...Have you ever been to the grocery store and noticed that their pallet jack equipment has some type of graffiti on it?
"Good Lord, I'm shopping at a hoodlum store!" you might think ...but, I assure you, that's not exactly the case! xD
"...Well, ok, then why is that?" you might wonder.
In short, it's a strategic trick of the trade that also shows off a bit of pride...
See, pallet jacks are extremely expensive. A good one is about $2k and can pull about 5,500 pounds (not counting it running over a tiny little piece of wood chip debris that's guaranteed to immediately stop any jack dead in its tracks)! xD
Now, if the store you're shopping at is a high-volume store (meaning they are constantly stocking freight because everybody's buying a lot, non-stop), the jack may last anywhere from 6 months to 5 years ...It varies on many factors, but anything can happen to a jack... Someone could be pulling "the leaning tower of Pisa" juice pallet float off a truck, which could inevitably collapse, fall onto the jack, and take it completely out of circulation! Or it could be the cheapest band-aid, most unwanted piece of shit jack in all of the store (because pulling a pallet with it is like dragging a dead elephant around), so it would therefore last longer, LOL! ...If their maintenance team is very savvy, sometimes jacks can be salvaged and utilized a little bit longer (or it's also possible that the store is contracted with a repair company), but more often than not, that is the lifespan of a jack.
A high-volume store may have anywhere from 15-30 jacks at any given time. For the most part, stores will order a plethora of jacks at once, so quite a few of them will all start out looking the same. Circumstances vary, depending on profit, which is themed around whatever time of year it is ...A myriad of triaged things can eat into the budget for jacks, including other major equipment repairs or replacements, associate/customer accidents, inventory shrink/theft, the boss's coffee cup, and some other dumb bullshit... This all affects how many jacks a store will have at any given time (versus how many they actually need). :p
That all being said... When the store isn't running high on the hog with jacks, and say, a vendor or the next shift comes in and steals a jack that an employee may not immediately look as tho they're using, well, it's a very frustrating situation! All options include time being wasted, such as moving freight piece by piece with some other less desirable/useful equipment, or even by hand! ...Which sucks because every minute counts when you're on a time-crunch deadline and need that freight on the shelf yesterday!
So... The main reason why a jack will have some sort of writing on it is that if they're marked, they are easier to locate and take back from said lazy jack[ass] thief! ...Granted, this also takes time away from the job needing to get done, but the employee weighs their options, and in the end, it's very satisfying to gain control back over an otherwise shitty situation.
Now, the pride factor... It's a personal thing. It depends on the employee who finds the virgin jack and gets to initiate it, honestly. The writing is usually done in permanent marker (as those handy pens are also company equipment) and it can be found on the head of the jack or on the sides ...but you will never find it on the fork part that goes into a pallet (as that will uselessly rub off too quickly + cannot be seen under the robber's pallet). ...I have seen jacks brilliantly named "Excalibur," "The Reefer," "Dirty Girl," "Greased Lightning," or even simply with band stickers mod podged onto them. Some other jacks I have seen, have been very lamely knee-jerk dubbed things like "Produce," "Garden," "Mine," and "Doesn't Work" ...but hey, whatever gets the job done, right? As long as it's not offensive and it can be gotten away with, a jack should be honored for their service with a proper name or symbol.
This jack, in particular, has "Yer Mom" written on it ...I guess this employee thought they were absolutely hilarious... I mean, can you imagine them taking it back from someone who jacked their jack, and if there was any protest, they could simply retort, "Well, I'm not done with 'Yer Mom' yet, dude!" xD \m/
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| ^ Don't ever do this in RL, it's not safe! ...This is just a cute pose for SL ;) ♥ |
Some other cool little tidbits and trivia about pallet jacks...
- Jacks should never be left out on the floor (where customers are shopping) without being used, as it's a safety hazard... You can stack jacks on top of one another to pull at least 3 (depending on how thick they are and how high up they can go) to the back room at a time! \m/
- A jack can pull a pallet from any side (you can even get away with moving a stupidly placed pallet diagonally, if you had to). The best spot to use is ~3-foot side. Sometimes you have no choice, however, and need to pull a pullet from the ~4-foot side. The wood will break if you jam the jack all the way in, because of the way a pallet is designed ...But if you leave about a foot of your jack out/not under the ~4-foot side of the pallet, it won't... and barring any obstacles within your ~4-foot wide wake, you can pull it safely to wherever it needs to go! \m/
- There are a couple of ways to stop, even if you're really moving (yes, inertia can be cockblocked), especially in emergency situations (like a kid darting out in front of you, or turning a blind corner into a near collision)... First and foremost, you can drop the pallet from the jack handle. Done deal. However, this is usually why shrink wrap should gradually be taken down as you work the pallet (keeps the freight from flying off in these types of situations)! ...But another way to stop a pallet's momentum is to turn the handle of the jack in opposite directions, super quickly (also known as the "swish-swish" method). This takes some practice and skill. Maintaining control requires you to never let go of the jack handle while doing this. The pallet may skid a bit, but it will come to a halt. \m/
- A pallet is about 3 feet by 4 feet and can be stacked a little under 8 feet tall (hopefully, with shrink wrap, tho)! ...A freight truck attaches to the cargo bay at a decline (so theoretically, that minimizes any trouble pulling pallets out)... Now, in order to pull pallets from an ice truck (frozen food, usually) without slipping and killing yourself or others, you will guide the pallet into the wall/sides of the truck with your jack, and then be able to successfully descend at a safe pace against it! \m/
