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Piggyback delivery
The truck brings its own forklift, so a site with no dock and no crew is not a problem.
The industry says Moffett the way it says Kleenex. The category is the truck-mounted forklift, and the profile name for it is piggyback: a compact machine that hangs on a mount at the rear of the trailer, drives itself off at the delivery, places the freight, and climbs back on. Mounting and dismounting is about a minute each way, including the walk-around.
What that buys you is reach. A liftgate puts one pallet at a time at the bumper, on pavement. A piggyback carries unit loads a few hundred feet from the truck, over a curb, through a gate, to where the material is actually going to be used, which on most job sites is not the kerb.
When it is the right truck
- A job site with no dock, no forklift and no crew
- Lumber, block, pavers, roofing, drywall, fencing, rebar
- Unit loads too heavy to hand-carry economically
- Freight that has to land well away from the road
- Several site deliveries in one morning
What we need to know first
- What the ground is: paved, gravel, compacted, or fresh fill
- Whether it has rained in the last couple of days
- How far the drop point is from firm ground
- The gate width and any overhead obstruction
- How many unit loads, and whether anyone will be on site
Common questions
Why all the questions about the ground?
Because a loaded machine is several tons on three tires. Firm ground carries it without a mark; saturated fill, fresh grading after rain and loose sand do not, and a buried machine needs recovery equipment that bills by the hour while your freight waits. Five honest answers up front avoid all of it.
How far can it carry the freight?
Well beyond where a liftgate stops. Hundreds of feet over firm ground, across curbs and through a gate that it fits. If the last stretch is soft, the safe answer is a shorter carry to the nearest firm ground, and we will say so on site.
Is it cheaper than sending a crew?
For the jobs it suits, usually yes, and it is faster. The jobs where it saves the most are exactly the ones where the alternative was two people and a long afternoon.
Call or text
786.897.9186Tell us what is landing and when. You get space, a rate and a receiving window in writing.
