One commonly overlooked service to add to shipping your freight is a truck with a lift gate service. What is a lift gate? A lift gate is a fold away metal platform that mounts to the back of a dry van trailer or a freight truck, when the lift gate is extended out from under the truck it acts as a platform to lift freight from the ground level up to the height of the bed of the trailer. This allows the freight carrier to use a pallet jack to move a palletized load from the trailer of the truck, down to the ground through the use of the lift gate, then into the business or destination of the freight. This is especially useful when the cargo or freight being transported is too heavy to be loaded or unloaded by hand.
While the use of the lift gate is essential for a lot of companies, and pretty much any residential shipment, there are some instances where a lift gate service is not required. Companies with a shipping dock don’t require a lift gate because the truck can back the trailer right up to a platform, then the freight can be unloaded from the trailer using a forklift, pallet jack, or other types of machinery. But the lift gate service is designed for companies that don’t have a shipping dock or access to a fork lift. When making arrangements with a shipping company it is important to know if the destination you are shipping your freight to is equipped with a loading dock or a forklift, if not then you will need to add the lift gate service to your shipment.
