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Choosing the right type of hand truck for your needs is essential when you’re in the material handling industry.  Whether you’re delivering appliances, food, beverages, furniture, or mechanical equipment, choosing the best hand truck is crucial.  The wrong type of hand truck can expose personnel to unnecessary safety concerns, cause inefficiencies, and possible delays in your shipment deliveries.  At C.P. Lauman, we make finding the right type of hand truck for your business easy.  We have a wide selection of specialty, custom, and standard aluminum hand trucks from B&P Manufacturers and Magliner to suit your needs.

 

What Is a Hand Truck?

Regardless of the brand you choose for your business, one basic fact about hand trucks is, they’ll help you easily get your goods from one location to another.  This essential tool is built to move your supplies safely from your truck or storage facility to your intended destination.  Anyone can lift a stack of heavy boxes, an ottoman, or cases of sodas from one location to another.  But is the process efficient?  Is the process safe?  Can you easily repeat these types of deliveries again and again without incident?  If you’re not using a hand truck, or you’re using the wrong type of truck, the answer to each of these questions is, “No.”

 

Tips for Using Your Hand Trucks

Here’s why having the right fleet of hand trucks is essential to help your business grow.  The quality of your delivery, no matter your application, starts with the quality of your equipment.  For example, if you’re delivering heavy cases of soda to various vendors around the city, you’ll need to be efficient.  Your delivery team will need to navigate different types of locations with stairs, crowded city streets, or areas with uneven surfaces.

Having an aluminum hand truck like the ones from B&P, will give you an advantage because the frames are ultra-lightweight.  Your team doesn’t want to carry heavy loads on top of heavy hand truck frames.  Talk about inefficient and slow deliveries!  You’ll also need heavy-duty balloon wheels designed to seamlessly roll over different types of surfaces and debris.  Choose the types of wheels you need based on material, diameter, and brand.  Also consider adding stairclimbers to your trucks.

C.P. Lauman offers stairclimbers specifically designed to fit hand trucks used for deliveries to locations with stairs.  No more pulling heavy hand trucks up one stair at a time.  Stairclimbers give you an even and smooth surface to glide over stairs effortlessly.  Depending on your needs, choose from our pre-built hand trucks or custom build your own hand trucks.  You can choose the components and accessories to suit your needs too.

how to use a hand truck

Quick Safety Tips for Using Hand Trucks

  • Two-Wheel trucks are good for bulky packages, but not overly heavy loads
  • Use a Four-Wheel truck for overly heavy loads and large boxes
  • Four-Wheel trucks with swivel stem casters provide a smooth ride and longer life for your equipment
  • Use cargo straps to secure awkward sized or heavy loads before transport (like ratchet straps)
  • When choosing your hand truck handles, consider components with an ergo grip to protect delivery drivers’ hands from significant temperature changes (extreme hot/cold temps) and provide overall comfort

Whether you’re looking to add to your fleet of hand trucks or upgrade, our team at C.P. Lauman is here to help.  Reach out to our hand truck specialists or check out our selection of pre-built and custom hand truck options to choose the right one for your business.

build your own hand truck