The True Cost of Manual Loading: Enter Telescopic Boom Conveyors

What’s the True Cost of Manual Handling?

By Diamond Phoenix

// 2 Oct 2025

The True Cost of Manual Loading: Enter Telescopic Boom Conveyors

In fast-paced distribution and logistics environments, time is money.

Yet even in 2025 and beyond, many businesses are forecast to continue using manual loading at least partly across their operations.

Manual loading methods, which include pallet jacks, forklifts, and even manual handling, are still widely used and may be significantly denting your profits.

But, what's the alternative to manual handling?

Enter Convey Xpress Telescopic Boom Conveyors, which can reduce loading and unloading times by up to 50%, cutting the need for excess staff during peak hours.

At first glance, investing upfront in modern automation may seem like an expense but in fact it's the complete opposite and is an asset to your operations, paying you back tenfold over time.

In this blog, we’ll explore the true costs of manual loading, including:

Labour Costs That Keep Rising
The High Price of Workplace Injuries
Truck Idle Time and Transport Delays
Reduced Trailer Utilisation
Staff Turnover and Training Costs
Opportunity Cost of Standing Still

Call us today at 01908 103026 or use our contact form to arrange your free consultation, and we'll get back to you promptly.

Let's get into each one in further detail...

Labour Costs That Keep Rising

The true cost of manual handling in logistics and distribution shouldn’t be underestimated. Rising labour costs are one of the biggest challenges. Sounds familiar, right? It's no secret that manual loading is labour-intensive and often requires large teams to handle goods safely and efficiently. As wages rise and labour shortages persist, these costs are likely to increase further.

The Solution: Convey Xpress telescopic boom conveyors, supplied and installed across the UK by Diamond Phoenix, streamline loading and unloading processes much more efficiently, allowing fewer workers to load or unload trailers in significantly less time.

The Price of Workplace Injuries

The high price of workplace injuries is a major factor when it comes to analysing the true cost of manual handling. Repetitive lifting, bending, and twisting are common in manual loading and unloading. These heavy-loading movements can lead to long-term workplace injuries, resulting in lost productivity, compensation claims, and high insurance premiums.

The Solution: By investing in telescopic boom conveyors, this takes the strain off workers and brings the conveyor directly to the trailer, making the process more ergonomic and safer for operators.

Truck Idle Time & Transport Delays

How often do you have trucks sitting idle? Time is money, and every minute a trailer sits idle is eating away at your operational costs and ultimately, your profits. Moreover, transport delays can also cause missed delivery windows, dissatisfied customers, and potential penalties from logistics partners.

The Solution: Telescopic boom conveyors are incredibly efficient and are used to accelerate throughput, getting more done in less time. You can also expect them to help minimise dwell time and help you meet SLAs with ease.

Reduced Trailer Utilisation

Inefficient stacking processes as a result of manual loading can leave valuable cubic space unused. Over time, this means more trailers on the road, higher transport costs, and unnecessary carbon emissions.

The Solution: With our expert conveyors, products and goods can be positioned much more effectively within the trailer, maximising space utilisation and reducing trips.

Staff Turnover & Training Costs

Warehousing and loading bay jobs are physically demanding, often leading to high turnover, which is a common but costly challenge. Constantly training and recruiting new staff eats into operational time, not to mention it also takes money directly out of your profits.

The Solution: Conveyors get the job done, efficiently and reliably. They help to make loading and unloading processes much less physically taxing, and help to reduce recruitment and onboarding costs.

Opportunity Cost of Standing Still

Manual loading and unloading processes are slowing down your throughput and therefore, you are likely to be lagging behind competitors who are using modern automation. Every day that you choose to delay the implementation of telescopic conveyors is another day of missed efficiency gains.

The Solution: Now is the perfect time to implement telescopic boom conveyors into your operations. The longer you delay, the more money is lost to inefficiency, and the harder it becomes to catch up.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

Manual loading may seem like the more cost-effective option in the short term, but when you factor in labour, injuries, delays, inefficiencies, and turnover, it becomes clear: delaying conveyor investment is far more expensive than adopting it. Telescopic boom conveyors aren’t just a tool; they’re a long-term strategy for safer, faster, and more cost-effective operations.

Contact Diamond Phoenix Automation

It’s time to take your warehouse efficiency to the next level.

Say goodbye to manual handling, and hello to lower labour costs, faster throughput, and stronger profits.

At Diamond Phoenix Automation, we supply and install Convey Xpress Telescopic Boom Conveyors for a wide range of sectors across the UK, including warehouses, manufacturing plants, logistics providers, the food and beverage industry, and more.

Here’s why our conveyors are trusted and in high demand: