Why our forklifts have names
Magnolia, Carlton, Hazel, Pete, Sergeant. The yard runs five trucks. They've all been named. There's a reason — sort of.
We have five forklifts. Their names are Magnolia, Carlton, Hazel, Pete, and Sergeant. I'm told this is unusual.
The case for naming
It started in 2019 when our refinishing supervisor, Mateo, kept calling the oldest forklift "the cranky one." Eli (the founder) heard this and said something like, "if it's cranky enough to have a personality, it should have a name." That forklift became Carlton. Carlton has been with us for nine years.
The rest followed gradually. Magnolia is the smoothest ride. Hazel is the smallest, and she works the cramped end of the yard. Pete is new — he came in 2022 and we're still figuring him out. Sergeant is the one that hauls the heaviest loads and has the loudest beeper.
The practical part
Naming forklifts is silly. It's also useful. We have a maintenance log keyed by name, and when an operator radios in that "Hazel's getting drift on the steering," everyone instantly knows which truck. We've calculated — only half-jokingly — that the naming convention saves about three minutes per maintenance issue compared to "forklift number three."
It also makes for better operator-to-operator handoffs. "Don't take Carlton up to bay six, the threshold is too high" is a useful instruction. "Don't take forklift four to bay six" requires people to remember which one is forklift four.
Carlton's retirement
Carlton is the oldest truck in the fleet and we've talked about replacing him for two years running. We probably will, eventually. But every time we get serious about it, somebody points out that Carlton has been at this yard longer than most of the operators, and we put the conversation off another quarter.
He'll get a proper send-off when his time comes. The replacement will probably need a name too.
Related field notes.
Mateo joined us in 2019 from a completely unrelated industry. The interview was forty minutes and one wrong question. We almost didn't hire him.
Read →Every Tuesday at 7:30 AM, every forklift operator in the building does fifteen minutes of focused practice. It's the most useful fifteen minutes of our week.
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