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Narrow Pallet System:
| Problem: |
One Solution: |
Carrying heavy boxes by hand is strenuous
and awkward. |
Roll a stack of boxes with a hand pallet truck. |
 |
 |
| Carrying loads up to 75+ pounds is tiring. |
Carry loads of 500+ pounds with less effort. |
| Can only move four boxes at once. |
Can move up to 16 boxes at once. |
| Awkward carrying positions. |
Allows loads to be rolled. |
| Must stoop, bend, and lift often. |
Less stooping, bending, and lifting. |
| Poor handles on boxes. |
Better carrying grip, lower weight at
handles. |
Narrow Pallet System
What Is a Pallet Truck?
Pallet trucks are similar to regular hand trucks (dollies)
with the exception of having pivoting forks instead of a
plate metal shoe. If you stack your load on a small pallet
(14"x24"), you can position the forks underneath
and roll away as many as 16 5/9 bushel boxes. A pallet
truck can be tilted (by releasing the forks) for loading
and unloading and locked into an upright position
to tip back and roll the load.
Why Not Use a Regular Hand Truck?
With a hand truck, you need to push a stack of boxes
forward in order to squeeze the shoe under the stack.
This can make the stack unstable. A pallet system
keeps the load upright and stable until the truck is
locked into position for moving. The shoe of a regular
hand truck is fixed, which limits its use in tight quarters.
Standard stackable containers tend to slide
around on a regular hand truck when full because the
bottom of the container has a smaller footprint than the
top. But using a pallet underneath the standard containers,
you eliminate the sliding.
Why Not Use a Regular Pallet?
Many small-scale growers store and pack produce in
converted barns, older buildings, and coolers with tight
spaces and narrow doorways. A full-size pallet and
pallet jack require a very flat, smooth, hard surface to
roll easily. Pallet trucks, with their narrow size and
pneumatic wheels, roll easily through doorways and on
rough surfaces.
How Much Time and Energy
Will It Save?
There are several ways a pallet truck can increase
your efficiency compared to moving boxes by hand.
- The number of times you lift or lower a box can be
cut in half.
- If you would normally carry 3 or 4 boxes at a time,
you can cut your total number of trips by 75%-82%.
- By using a pallet truck you can cut the time you
spend carrying boxes by 60%.
Cost Analysis
A new custom-made pallet truck with pallets costs
$750. At $7.00/hr., you'd need to save yourself 143
hours for the system to pay for itself. Ten hours saved
per month (30 minutes per weekday) means the system
pays for itself in a little over 14 months of use. If
you commonly visit a chiropractor or massage therapist
to relieve back pain, the pallet truck system can
pay for itself in less than 12 visits (at $50/visit).
Where Can I Find a Pallet Truck?
Pallet trucks are commonly used for feed and
seed sacks. Look in feed mills and co-ops for used
pallet trucks which you can retrofit with a larger back
frame to support two stacks of boxes. Valley Craft
makes pallet trucks with the wider frame; these trucks
are distributed by several dealers. Look under "materials
handling" in your phone book or contact the following
companies. This list is provided as a convenience
for our readers. It is not an endorsement by the
University of Wisconsin-Extension, nor is it exhaustive.
Fastenal Co.
1117 Ashwaubenon St.
Green Bay, WI 54304
414-432-9181
Reynolds Sales and
Equipment
4255 Sunset Ridge
Cottage Grove, WI 53527
608-839-3417
Stoffel Equipment
P.O. Box 23341
Milwaukee, WI 53223
414-354-7500
Valley Craft
2001 South Highway 61
Lake City, MN 55041
800-328-1480
carts@valleycraft.com
Contact Information
This material was developed by the Healthy Farmers,
Healthy Profits Project, whose goal is to find and
share work efficiency tips that maintain farmers' health
and safety and also increase profits. For more information,
visit our web site at http://bse.wisc.edu/hfhp/ or call 608-265-9451.
Healthy Farmers, Healthy Profits Project, Department
of Biological Systems Engineering, College of
Agricultural and Life Sciences,
University of Wisconsin, 460 Henry
Hall, Madison, WI 53706.
Feel free to reproduce; please
mention source.
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Narrow Pallet System 
(53 pages, 1.49MB)