Welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career! I\u2019m Marty, and I\u2019d like to apologize for the background noise today up front, hey you got to record where you can right! I wanted to take a moment and thank everyone for the comments last week that were sent in, we really appreciate all the interaction and participation!. So I\u2019m way behind getting a few listener questions answered, I thought I\u2019d start there and we\u2019ll see where we end up today!
\nSo Zachery is in sanitation, its not stated how long he has been with his employer but his question is \u201cI am wanting to get my palletjack certification so I can change jobs, we use Crown stand on pallet jacks here but the school is using something called Raymond. How different are they and is it easy to learn?\u201d
\nVery good question Sir and thanks for sending it in. First I\u2019d like to share a few thoughts on paying for your certification. The OSHA standard their teaching too is 29cfr1910.178. Now please don\u2019t take my comments wrong, these are great classes, they will help prepare you in the safe operation techniques you\u2019ll need to know and understand when operating powered industrial trucks. Yes, they are definitely worth the money you will spend on the class and your certification. And this is where I have to say, But, because your employer will or should be providing that training to you and they will do it for free! They are required to observe you on-there-docks-on-the-equipment. I get a little peeved with some of the schools out there that advertise their certification classes and imply that we\u2019ll be able to go out and get a higher paying position right off the bat by having their certification card in our hands. When we hit the streets, filling out applications and speaking with the recruiters the first thing were asked is how much experience we have on the equipment. Everywhere we apply is going to want us to have 3, 6 or 12 months experience. So back to Zackary's question, I feel there is no difference between the models operationally. All the controls pretty much even look the same. Last week I operated a Raymond Rider double pallet jack and 3 weeks ago I had the opportunity to operate the Crown version of the same jack. Now if I was a maintenance man or salesman I may have a preference but I\u2019m an operator so if it\u2019ll make my production numbers I\u2019m all in with it. As for learning on one and operating another model, I do not feel its going to make a difference. I\u2019d urge you to be careful, perform your pretrip, check the name plate on the jack too. It\u2019ll tell us the weight capacities etc and look over the attached user manual. Of course if you trained on a steer assisted unit and jump on a jack without the assist it\u2019s going to operate a little differently. You\u2019ve learned to be safe on the equipment, the functions are going to be about the same. Be cautious, aware of your surroundings and others and you should be fine.
\nZachery, my suggestion would be to go speak with your supervisor or manager. Let him or her know that you\u2019d like to move into the other position and how interested you are in operating the equipment. You\u2019ll save some money, your manager is going to know your goals and I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll help you be successful in them!
\nLets see, oh here's a question about pallets. \u201cWhy does everyone say not to walk on pallets. A lot of times I have to walk over pallets to move a case or just because the pallet is in the way.\u201d I didn\u2019t write down the name but that\u2019s a fair question I guess. I have seen so many ankle injuries caused by an associates boot or shoe falling in between the plank boards. Our footwear never wants to come out as easily as it fell in and our forward motion is going to make us loose our balance, we fall to one side or another, and then we loose a weeks worth of work while our ankle sprain heals. And in many cases that\u2019s best case scenario. I know a couple of men that was in a brace boot for several w...