5 uncanny uses of a forklift

Forklifts are known for their common usage—which is carrying and transporting heavy materials in warehouses, shipyards, junkyards and other places that require such activity.

It’s a smaller type of transport truck that can only carry about 4,000lbs, unlike a vehicle loading crane that has the capacity of 10 metre tonnes.

As the name suggests, forklifts are made for lifting, right? Some people beg to differ. Instead of carrying the usual wooden crates, they use these trucks to do some rather unusual things.

Keep reading to find out the five uncanny uses of a forklift.

Animal transport

There are times that an animal might be too lazy or unable to move in one place, which cause disruptions, if it’s in a public place. There’s also the possibility that it’s stranded or hurt.

Normally, you can just carry them yourself. But if the need arises and the stranded animal weighs too much for you to handle, a forklift will come in handy. It can be a wandering alligator, a stranded sea turtle or even a washed-up baby whale.

Record-holding items

From a humongous squash to a supersized pizza, anything is possible nowadays. Oversized produce is common in farm or gardening conventions where they hold contests on which produce is bigger. On the other hand, gigantic food is commonly served during festivals rather than being served in restaurants.

Whenever you see these kinds of events, there will always be a forklift carrying a humongous veggie nearby.

Forklift jousting and racing

Bored forklift operators are more susceptible to doing dangerous and unreasonable activities. This past time involves two operators, two forklifts as their ‘horses’ and two long sticks or cardboard as their lances. On the other hand, forklift racing pits two drivers against each other and rev up throughout the warehouse.

Both are dangerous because they may crash into each other and potentially injure the operators severely. The forks in front may even impale the driver it crashes into.

Thievery

There are heaps of incidents of forklifts being stolen or items stolen with the use of a forklift. ATMs are common victims of forklift robberies. Since a thief cannot hack into an ATM out in the open, they instead move these machines back into their hideouts to safely secure the money.

There are also incidents that a stolen forklift was used in stealing a car. A bit bizarre but, in this day and age, anyone has the guts to do something crazy.

Forklifts as snowploughs

Since it only snows in some parts of Australia (alpine region), ploughing snow using a forklift is possible—with the right attachments of course. Much like an actual snowplough, the forklift can quickly clear snow efficiently.

Just be sure you don’t use the forks when ploughing because anything that’s been covered in snow over a period of time may be damaged. So, it’s best to use the proper attachment for ploughing snow.

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Forklifts became quite the necessity when it comes to companies that handle smaller yet heavy cargos since they’re easier to use than truck cranes.

With that in mind, companies should still provide proper training in handling and operating forklifts to avoid potential accidents. So, whenever you see an unattended forklift—don’t be tempted to use it!