There's more efficient ways of carrying heavy loads, but the shoulder pole is remarkably efficient in a number of other ways. Its most important feature is tha

There's more efficient ways of carrying heavy loads, but the shoulder pole is remarkably efficient in a number of other ways. Its most important feature is that you're able to pivot the pole about the body, bringing the pole in front of you, and letting you fit into tighter spaces. Or, you can pivot the other direction, and spread more load across your shoulders. By spreading the weight apart, you're able to keep your balance extremely well. Since they're focused on avoiding strain, they should be looking at ways of distributing more of the load across the lower torso and hips. One of their mockups looks like they're trying to do this, but the result looks like you give up a lot of flexibility.