Food and beverage distribution puts unique demands on work trucks. Drivers may make 20 to 40 or more stops in a day, often unloading in crowded parking lots, busy streets, loading docks, and other unpredictable environments. In that setting, small inefficiencies can compound quickly, affecting productivity, operating costs, driver fatigue, and safety.
MWS asked industry expert Mike Stimler, business line director, at WALTCO Liftgates, to weigh in on the factors fleet managers should consider when evaluating liftgate equipment and delivery operations.
MWS: WHY SHOULD FLEET MANAGERS LOOK BEYOND LIFTING CAPACITY WHEN SELECTING A LIFTGATE?
MIKE STIMLER: Capacity is just the bare minimum requirement. What matters is how that gate fits the route. If your drivers are making tight neighborhood drops, platform geometry and ease of deployment can matter a lot more than raw lifting power. If they’re hauling beverage pallets in bad weather, slip resistance and platform stability are what keep them safe and moving.
Matching the equipment to the driver’s actual workday is where you recover real time, because a 4,000 pound liftgate is a miss if you only need half that capacity and it slows your driver down at 30 different stops a day.
MWS: HOW MUCH CAN SMALL TIME SAVINGS REALLY MATTER ON A DELIVERY ROUTE?
STIMLER: Far more than most fleets realize, but you must look at it through the right lens. Think about how much time and money companies spend optimizing their warehouse layouts just to save a few steps. They do that because they know those seconds add up. Too often, that obsession with efficiency stops at the warehouse door.
The fleets that win are the ones that realize the route is just an extension of the facility. By getting extremely intentional with their truck and liftgate specs, they remove friction for the driver and build a real competitive advantage. When a driver hits dozens of stops a day, saving half a minute per stop can recover thousands of hours across a fleet over the course of a year.
MWS: WHAT ROLE DOES LIFTGATE DESIGN PLAY IN DRIVER FATIGUE?
STIMLER: Fatigue in F&B is rarely about the drive time, it is about the physical toll of the route. A driver might cycle a gate 30 or 40 times a day while fighting uneven pavement, heavy pallets or boxes, and bad weather. If operating the liftgate requires extra steps, awkward reaching, or constant wrestling, that physical strain accumulates quickly. Choosing a liftgate with smooth controls and a stable platform removes physical friction so drivers can work safely and efficiently. It is a simple way to address the human reality of keeping drivers healthy, happy, and on the payroll in a tight labor market.
MWS: ARE TRADITIONAL LIFTGATE WARNING SYSTEMS ENOUGH FOR TODAY’S DELIVERY ENVIRONMENTS?
STIMLER: Audible alarms are a good baseline, but they are no longer enough on their own. F&B drivers operate in some of the most unpredictable places imaginable, like crowded retail parking lots where pedestrians and distracted motorists move constantly. Hearing a beeper does not define a clear safety perimeter or show where the equipment footprint lands. Adding visual safety technology projects, a literal boundary line on the ground before the gate ever moves. It turns safety from a vague noise into a clear visual rule, which drastically reduces risk and protects business from costly incidents.
MWS: HOW SHOULD FLEETS APPROACH PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE?
STIMLER: Shift the mindset from repair expense to route insurance. In F&B distribution, a broken liftgate on stop three does not just delay one truck, it triggers a costly ripple effect across your entire route schedule; missed deliveries, upset customers, and in some instances, significant SLA (service level agreement) penalties. Small wear items like slow hydraulic leaks or frayed wiring build up quietly. A real preventive strategy relies on routine, trained inspections using genuine OEM components to catch those issues early. You want cost predictability, not roadside emergencies.
MWS: DOES STANDARDIZING LIFTGATES MEAN USING THE SAME LIFTGATE ON EVERY TRUCK?
STIMLER: No, standardization is about application fit, not forcing a single liftgate model onto every chassis. Routes dictate fit and function. A delivery profile in a dense urban region might look completely different from a suburban route handling mixed freight, and your specs need to reflect those distinct realities.
True standardization means standardizing by duty profile. When you keep equipment families consistent for similar applications, you eliminate chaotic variation. Your parts department carries fewer SKUs, mechanics follow uniform PM schedules, and drivers can jump into any truck on that route type with zero learning curve.
MWS: WHAT SHOULD FLEET MANAGERS CONSIDER WHEN EVALUATING PLATFORM DESIGN?
STIMLER: You have to picture the driver working on the platform, not just cargo on a grid. A well-designed platform offers enough real estate so drivers can maneuver comfortably without constantly shuffling cargo, preventing costly bottlenecks at the back of the truck. You also have to balance that platform size with how that truck delivers, making sure you maintain dock access when needed without the gate getting in the way. Finally, traction is non-negotiable. F&B routes run year-round in rain, snow, and ice. High traction, slip resistant surfaces keep your drivers on their feet and give them the footing they need to move loaded carts and jacks with total confidence.
MWS: WHAT’S THE BIGGEST MISTAKE FLEET MANAGERS CAN MAKE WHEN EVALUATING LIFTGATE EQUIPMENT?
STIMLER: Looking at the liftgate as an isolated line-item purchase rather than a critical link in your delivery strategy. When you only shop at the initial price, you miss the hidden costs of maintenance, lost productivity, driver frustration, and compromised safety on the route. The biggest win comes from asking how this equipment will perform over five or seven years of daily use and often abuse. The right liftgate is an investment in your delivery network. It pays for itself by keeping drivers safe, protecting your uptime, and making every stop as efficient as possible.
THINGS TO CONSIDER
For F&B fleets, the liftgate is more than a piece of equipment at the back of the truck. It is part of a delivery system that drivers interact with repeatedly throughout every route. Evaluating equipment through the lens of productivity, safety, ergonomics, maintenance, and application fit can help fleets make better decisions—and create measurable improvements over time.
about the interviewee
Mike Stimler is the business line director for WALTCO liftgates, and brings over 25 years of commercial, operational, and sales leadership in the fleet space. From enterprise accounts and OEM partnerships to fleet programs and go-to-market strategies, he has built and scaled commercial programs across the transportation, fleet fueling, DEF, and truck body segments.
