If youâre in e-commerce fulfilment for any amount of time, youâll find the need to learn about liftgate shipping solutions eventually. Thereâs no shortage of blogs and sites offering a âliftgateâ definition for your reading pleasure, but weâre more than happy to give you the meaning right here. Because youâre cool and you deserve it. So here are a few questions and answers all about this cool piece of underrated machinery so you can inform yourself before you need to use one yourself.
So what are they, anyway? And how much are they?Â
Basically, theyâre pieces of hydraulic or electric equipment that is installed onto the back of a delivery truck or van. They allow heavy objects to be lifted from the ground to the level of the vehicleâs tailgate, or the other way around. In most cases, theyâre required when thereâs no loading dock or forklift at the delivery site for unloading purposes, especially when the freight is heavy enough that human beings might have trouble getting it down, or even injure themselves in the process. Liftgate cost can vary wildly depending on type and model, but youâre typically looking at a price up to around $7,000.
And how about liftgate capacity?Â
These also vary widely, but when it comes to most models youâre looking at a weight limit of anywhere from 1500 to 3500 pounds. There are plenty of different kinds, as there are many different types of vehicles to attach them to and weights of cargo they need to handle. A power liftgate truck, as an example, is occasionally attached to vehicles in place of the more traditional hydraulic model. These run on electricity instead of fluid-filled pistons. The power liftgate release comes by way of a keyfob so itâs able to be done safely at a distance.
How does it all work?
Itâs often the case that a delivery is going to a warehouse or final destination that doesnât have a loading dock, a forklift, or the manpower to unload the freight. These places can include residential addresses, small shops, construction sites, or other locations which donât necessarily have professional receiving capabilities. As a result, heavy equipment which canât be safely unloaded by human workers has to be lowered onto ground level some other way. Hence why we implement machinery. As this technology is common in the fulfilment industry, itâs not difficult to find a service that rents trucks or vans equipped with such technology. Although many people donât know exactly what to expect, thereâs little reason to be concerned. The service acts almost identically to any other delivery service, with the exception of how the cargo is unloaded from the vehicle.
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