There's a trolley for just about every load, and a folding platform trolley earns its keep in a busy stockroom because it drops flat against a wall when you're done with it. The catch most people hit is the fold itself - the handle won't budge and you end up wrestling it one-handed.
The trick is the foot release: step on the bar between the rear wheels, keep both hands on the handle, and let it fold or raise under control. That's the whole knack.
The Easyroll platform trolley in the video uses a foot-operated release, and it's worth understanding why that beats a hand latch. Foot operation uses your leg strength and body weight to free the lock, so you stay upright with both hands on the handle instead of bending over the mechanism and holding the trolley steady with your spare hand. When you're folding a trolley dozens of times a shift, that difference adds up.
The foot release, step by step
The horizontal bar sitting between the rear wheels is the release. Press it down with your foot and it disengages the lock holding the handle upright, which leaves both your hands free on the handle to guide it. Lower the handle down under control to fold the trolley flat, or lift it up until the lock clicks back in to set it for use.
Keeping your hands on the handle isn't just tidy technique, it keeps your fingers well clear of the folding hinge, which is a genuine pinch point as the frame collapses. Let the foot do the unlocking and the hands do the steering, and there's nothing for the mechanism to catch.
Why the technique is worth getting right
In a busy retail or warehouse setting, back and shoulder strain rarely comes from one big lift. It builds up from the small, repeated, awkward movements over a shift - and bending to wrestle a trolley latch a few dozen times a day is exactly that kind of movement. The foot release takes the bend out of it.
It's the same thinking behind the wider manual-handling advice. Safe Work Australia flags roughly 20-25kg as the point where lifting a load unaided starts to get risky, which is precisely when a trolley should be doing the carrying instead of your back. And once it's loaded, push rather than pull - pushing uses your leg muscles and body weight and keeps you facing forward in a neutral posture, which is far kinder to your lower back than dragging a load behind you.
Choosing the right platform trolley
If you're folding and storing a trolley daily, a folding-handle model like the Easyroll 250kg is built for exactly that. For heavier or constant use, the steel platform trolleys step up to 450kg and 900kg, and the aluminium 400kg is a lighter option if you're lifting the trolley itself in and out of a vehicle. Match the deck and wheels to the floor too: a non-slip deck stops hard-bottomed loads sliding, and larger wheels roll over thresholds and debris with far less effort than small ones.
Have a look through our platform trolleys and the wider hand trucks and trolleys range, or the trolley buyer's guide if you want to work through load, deck and wheels for your site. Tell us what you're moving and where, and we'll point you at the right one.