Shadowpanda
Seasoned Expediter
just wondering if it would be useful to have a liftgate/palj setup if not a wg member?
lift gate loads w/o wg
- Thread starter Shadowpanda
- Start date
We are completely outfitted as a White glove truck with the addition of Molly. We use the lift gate when white glove cannot find a WG truck in the area. I do not believe we use our lift gate as much as we did in years past. Our lift gate has enabled us to get out of bad areas or put us in front of other trucks. We feel as if our lift gate has paid for itself more than once.
You are right the lift gate is great for tailgating! We have had some awesome tail gait parties, spread out a table cloth, plug in the crock pots and pull up the lawn chairs.
Another fun way to spend time with other drivers.
Another fun way to spend time with other drivers.
Shadowpanda
Seasoned Expediter
somehow I dont think the owner is gong to appreciate the tailgating aspect if i approach them about paying to have a liftgate intalled. 
somehow I dont think the owner is gong to appreciate the tailgating aspect if i approach them about paying to have a liftgate intalled.
No sense of humor?
An owner who has a driver in a non-lift gate truck may not agree that these reasons justify the expense but as owner-operators, Diane enjoy our lift gate for:
- Picnic table as already mentioned
- Great place to put lawn chairs when laid over in a camp ground
- Great platform on which to set a ladder when working on the marker and identification lights on top of the truck.
- Makes deliveries easier even when the lift gate is not part of the deal. For example, you have skids that mostly fill the truck and a fork lift meets you in the parking lot to unload. Deploy the liftgate to give yourself maneuvering room and use the pallet jack to bring the skids out onto the lift gate where the fork lift can easily grab them. The alternative is to use a bale hook and drag the pallets to the end of the truck. Easier on the truck floor to use your lift gate.
Back to the money, our carrier has a lot of lift gate loads. If a lift gate on a non-White Glove truck did not pay for itself, it would pay partially for itself. It seems to me to be a small enough gamble to take the risk.
Note too the loads you arrive at that don't say lift gate but turn out to be lift gate loads because of a shipper, agent or dispatch error. We have stayed on a few loads like that over the years that we would have lost had we not had a lift gate.
- Picnic table as already mentioned
- Great place to put lawn chairs when laid over in a camp ground
- Great platform on which to set a ladder when working on the marker and identification lights on top of the truck.
- Makes deliveries easier even when the lift gate is not part of the deal. For example, you have skids that mostly fill the truck and a fork lift meets you in the parking lot to unload. Deploy the liftgate to give yourself maneuvering room and use the pallet jack to bring the skids out onto the lift gate where the fork lift can easily grab them. The alternative is to use a bale hook and drag the pallets to the end of the truck. Easier on the truck floor to use your lift gate.
Back to the money, our carrier has a lot of lift gate loads. If a lift gate on a non-White Glove truck did not pay for itself, it would pay partially for itself. It seems to me to be a small enough gamble to take the risk.
Note too the loads you arrive at that don't say lift gate but turn out to be lift gate loads because of a shipper, agent or dispatch error. We have stayed on a few loads like that over the years that we would have lost had we not had a lift gate.
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Shadowpanda
Seasoned Expediter
Phil you bring up a good point. I actually had a load that turned out to be a delivery requiring a liftgate. FDCC had to pay a WG E unit several hundred dollars to drive 43 miles and take the load off my truck.
PlusServices
Seasoned Expediter
It will take you about 2 years to make back your investment. Yes it is true you may get more offers with a lift gate but lift gate loads tend to be short runs and can take additional time to load and unload meaning you may miss another load offer. The extra pay is not a whole lot more and most WG loads include LG and PJ service as long as it is to the dock or within 25 feet of the truck. All in all I would not recomend the investment. If you spend the time going over the boards so you know the best express centers to get good loads you wil be fine. There is virtually no difference between the yearly revenues of my surface trucks with and without a LG.
We really like it when we get to our delivery or our pickup and the load needs a lift gate. The pay changes go up substantially when we have to unfold our lift gate.
We are not in WG and have found that the lift gate sometimes will get us out of an Express Center before other trucks.
We are not in WG and have found that the lift gate sometimes will get us out of an Express Center before other trucks.
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Having been in a truck with a lift gate the past 4 years I cant say it is a wise investment. More of a feel good customer service option.
A couple more loads a year , yes.
Things to factor in: additional weight added to the truck. If you are a single axle D unit, the extra weight may make you a C unit. Now you would need a tag axle to be a D unit again.
Also, there will be a fuel loss ( mpg ) by adding a liftgate. From both weight addition and added drag. That coupled with the cost might push the return out a few years.
It has helped, as the ATeam said, providing a little maneuvering room, on a fully loaded truck.
Will you gross an additional 20,000 / year, I doubt it. 5 to 10,000, quite possible.
The run you take to utilize the lift gate may pay better than a non lift gate run you could have got in its place. The value is the difference not the total run.
Now deduct the expense from having one.
You will have to decide if its worth it.
Of course if you want to become WG, whether it ever gets used at all, it is required.
A couple more loads a year , yes.
Things to factor in: additional weight added to the truck. If you are a single axle D unit, the extra weight may make you a C unit. Now you would need a tag axle to be a D unit again.
Also, there will be a fuel loss ( mpg ) by adding a liftgate. From both weight addition and added drag. That coupled with the cost might push the return out a few years.
It has helped, as the ATeam said, providing a little maneuvering room, on a fully loaded truck.
Will you gross an additional 20,000 / year, I doubt it. 5 to 10,000, quite possible.
The run you take to utilize the lift gate may pay better than a non lift gate run you could have got in its place. The value is the difference not the total run.
Now deduct the expense from having one.
You will have to decide if its worth it.
Of course if you want to become WG, whether it ever gets used at all, it is required.
If a liftgate will make you 5-10,000 per year it will pay for itself quicly. (cost of purchase and install only) Fuel costs I have no way of figuring. There may be something on this that can be looked up but I have no idea in the world were that would be. Weight could be an issue. In our case taking off the lift gate would make things worse. We have a problem being overweight on our steers and that weight behind the rear axles helps to off set that problem. We do use our gate a lot.
In checking our load records ( I indicate things like , lift gate, hazmat, tval for my future reference) we have had 35 loads needing a lift gate. That is out of a 540 loads in a 4 year period.
The gross for the lift gate loads was not any better than non lift gate loads.
Am I better off for having a lift gate......yes, because it was required for WG.
Those 35 loads using a lift gate would certainly have been replaced by another load if we hadnt accepted them. Gross difference?? Hardly any at all they all fell in line with our average.
Lift gate is no longer a paid for option, if ya got it they will use it for free.
Hey!! Thanks for the idea!! We too log information on loads to track business etc. I don't think we have a place for lift gate. I will have to check and add one if we don't have it. As the Caffee's stated in a prior post, out lift gate got us loads and out of express centers faster than other non lift gate trucks. I am speaking before we were allowed back into White Glove after we bought this truck.
astikhossw
Seasoned Expediter
I am a solo with a lift gate and pallet jack,so far for the past 14 months that i have had it has gotten me 16 lift gate loads that payed really good and a couple of them got me back home by having it,and as a solo i think i need it.
I use a data base to record all the items I want besides the usual pay, miles and zip code. I create a column and for items like lift gate, tval, temp a, inside delv,. all I do is put an "x" in the column.
I use a data base to record all the items I want besides the usual pay, miles and zip code. I create a column and for items like lift gate, tval, temp a, inside delv,. all I do is put an "x" in the column.
Yep, Mrs. Layoutshooter has an EXCEL program set up like that. She just told me that she has the lift gate column as well. Wonder who does the books?
I have a load spreadsheet where I keep track of the different type of loads we haul; Hazmat, Explosives, PSS, WG, Lift Gate, IAC, if the loads is a B,C, of D and how much the load weighs. There is also a lot more information on that spread sheet. I keep track of paid dead head on each load and if and how many miles we run out of route.
In Quicken I keep track of each category on the settlement sheet and I can quickly tell how much we made each year hauling Hazmat, PSS, Lift Gate, Inside Pickup and Delivery, and that list can get rather long.
I have a lot of information at my finger tips when we are making a business decision with really very little work imputing the info into spreadsheets or into Quicken.
In Quicken I keep track of each category on the settlement sheet and I can quickly tell how much we made each year hauling Hazmat, PSS, Lift Gate, Inside Pickup and Delivery, and that list can get rather long.
I have a lot of information at my finger tips when we are making a business decision with really very little work imputing the info into spreadsheets or into Quicken.