In 2025, the United States will send a team to an international sports competition in Germany for the first time.
It’s one that doesn’t use a ball.
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But it does have a supply chain connection, as it involves forklift drivers and teams competing be fastest in completing a series of moves.
Who knew?
In an interesting story in the Wall Street Journal this week (Chelsey Dulaney), we learn that “Germans have long sat comfortably atop the world of competitive forklift driving, a point of national pride. There are songs, tattoos and fully functioning kid’s models dedicated to the humble industrial vehicle. The best drivers are treated like rock stars.”
When it started in 2005, the contest used to only be open to German competitors. That changed in 2008, with the contest attracting an international field when it was just held in October, with teams from 11 countries.
The US was not one of them, but there are plans for sending a team in 2025.
They were all competing for the Stapler Cup (stapler means forklift in German), the Journal reports.
In the contest, drivers must complete various challenges, such as building a tower of objects and then moving it across a finish line.
According to the Journal, German forklift manufacturer Linde Material Handling launched the Stapler Cup in 2005 to celebrate the material handling profession.
It says the drivers, referred to at the contest as “forklift heroes,”, walk with on to a stage of billowing smoke, with music such as the Baha Men’s “Who Let the Dogs Out” blaring.
The competition has gained attention through streaming and now also has growing fan bases in the US and Asia. That includes viral memes and international watch parties.
The Stapler Cup has four main events: individual male and female driver events, and two team-based competitions.
Germans have the home-field advantage. Many of the home team’s competitors have been coming for years and are more familiar with the challenges and forklifts used for the contest.
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 For example, the Linde forklifts used have separate pedals for accelerating and reversing, while most of the international competitors operate forklifts with just one.
“For us it’s the first time we’ve touched this truck,” one Chinese competitor the Journal, adding that. “The Germans are still very good. If we prepare more, we can get the scores to compete.”
After some preliminary rounds, Germany advanced to the semifinals along with the Netherlands, Slovakia and Belgium.
“That’s when things got messy,” the Journal reports. “Each team had to build a tower of three plastic exercise balls and drive it up the “hero ramp,” a metal platform that seesaws as the forklift approaches the finish line. All four teams lost control of the ball stack before completing the course, so the judges picked finalists based on how close they were to the end.”
That eliminated Germany, leaving the Belgians competing against the Slovakians for the title.
The Journal notes the contest comes at a time when there is strong adoption of autonomous fork trucks that don’t use drivers, threatening the contest – and a profession.
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