Tag Archives: manual handling

As British retailers continue to face an increasingly difficult operating environment, rising staff costs and labour shortages are pushing many to rethink how they manage stock movement and returns within warehouses and storerooms.

Reliable, low-maintenance manual handling equipment is even more of an essential tool for those aiming to keep goods moving while keeping operational costs in check.

The latest Budget measures, including increases to the National Living Wage and changes to employer National Insurance thresholds, are contributing to a projected £7 billion rise in retail operating costs in 2025. For many businesses, this comes at a time of tightening margins and changes in consumer behaviours with growing volumes of returned goods to handle.

Retailers have already begun cutting back on staff numbers, reducing store footprints, and increasing prices – but the need to keep operations agile remains as strong as ever.

Pallet Trucks UK is reminding retailers that high-quality manual handling equipment offers a dependable and cost-effective way to maintain momentum without the complications of high-tech alternatives.

Phil Chesworth, Managing Director at Pallet Trucks UK, commented, “Retailers are under no illusions about the financial pressures ahead, particularly around staffing. That’s why many are choosing equipment that delivers consistency without unnecessary complexity.

“Our manual pallet trucks and stackers are built for exactly these kinds of environments – hard-wearing, intuitive to use, and easy to maintain. They allow teams to keep up with demand, even when workforce numbers are tight.”

Equipment like pallet trucks, electric stackers, and compact lifters offer a fast, flexible solution. They require minimal training, can be integrated into existing workflows instantly, and help reduce the physical burden on smaller teams.

Businesses that invest in dependable manual handling solutions will be better placed to respond to short-term spikes in demand, process returns efficiently and avoid costly delays – all while keeping overheads under control.

Pallet Trucks UK, one of the UK’s leading manual handling equipment providers, has warned warehouses over the UK that Brexit could lead to a shortage of staff in the period leading up to Christmas.

“The pound has fallen lower and lower against the Euro, and overseas workers simply don’t want to work in the UK anymore,” said Phil Chesworth, Managing Director of Pallet Trucks UK. “Plenty of temporary warehouse staff that are taken on for the Christmas rush are from overseas, and a lack of workers could mean that Christmas this year grinds to a halt.”

Last year, 73% of customers bought online for the Christmas season. All those orders had to be picked, packaged, and sent out; naturally, the rate of returns was also higher, and those items had to be sorted through too.

It seems that every year Christmas sales increase online, and with fewer workers brands and warehouses will find it difficult to get everything packed on time. No brand wants to be accused by an angry customer of “ruining” their Christmas, but at an emotionally fraught and busy time, mistakes are made. There’s the chance this year that the mistakes will be more and more common, leading to angry customers and plunging profits.

“Warehouses have the chance to put a plan into action now about how they will deal with staff shortages, before their competitors do,” added Phil Chesworth. “They could offer more benefits, extra training, or more guaranteed jobs after Christmas, but those who don’t do anything will feel the strain.”

With the news that prime rents for warehouses in Scotland have jumped three times faster, year on year, than the rest of the UK[1], Pallet Trucks UK have warned that the problem won’t go away without help.

“Space in Scotland may be cheaper than space in England at the UK,” said Phil Chesworth, Managing Director of Pallet Trucks UK. “But it’s still growing faster than England’s, and the risk is that people will start losing staff because they can’t afford to keep them as well as the storage space—which will mean slower picking—and fewer sales.”

The Glasgow area is the place that people are most concerned about, because it’s losing out on space to accommodate manufacturing growth as well as the ever-expanding retail delivery and distribution factions.

Focusing on growing the business means spending more, which will ironically mean that firms will have less money to spend on hardware for the warehouses—such as pallet trucks—as well as stock, and workers to pick the stock.

If the trend picks up in England to the same extent, it’s possible that demand for warehouse space will drop off when it gets too high—and some warehouses with plenty of storage space will stand empty as no company wants to pay that much for space.

“Rents rising too sharply is never a good thing for anyone except the landlord,” added Phil Chesworth. “New warehouse space needs to be built and made affordable, or companies will find themselves entirely priced out of their specialist area.”

[1] http://www.shdlogistics.com/news/warehouse-rental-space-demand-in-scotland-soars