While physics is our friend, good sir, I hold that the use of hand trucks would encourage the toting of more luggage due to the deceptive ease of movement. One blip over a lip or a kerb, and the luggage spills into the causeway willy (as you say, sir) nilly. I do not trust The American Public with a device so powerful as the hand truck. Leave this dangerous insidious equipment to the professional delivery person. I personally have both benefited and suffered at the hand of physics – I could tell you tales of hand trucks and dollies that would make your hair curl. Curl more. What have you.

Sincerely,

Concerned Citizen

kerb [sic]

Well said, Sir!

The common reason I hear for these wheeled monstrosities is that people don't want to hurt their backs by carrying luggage. However, according to this, it's posture that counts:

Carrying books, even heavy books, with good positioning would be healthy and good exercise, not a cause of pain. By contrast, pulling a rolling carrier or bag on wheels while bent over in unhealthy ways can cause the same kind of pain.

It seems to me that the awkwardly twisted body posture you need to drag these things is far worse than if you just carried it.

However, the worst of all seem to be the wheeled backpacks. They have straps that can turn it into a backpack, or fold away. Or wheels and handles that turn it into a rolling machine, or fold away. But combined, that takes up so much space and weight you could get away with a normal bag half the size...

I always bonk my head with the hand truck when I lean over and put the first box on the base, causing the handle part to stand up straight and bonk me in the head. Bonk.

Wheeled luggage is not much worse than people on the bus/train with gigantic backpacks that they refuse to take off their back when things get crowded.

Hand trucks, while fraught with all the hazards you mention, rainbaby (and on preview, misskaz), are far safer to the public than leashed suitcases.

Anyway, I've really just used the hand truck as an example of load-in-front agility to counter the clumsy danger of dragged loads.

It's a line-of-sight thing. Folks who walk their dogs on a leash look occasionally to be sure the dog is following okay. Suitcases are less agile, observant, and cute, but people will drag them for miles without a second look. I'm not calling these people lazy, weak, rude, or stupid; I'm calling them a nuisance.

Not this old rhubarb again...

I say screw physics - unlike pet luggage, hand trucks are not in The Good Book.

I got ur indispensable, professional luggage handcart right here. When I traveled 48 weeks a year, I wore out one of its simpler cousins every year or so. 6" ball bearing supported wheels are the minimum size/construction to consider for moving luggage repetitively. The little plastic wheels in wheeled luggage are just selling features; only amateur tourists expect them to work across all terrains/pavements, for any distance or length of time. And they really cut down on packing room.

Carts with 6 inch wheels smooth the ride for your luggage substantially, and protect it going down stairs and over curbs when necessary. 6 inch ball bearing wheels are essential when traversing gravel and mud with loads, too, and their low friction means you'll make more close connections in distant terminals than if you're huffing with wheeled luggage. A stiff tubular steel frame down to the wheels means a lot, if you have to manhandle a load in a tight place.

More than once, 2 or 3 days into a trip with a colleague using wheeled soft luggage, I've taken pity on them, and tossed their bag on my cart, and gotten us where we needed to be. And seen the consternation on their face the next morning, if I didn't look so inclined, again.

When I was little, my sister and I used to hang out at my dad's materials testing shop way out in West Tulsa about twice a month on the weekends. We'd stop by the Superette on the way out there for Chocolate Soldiers, sunflower seeds, corn-nuts and baseball cards.

It's a miracle we never got hurt out there, as we'd climb all over the forklift, up to the loft, play with various metallurgical stuff, ride around on the tractor, and yes, play with the hand-truck dolly.

The driveway to his shop was sloped pretty steeply and lined with rocks that ~1 inch all the way around. We'd take the dolly to the top of the driveway, one of us would stand on it, and the other would run them down the hill, holding on to the dolly for dear life. For hours at a time.

If mom had only known, she'd've had six kinds of strokes. But needless to say, I'm a fan of the hand-truck.

Up next: Umbrellas, rain protection, or eye pokers?

In my new gig, I use my hand trucks so much taht I've started to consider them an extension of my body.