If you run any type of business and need to rework your storage area or are expecting a large shipment of some sort, you want to consider a forklift for a temporary hire. You can easily find forklifts for temporary hire online and some may even be available at your local home improvement store. If you've never had experience with a forklift hire before, you want to ensure you choose the right type for your particular needs, so note a few factors that can help.

1. Choosing a lightweight pallet jack

For moving lightweight items on a pallet, you may not even need a forklift itself but might make do with a pallet jack. This is a type of forklift that you don't actually drive, but which has forks to lift a pallet and a steering mechanism or control for you to guide it as you push or pull it with you. You might compare a pallet jack to a push lawnmower, whereas an actual forklift is like a riding lawnmower. If the load will be light and you aren't sure of your abilities to handle a forklift that you drive, consider a pallet jack instead.

2. Order pickers

An order picker is a type of forklift that is often used in warehouses and which makes it easier to simply lift and lower loads, including personnel, versus moving those loads from one point of the warehouse to another. An order picker may move sideways rather than forwards and backwards so you can easily move up and down aisles without having to make an awkward turn with your forklift, trying to get the forks into place. An order picker may also have a platform with a safety bar for workers to be elevated so they can manually stack or remove product.

3. Reach and weight capacity

If you do think a standard forklift is the right choice for you, be sure you note its actual reach and that you include the height of items that will be stacked on one another on tall warehouse shelves. You don't want to measure the height of the shelf itself when determining reach if you will have product stacked on top of each other, as these will each add to that overall height.

When determining the weight capacity, be sure you include the weight of the pallet, packing crate, and anything else that may add to the weight of your product and not just the product itself. Using a forklift that is undersized can mean having it topple as the arm extends or choosing a model with undersized forks that allow a crate to crack under its own weight.