You Get What You Pay For

Invest in Yourself – There’s an old saying that “you get what you pay for,” and we couldn’t agree more. For instance, have you ever had a hair cut at a beauty school? Although you’re paying quite less for the service, your stylist doesn’t hold as much experience as a professional barber or stylist. Accordingly, they’re limited in the cuts they can offer, the quality of their work, and may take longer to complete the service. Now imagine walking into a reputable salon or barber shop. Although you may pay more for an experienced professional, the service and quality of the work is at an entirely different level. They may greet you with a drink, be able to cut your hair with greater skills and options, and do it at a more efficient pace. 

Similarly, did you ever have to fix something that you weren’t experienced in? Maybe your car? Maybe something in your home? Consequently, have you ever hired the cheaper mechanic or handyman to perform it? What happened? For many, although they may save money up front, lose money in the long run by not paying a little more for the higher quality service and knowledge. The cheaper and less knowledgable service provider may not be able to fix the issue or notice the underlying cause, leading to more problems in the long run. If you had invested a little more and hired the more reputable and experienced service person, you may have noticed that they were able to address the underlying problem quicker (not just temporarily max it with a bandaid) – and offer additional benefits like a warranty. 

Why are we telling you this? Well, as a warning. As a forklift school with 15+ years of experience in forklift training and certification – we’ve met many students who once had paid for the “$10 forklift training & certification” that you may have also come across. What did they learn in the other program? Not much – hence they came to us for proper forklift training. 

You see, operating a forklift is a big responsibility. As you operate these heavy pieces of machinery to transport a company’s products, that others depend on – your employer, consumers, and everyone’s safety is dependent on your skills. One mistake/accident can result in injuries, damaged good, broken equipment, and ultimately hurt you, your employer, and even the consumers. Playing such an important role, employers are willing to pay nice salaries to trained and certified forklift operators. 

Therefore, what does it mean when a forklift operator has obtained their forklift certification based on a $10 forklift training program, that they themselves have acknowledged didn’t teach much? It means they’ve officially earned a “certification” for little forklift knowledge, that doesn’t offer the experience, skills, and confidence to perform at the very least adequately on the job. 

Employers are aware of this as well. If they come across two candidates for a job – who do you think they’ll consider hiring first? The one who obtained a $10 forklift certification, or the one who invested a little more and obtained proper, extensive forklift training and certification? Hopefully you realize the latter.

On the topic of employers, we’ve also come across employers who have hired us for Onsite Forklift Training, after first considering a “$10 forklift training” for their employees. Do you know what the consensus is from these employers? Complaints that the bargain instructors aren’t knowledgable and the school’s staff isn’t reliable. That’s why we take professionalism on a whole other level for our clients. Not only we do we bring our expertise and knowledge to the training, but we are reliable!

We know your time is valuable – so we don’t waste it. We come early and set-up, provide next-level customer service and instructions, as well as offer the customized touch you need to personally gain from the program. 

On a final note, on the topic of you get what you pay for – as mentioned above, forklift operators are valuable members of a company’s operations. Generally, employers prefer to hire forklift operators who are certified in more than one forklift certification. Reason being, forklift operators with multiple forklift certifications are able to operate more than one type of forklift – thus reducing the necessity for a company to pay for multiple forklift operators (as one can do the job).

Now, let’s do the math.

Let’s say a new forklift operator with a single forklift certification can earn $16 an hour. However, a forklift operator with multiple forklift certifications can earn $18 to $21 an hour. Yes, they may have paid $50 more to earn an additional forklift certification, but that $50 investment can result in an additional $5 an hour! How does this play out?

Well, if a forklift operator works 40 hours a week, that initial $50 results in an additional $200 a week (40 hours in a week x $5 an hour in greater pay = $200 more a week)!

$200 more in a week means by investing a little more upfront, you can earn an additional $869 a month (4.345 weeks in a month x $200 more a week = $869 more a month)! 

$869 more a month means by investing a little more upfront, you can earn an additional $10,428 a year (12 months in a year x $869 more a month = $10,428 a year)!

And the increase in pay continues! In 3 years, you would have made an extra $31,284 just because you invested in multiple forklift certification upfront. In 5 years, that number increases to $52,140. 

When you can exceed the break even point of investing more for multiple forklift certifications – in the first week alone, isn’t it a better strategy to obtain multiple forklift certifications? 

The answer is yes!!!

As you can see, you get what you pay for – so invest in yourself! To learn more, take your first step and  Contact Us Today!