I’ve been at my job 2 weeks now & have seen lots of vehicles come thought the yard. I have compiled a list of the worst to best out of 10.
10: Lifted trucks. I don’t need to explain.
9: New trucks. Like lifted trucks, but not as bad. The beds are so high up loaded in many sheets of drywall, plywood, etc becomes a pain. Especially when the customer wants to the tailgate up (also applies to 10:).
8: E-Series/Astros/Savannahs: Why do those stupid vans even exist. Compared to modern European work vans they suck. The step in is high up, the low roof is brutal.
7: Any Mid-Size or compact SUV: “Can you cut this down so it will fit in?” Being the great person at customer service I am, I cut it down so they leave happy. Don’t buy 10ft+ timbers if you don’t have capable vehicle to haul them. It makes others wait longer for me to fill their order, when others wait they get mad. Not good on our end.
6: Toyota Tacoma: I see more on weekends when it more homeowners then contractors. They are good trucks for 90% of truck owners, the tailgate is lower then most 1/2 tons. Unless it’s lifted (go back to point 10:).
5: Mid-Size sedans: What, Crazy a sedan ahead of a SUV(you are probably asking your self that)? Yup. They will have the downsides of suv where you have cut the product down to fit, but the difference being it’s a comfortable hight putting it in.
4: Single Cab/Longbed truck: Now this is also going against point 9:, the difference being. Most SC/LB trucks have a lower tail gate. Also fitting stuff in the bed is much easier as it is a long bed.
3: Dodge Grand Caravans: Seeing one pull in makes me happy. When Dodge designed it they designed it so a 4x8 sheet can fit in with the seats folded. For the avg person if they do lots of home projects they should get one. They are caves.
2: Large European style work vans: Ford Transit, Ram ProMaster, Mercedes Sprinter, etc. They are a bit much for the home owner, but for contractors they are perfect. You can also drive a fork lift with pallet into them, but where I work it’s company policy we can’t. The long WB vans are great, they will swallow very long timbers (12ft+) with ease. The load hight is low too.
1: Flat beds (E-Series Chassis cab, Truck chassis cab, etc): Normally when flat beds come though they are getting lots. The up side to this is we can load it on to fork lift then the fork lift can put it on the flat bed. So the loading hight does not matter.