cause a great deal of loss in revenue and could cost multiple times your initial investment. This is mainly due to the fact that you are responsible for paying for the delivery as well as offloading.
All of these issues can be easily prevented simply by using liftgate service, especially while transporting or handling precious goods.
- Lesser Amounts Of Manpower Required
Utilizing liftgate services requires far less manpower within the delivery process leading to less disruptions.
A typical example of this would be if you require materials to be transported onto a job site, you will likely need to use your crew, who are already busy with other tasks, to offload the materials.
