Vertical platform lifts have been used in businesses for quite some time, especially in warehouse operations where stacking merchandise in overhead shelving is the best way to save space. In home improvement stores, employees can operate push button lifts to get to overhead merchandise, shove it on to the lift's platform and bring it back down for the customer.
Platform lifts in law offices, for instance, are great when you have a storage area full of boxes containing old cases that have been marked and stored. While computer software does most of the information storage, there is still plenty of hard copy paperwork to be filed away and stored once a case is done. What easier way for anyone in the office to load boxes onto a cart, push it to the storage room and use a vertical lift to get the boxes up to a top shelf. It is easy, safe and there is very little chance of putting one's back out while handling the boxes.
Back in 1991, the Americans with Disabilities Act mandated that all new buildings have access ramps and elevators installed whenever there was more than one floor to a building. In some cases with older buildings, however, the expense was too great to modify the building because of the structural issues. Now, some of these problems can be easily solved with a movable (or permanently installed) vertical platform lift that will get a disabled person up to the next floor. Needless to say, the lifts must meet all safety standards for operating and protecting any users from harm. A cage design for a vertical lift is ideal to protect those in wheel chairs from rolling off the platform.
Vertical platform lifts also work efficiently in stage production setups by allowing scenery to be easily hung, especially if you have a team below to move the lift as each section is completed. There is far less danger in using a lift than working with ladders which require you to go up and down the ladder for each piece to hang. On a platform lift, you can take a whole string of lights or a complete panel of scrim in one run.
How about hotels who may have elaborate chandeliers which need cleaning about once a month? Using a platform lift makes the job simple and quick, as well as safe. When one chandelier is done, just roll it over to the next one. When done on one floor, roll it into an elevator and move it to the second floor.
There are numerous ways to use a vertical platform lift in just about any business. It's really just a matter of thinking creatively. If and when a vertical platform lift sees the end of its days, there is still a use for them. Take it out to the hunting lease, extend it to its full height next to a tall tree, secure it to the tree with heavy rope, and now it becomes a portable deer blind. Just be sure to take a rope ladder with you when you go up for the last time so you can get down again.