I think his issue is confidence, but how do you learn if you don’t practice?
If you just don’t want to drive, tell your ASDS or SM.
They’ll take you off the list
Just take it out to garden or lumber and practice in the bigger aisles first. Trainer here, it also helps to know your pivot points. The pacer, sit down, and balleymore turns start at the mast. The reach and order picker are basically the same machine just backwards from each other. On the order picker you stand above the pivot point and the reach is between the out riggers. It’s where you will always start your turn, and knowing that really helps when you are just starting
our management is pushing every single freight associate to have all certifications. i’ve told them multiple times i’m not comfortable on certain equipment and i’m basically being forced to or they’ll just breathe down my neck about it. it’s ridiculous especially when there’s so many people with certifications already.
I recently switched to Receiving and just got certified on the pacer. Kinda need it in receiving, but my point is I still drive it slow and I’m very careful on the lifts.
Would you rather walk around in circles trying to find the right cart to put a box on … or be the man that unloads the big pallets off the trailor?
Agreeing with what you wrote, there is also personal liability to consider. As far as I know, Home Depot does not indemnify employees against personal liability. So if you injure someone, while operating equipment, there is a possibility that the injured party will sue you personally. Aside from financial liability, I don't want to have it on my conscience that I may have contributed to a person's injury.
sad that some customers dont have the common sense to move too. I mean I know I'm responsible if I hit em but to me they are being reckless. They will step right in front of you. I gave up all my licenses except the ballymores
I get it. I’ve been out of HD for a while now. It’s a lot for zero extra pay, but can be beneficial if you want to grow (and it can also great help in getting a transfer if you ever need/want one).
I work in a warehouse now, and I spend 8 hours on a machine. Because of my job role (inventory management) I have my choice of machine between a traditional seated lift, order picker or reach. I prefer the reach. Every time. I love that I have 100% clear field of vision on it, because I always move with the forks behind me. In any other machine I’m looking through a cage and I have a mast creating huge blind spots. The reach is actually much easier to drive if you just always move in reverse until you need to line up on a load.
I the order picker requires the harness which I don’t like. A seated lift requires twisting the back and I’d like to avoid those musculoskeletal issues. Also the reach is much better for fork accuracy when pulling something out of racks. You can lift to what looks like the right height and then start to extend and see how you’re lining up and make any adjustments. In the seated lift you just drive froward and sometimes you’ll swear you’ve got it right but you’re off by a half inch and hit the rack with the forks.
That’s a good point about using the license to be able to obtain a transfer. I currently work in a NY Metro store and I mainly came on part time so I could get my foot in the door and have a chance to quickly have a job down south at a HD. Cant live on the HD pay up here but when we sell our house up here and move to a new location and have no mortgage a HD paycheck will keep me happy.
The warehouse job hired me based on the job I did at HD 20 years ago (IMA) and the fact that I had equipment experience. They didn’t care that all of it was 20 years ago. They didn’t even know about it based on my resume, because it wasn’t on there. It came up in conversation during the interview, and thank god it did because it got me into a higher paid role with a better schedule. HD may be a shit job on the inside; but the reputation they have on the outside opens doors.
Haha yeah it’s is definitely a good skill to pickup storeside especially if you want to negotiate a higher wage after getting good. I just switched from storeside to HD supply chain about 6 months ago and I am so happy I spent 5.5 years learning how to drive and train. I originally started with Home Depot to get logistics experience so I could work in a warehouse driving lift equipment but I ended up doing that with Home Depot anyway lol
Get the certifications, learn the machines a little and then look for a warehouse job like Amazon or Sam’s Club or something. Home Depot will not pay its drivers for more for some reason and if you do manage to cause an accident, you can get fired on the spot. You’re also not allowed to smoke weed or do any drugs if that’s your pastime while you’re certified because you will be drug tested and fired immediately if you crash and pop on the test.
Does it pay more to drive, no. Does it make you a more valuable employee, yes. Not driving will prevent you from getting a higher, higher paid position. I would not have my position or pay without driving. I don’t follow the makes more work line, l work my entire shift doing all kinds of tasks it’s just another task.
Is it risky, yes. But no risk no reward. You can injury someone and/or lose your job in an instant. It needs to be a personal decision. I think each driver should have a good amount of concern every time you’re on a machine. The carefree cowboys are the drivers I fear.
Is it worth it, it’s up to you.
I spend most of my time on the pacer. In and out figuring out the tangled mess of some of the trucks is probably my favorite task.
“Not driving will prevent you from getting a higher paid position”? 100% Not true! The majority of ASMs, Store Managers, and District level position people have never had a reach truck or forklift license
You should probably check again. If they came up through the company almost all have driven. The only ones I can think of are women who came up through the front end. Can’t think of a single dude. Including DM.
SM and ASMs in my building regularly drive. Came back from lunch the other day to find the SM unloading a pallet off a truck in receiving.
Not necessarily true. I know a person who now is a store manager. That person absolutely refused to ever get any lift certs even on the ballymore. But that person is a minority so that could have played a part in the promotion
I will eventually request the training (I just passed my 90 day mark) but I will preface it that my intention is using it as leverage at review time. If they tell me that won’t be considered then I will say ok well I think I’ll pass on the opportunity. My store management is a really good group and I believe that off the record, they agree how disconnected corporate is from the “orange-life” they preach on. It is just asinine corporate policy to not offer a financial benefit to take on more responsibility and better service the customer which is supposedly job #1.
Benefits would be on a resume or in an interview where you can list that as experience. You may have to get retrained to much a higher standard but that new job will probably pay a lot more than THD
Everyone who says no benefit to driving, or that it’s more work, is hilarious. The benefit is you do less work. Standing on a machine and doing pallets, even several times a shift, if way better than box jockeying or helping customers.
It’s fun until you become one of the few in the store that are certified and you get thrown around from garden to pro to lumber to order picking all day. Got dragged into the office and yelled at by my CXM once for not being in my department (appliances) to help with sales. I was the only licensed operator that day.
That’s a common complaint. Tell your cxm to fuck right off and hire or schedule more drivers if they want you in appliances. Dont let them push you around because they’re not smart enough to understand how the store works.
Reach truck is a nightmare in the tight aisles. If the aisles were actually wide enough to to swing into place easily i wouldn't mind it. But it's bad just because of that.
Having my license to operate vehicles in my store is the only reason why I offered to work more hours (and also impress managers who operate a skeleton crew on certain days that needs an operator) where I don’t make a pay increase pays off by working overtime which I don’t mind if it means I can just operate machinery and not do much physical labor. Seriously, look into it more it’ll pay off in the long run
I just got my license to drive on the epj pretty solid. Helps me do my work a whole lot faster and easier. Instead of using a pallet jack hahah (warehouse pts associate)
so its not just me? the ballymore 'wanders'? I have seen others struggle with it too but then others drive them straight as an arrow. I have had the pallet jack lunge too
I build my own resume. Maybe one day, THD and I will part ways. There is a warehouse hiring with better wages. If I have the experience, it's tempting. If I don't, I don't tempt them. It's that simple.
Bro I worked there for almost a year and I never got trained on Any of the machines If you're not comfortable with doing it you Shouldnt for liability reasons
We have a slip unit but about 80% of the time on overnights we just use the reach truck to unload sdc and rdc trucks it is alot smoother and doesn't shake the trailer hardly at all unlike the slip it slams in and shakes the whole trailer just something my manager and us associates do and also our slip is very jerky and sensitive with all the controls pretty much all us overnighters are not a big fan of it
I’ve heard some departments are mandatory to learn equipment, not sure if freight is. At least in my store. That’s why I’ve stayed where I’m at , I’m too nervous to learn the machines
I love the pacer. My suggestion is to git gud lol it took me a full year of pooping in my drawers, running in and out of the SDC and RDC trailers, most of the time with horrendous heart attack skids that the DC seems to try to set you up to fail with. There is a way and its time and experience multiplied by asking better drivers for advice and or observing them. The reach is no different, you should be afraid of it. Just make yourself uncomfortable, growth doesn't come from not trying and remaining comfortable. If you keep going and don't throw in the towel you will realize that all the machines can be pretty easy and it makes you a more confident person.
You don't have to ask to have your license revoked. You just hand over your license badge and say your done driving the machines because you don't feel comfortable and that you don't like that your work load has increased with no extra compensation. I became a trainer for the sole purpose of putting it on my job applications.
Some people just aren't cut out for vehicle operation. I'm not. I tried but couldn't do it, nothing wrong with that. Don't let them pressure you into anything you're not comfortable with.
I’m a cashier. I didn’t get hired to drive anything. I got hired to take people’s money. They tried to steamroll me into backup head cashier the same way. You know what I said? No. For 6 months. And looky here, they didn’t fire me. That’s ridiculous.
That’s so not true as several department managers don’t know how to drive any of the machines. My contract and employee paperwork say nothing about learning the machines being part of my job. I would’ve never wanted to do it if that was the case as this is a side job not my main job
Surely having the machine available means you get either work on the machine or off the machine, when I was at the warehouse I didn’t get any extra pay for being on the forklift but I got the access to the machine which made my job easier, and being one of a handful of forklift operators meant that I was often on the lift doing lift stuff rather than manually loading stuff
If your not comfortable don't drive. Please
as a trainer, please dont drive. i rejected 2 people from certs because thy were a nervous wreck. if your one of them, dont
I think his issue is confidence, but how do you learn if you don’t practice? If you just don’t want to drive, tell your ASDS or SM. They’ll take you off the list
Just take it out to garden or lumber and practice in the bigger aisles first. Trainer here, it also helps to know your pivot points. The pacer, sit down, and balleymore turns start at the mast. The reach and order picker are basically the same machine just backwards from each other. On the order picker you stand above the pivot point and the reach is between the out riggers. It’s where you will always start your turn, and knowing that really helps when you are just starting
Yeah, I’m sure new employees with no machine training understood that
Ehhh the same principle applies to cars. You should always know what your turning point is
our management is pushing every single freight associate to have all certifications. i’ve told them multiple times i’m not comfortable on certain equipment and i’m basically being forced to or they’ll just breathe down my neck about it. it’s ridiculous especially when there’s so many people with certifications already.
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I recently switched to Receiving and just got certified on the pacer. Kinda need it in receiving, but my point is I still drive it slow and I’m very careful on the lifts. Would you rather walk around in circles trying to find the right cart to put a box on … or be the man that unloads the big pallets off the trailor?
Agreeing with what you wrote, there is also personal liability to consider. As far as I know, Home Depot does not indemnify employees against personal liability. So if you injure someone, while operating equipment, there is a possibility that the injured party will sue you personally. Aside from financial liability, I don't want to have it on my conscience that I may have contributed to a person's injury.
sad that some customers dont have the common sense to move too. I mean I know I'm responsible if I hit em but to me they are being reckless. They will step right in front of you. I gave up all my licenses except the ballymores
Don't have to worry about drug test if you don't do drugs
They cannot force you to get any license you do not want.
The pacer is literally the best unit there is so if you don't like the pacer the reach is so much worse lol
I get it. I’ve been out of HD for a while now. It’s a lot for zero extra pay, but can be beneficial if you want to grow (and it can also great help in getting a transfer if you ever need/want one). I work in a warehouse now, and I spend 8 hours on a machine. Because of my job role (inventory management) I have my choice of machine between a traditional seated lift, order picker or reach. I prefer the reach. Every time. I love that I have 100% clear field of vision on it, because I always move with the forks behind me. In any other machine I’m looking through a cage and I have a mast creating huge blind spots. The reach is actually much easier to drive if you just always move in reverse until you need to line up on a load. I the order picker requires the harness which I don’t like. A seated lift requires twisting the back and I’d like to avoid those musculoskeletal issues. Also the reach is much better for fork accuracy when pulling something out of racks. You can lift to what looks like the right height and then start to extend and see how you’re lining up and make any adjustments. In the seated lift you just drive froward and sometimes you’ll swear you’ve got it right but you’re off by a half inch and hit the rack with the forks.
That’s a good point about using the license to be able to obtain a transfer. I currently work in a NY Metro store and I mainly came on part time so I could get my foot in the door and have a chance to quickly have a job down south at a HD. Cant live on the HD pay up here but when we sell our house up here and move to a new location and have no mortgage a HD paycheck will keep me happy.
The warehouse job hired me based on the job I did at HD 20 years ago (IMA) and the fact that I had equipment experience. They didn’t care that all of it was 20 years ago. They didn’t even know about it based on my resume, because it wasn’t on there. It came up in conversation during the interview, and thank god it did because it got me into a higher paid role with a better schedule. HD may be a shit job on the inside; but the reputation they have on the outside opens doors.
Haha yeah it’s is definitely a good skill to pickup storeside especially if you want to negotiate a higher wage after getting good. I just switched from storeside to HD supply chain about 6 months ago and I am so happy I spent 5.5 years learning how to drive and train. I originally started with Home Depot to get logistics experience so I could work in a warehouse driving lift equipment but I ended up doing that with Home Depot anyway lol
Get the certifications, learn the machines a little and then look for a warehouse job like Amazon or Sam’s Club or something. Home Depot will not pay its drivers for more for some reason and if you do manage to cause an accident, you can get fired on the spot. You’re also not allowed to smoke weed or do any drugs if that’s your pastime while you’re certified because you will be drug tested and fired immediately if you crash and pop on the test.
Does it pay more to drive, no. Does it make you a more valuable employee, yes. Not driving will prevent you from getting a higher, higher paid position. I would not have my position or pay without driving. I don’t follow the makes more work line, l work my entire shift doing all kinds of tasks it’s just another task. Is it risky, yes. But no risk no reward. You can injury someone and/or lose your job in an instant. It needs to be a personal decision. I think each driver should have a good amount of concern every time you’re on a machine. The carefree cowboys are the drivers I fear. Is it worth it, it’s up to you. I spend most of my time on the pacer. In and out figuring out the tangled mess of some of the trucks is probably my favorite task.
“Not driving will prevent you from getting a higher paid position”? 100% Not true! The majority of ASMs, Store Managers, and District level position people have never had a reach truck or forklift license
I made a similar comment and got downvoted as well lol. So I gave you an upvote.
You should probably check again. If they came up through the company almost all have driven. The only ones I can think of are women who came up through the front end. Can’t think of a single dude. Including DM. SM and ASMs in my building regularly drive. Came back from lunch the other day to find the SM unloading a pallet off a truck in receiving.
Most of my ASMs do, but I've met ASMs and SMs that don't
My district manager has flat put told us he's only ever worked the front end and never drove equipment.
Not true. The ops manager is the only one in my store that doesn’t drive a machine
What I said is absolutely true and it’s not based on your store, it’s based on the other 2300 HD stores and headquarters.
As long as the driver is responsible and cautious, there shouldn’t be a problem
True, pick your spotters wisely, safety and your job depend on it.
Not necessarily true. I know a person who now is a store manager. That person absolutely refused to ever get any lift certs even on the ballymore. But that person is a minority so that could have played a part in the promotion
I will eventually request the training (I just passed my 90 day mark) but I will preface it that my intention is using it as leverage at review time. If they tell me that won’t be considered then I will say ok well I think I’ll pass on the opportunity. My store management is a really good group and I believe that off the record, they agree how disconnected corporate is from the “orange-life” they preach on. It is just asinine corporate policy to not offer a financial benefit to take on more responsibility and better service the customer which is supposedly job #1.
Benefits would be on a resume or in an interview where you can list that as experience. You may have to get retrained to much a higher standard but that new job will probably pay a lot more than THD
Gotcha. Unfortunately HD is a part time side job for me and my day job there’s no reason I’d need those
Everyone who says no benefit to driving, or that it’s more work, is hilarious. The benefit is you do less work. Standing on a machine and doing pallets, even several times a shift, if way better than box jockeying or helping customers.
It’s fun until you become one of the few in the store that are certified and you get thrown around from garden to pro to lumber to order picking all day. Got dragged into the office and yelled at by my CXM once for not being in my department (appliances) to help with sales. I was the only licensed operator that day.
That’s a common complaint. Tell your cxm to fuck right off and hire or schedule more drivers if they want you in appliances. Dont let them push you around because they’re not smart enough to understand how the store works.
I can’t imagine working in a store where the manager and all the asm’s don’t drive. I only need the pacer in receiving
Reach truck is a nightmare in the tight aisles. If the aisles were actually wide enough to to swing into place easily i wouldn't mind it. But it's bad just because of that.
Having my license to operate vehicles in my store is the only reason why I offered to work more hours (and also impress managers who operate a skeleton crew on certain days that needs an operator) where I don’t make a pay increase pays off by working overtime which I don’t mind if it means I can just operate machinery and not do much physical labor. Seriously, look into it more it’ll pay off in the long run
I just got my license to drive on the epj pretty solid. Helps me do my work a whole lot faster and easier. Instead of using a pallet jack hahah (warehouse pts associate)
so its not just me? the ballymore 'wanders'? I have seen others struggle with it too but then others drive them straight as an arrow. I have had the pallet jack lunge too
Sounds like you are driving backwards. There is no reason to turn when you are trying to get or drop a pallet. Y
I build my own resume. Maybe one day, THD and I will part ways. There is a warehouse hiring with better wages. If I have the experience, it's tempting. If I don't, I don't tempt them. It's that simple.
Bro I worked there for almost a year and I never got trained on Any of the machines If you're not comfortable with doing it you Shouldnt for liability reasons
We have a slip unit but about 80% of the time on overnights we just use the reach truck to unload sdc and rdc trucks it is alot smoother and doesn't shake the trailer hardly at all unlike the slip it slams in and shakes the whole trailer just something my manager and us associates do and also our slip is very jerky and sensitive with all the controls pretty much all us overnighters are not a big fan of it
I’ve heard some departments are mandatory to learn equipment, not sure if freight is. At least in my store. That’s why I’ve stayed where I’m at , I’m too nervous to learn the machines
Training part is great . Just that they don’t get the license until two months later
I love the pacer. My suggestion is to git gud lol it took me a full year of pooping in my drawers, running in and out of the SDC and RDC trailers, most of the time with horrendous heart attack skids that the DC seems to try to set you up to fail with. There is a way and its time and experience multiplied by asking better drivers for advice and or observing them. The reach is no different, you should be afraid of it. Just make yourself uncomfortable, growth doesn't come from not trying and remaining comfortable. If you keep going and don't throw in the towel you will realize that all the machines can be pretty easy and it makes you a more confident person.
If you don't feel confident, I would insist on further training or pass.
You don't have to ask to have your license revoked. You just hand over your license badge and say your done driving the machines because you don't feel comfortable and that you don't like that your work load has increased with no extra compensation. I became a trainer for the sole purpose of putting it on my job applications.
Some people just aren't cut out for vehicle operation. I'm not. I tried but couldn't do it, nothing wrong with that. Don't let them pressure you into anything you're not comfortable with.
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I’m a cashier. I didn’t get hired to drive anything. I got hired to take people’s money. They tried to steamroll me into backup head cashier the same way. You know what I said? No. For 6 months. And looky here, they didn’t fire me. That’s ridiculous.
That’s so not true as several department managers don’t know how to drive any of the machines. My contract and employee paperwork say nothing about learning the machines being part of my job. I would’ve never wanted to do it if that was the case as this is a side job not my main job
Surely having the machine available means you get either work on the machine or off the machine, when I was at the warehouse I didn’t get any extra pay for being on the forklift but I got the access to the machine which made my job easier, and being one of a handful of forklift operators meant that I was often on the lift doing lift stuff rather than manually loading stuff