TONNAGE LTES ON MUNICIPAL HAULAGE
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Solving the Problems of the Carrier
The Second of a Series of Articles of Interest to Hauliers Who Carry for Municipalities and Public Bodies Generally
THE data given in the first •article of this series, and which appeared in last week's issue of "The Commercial Motor,' was intended to help operators who are tendering for the hire of their 'vehicles on day rates. The figures cannot be used directly for the calculation of tonnage rates such as apply in the case of haulage of road stone, sand and ballast, tarmacadam, rubble and materials
of that kind. • . To be able to build up a schedule of rates for that class of work we want to know, first, the time taketi per journey, and, secondly, the mileage run, and then what to charge . for this time and mileage. This is what I mean when I say it is necessary to have time and mileage charges to be able properly to quote for this class of work.
The figures which are really,necessary are those given in Tables VII, VIII and IX here reproduced. They show the time and mileage rates for Grade I, Grade II and Grade III Areas, and -how I have arrived at them. The first line, " Fixed Costs per Week," is taken from the corresponding table which accompanied the previous article and, therefore, needs no further explanation.
Immediately, however, we come to a difference between the assessment of rates for daily hire arid those for tonnage.. In the latter case, provision must be made for the fact that there is bound to he a certain amount of idle time. It is inevitable in such work and, to allow for it, it is necessary to add 10 per cent to the fixed charges. Hence, it is the third line in each of the three tables, the figures in which are arrived at by adding 10 per cent. to the figures used in lee first line, which must be employed in our assessment of time costs. The third line of figures, in Table VII, beginning with £7 13s. 6d. per week for a 1-tonner is, thus, the actual total of fixed costs Per week for a vehicle of that load capacity. To that I add 20 per cent. for profit, making the fixed charge, per week; £9 4s., and that, on the basis of a 48-hour week, is 3s. 10d, per hour. That is the time charge.
Running CostAk Per Mile
in Respect of a 1-ton Vehicle
Next come the running -Costs per mile. These, also, have been taken from the tables given in the previous article. In Table VII the running costs per mile for a 1-tonner are given as 4.38d. Add 20 per cent, to that for profit, and a total of 5.22d.. per mile is reached. It is convenient and proper to work that out to the nearest farthing and assyme
Md. per mile. , • It now remains to translate these figures to rates per ton for the haulage of the materials mentioned in the first paragraph of this article. This is not easy. Theoretically, it is quite simple as I shall show but, unfortunately, when theoretical results are compared with those which come from actual experience, considerable discrepancies appear,. especially in connection with ultra-short leads.
Take', as a first example, a one-mile lead, the material being dry road stone, chute loaded and tipped on site. I • will take a•rural district, that is to say, Grade III, and
• assume, as is Often the ca.Ser in rural areas,., that a 2-toe vehicle is required. For the time and mileage charges of, this vehicle, in a Grade III area, reference must be made to the second column in Table IX. It will be noted that the charges are 3s. 9d. per hour for time, and '7d. per mile run. According to theory, 15 minutes is sufficient to allow
for loading and unloading. Taking travelling time, at 10 m.p.h., as being the maximum practicable over so short a distance, and the.total needed is 12 minutes.
The total time per round trip, theoretically, is 27 minutes, during which the vehicle is presumed to have been loaded and unloaded as well as having travelled the two miles (it is important to note that it travels two miles) involved in the journey. The charge should, therefore, be made up of 27 minutes' rimning at 3s. 9d. per hour, plus two miles at 7d. per mile. For 27 minutes the time charge is, approximately, is. 10d.: add 18. 2d. for two miles and the total is 3s., or ts.' 6d. per ton.
Maximum Journeys Per Day as a Basis for Rates
Now look at this same job from the practical aspect. Faced with an inquiry for a rate for this work the haulier should, first of all, ask himself how .many journeys his man is likely to he able to complete in away. His estimate is eight, for he knows that, with rare exceptions, it is the maximum which any driver is likely to be able to complete. If eight hours be Fill:wed as a day, then, in these circun-istances, his charge for time is one hour per journey
and not 27 minutes, His charge for time, therefore, is 3s, 9d., to which must be added the is. 2d. for travelling, making 4s. 11d., which is 2s. 50, per ton-vastly different from the Is. 6d. per ton, as calculated by the theoretical method..
A difficulty which arises here is that the same number of journeys will be completed per day over a four-mile lead.
Possibly, operators without experience of these short leads, will be disinclined to accept that, but it is, neverthe less, a plain and incontrovertible tact. The reason is psychological. The shorter the journey. the more inclined is the driver to be dilatory. On long journeys, he gets a rest between each terminus. On short journeys, it seems to him that he is for ever getting up and down, and attending to his lorry and so on, and he is not so inclined.to rush himself. When the material is loaded or unloaded. by hand these tendencies to delay are considerably aggravated, because, in the case of very short leads the driver becomes, in effect, a manual labourer, and his inclination to take things easy is, therefore, intensified. For-these, and other reasons, the times for short leads are out of all proportion, and in excess of the theoretical allowances.
Taking for granted that it is possible to complete eight journeys per day over, say, a four-mile lead, the total time per journey is, as before, one hour, for which the charge remains at 3s. 9d. Eight miles for running at 'rd. per mile, is 4s. 8d The -total is thus 8s; 5d., or, say, 4s. 3d. per ton.
Over a six-mile lead it is probable that six journeys per day will be the average achievement, That is I' hour 20 minutes per journey for which the time chafge is 5s., to which must be added the charge for 12 miles at 7d. per
mile. The total is 12s. so that the rate must be 6s. per ton. Nine miles is,probably, the limiting lead for five journeys.per day. The charge, worked out as previously, amounts to 16s. 6d. or 8s. 3d. per ton.
So, taking some critical points in the ascending scale of lead distances and, assuming that a 15-mile lead is the limit for four journeys per day, -20 miles for three and 30 miles for two, 'then rates for loads to be carried over these distances.can be calculated, and shoivn to be :--For a 15-mile lead, 12s. 6d. ; 20-mile lead, 16s, &I. ; and for a 30-miles lead, £1 5s. per ton.
Additional Tonnage Charges Above the 30-miles Lead
Beyond the 30-miles lead it is practicable to add a specified amount per ton per additional mile lead, calculated in this way. Speeds for mileages over and above 30, are comparatively high. It is safe to assume 24 m.p.h., so that the additional time per extra mile lead-again I must remind readers that this means running two miles-is five minutes, for which the charge should be %id. To that must be added Is. 2d. for the running charge, making a total of is. 5id., which is approximately 90, per ton.
It is important, in dealing with rates in this way, and especially in the assessment of the increasing charge over leads in excess of 30 miles, not to overlook this difficult point. If 30 miles be the limiting lead for two journeys per ordinary working day then, so soon as that lead disMnte is exceeded, the problem of the broken day begins to 'intrude. Over a lead distance of 40 miles, for example, the time for one journey is 4 hours 50 minutes.
Two journeys can be completed if overtime he practicable, , otherwise the rest of the day is wasted, unless there be other work to do, over shorter leads, to fill in the time. As a rule, that is possible. If overtime can be worked, well and good; the rates already quoted still apply. The fact that the driver must be paid extra does not mean that the operator's profit is diminished accordingly; it is not, for the reison that, by the end of the 40-hours week, his overheads are eliminated so that,. what he pays extra to the driver in wages he saves, because he has not had any addi tional overhead expenses for the extra time. '
Operator and Driver Both Make Money from Overtime
These overheads are provided for in the fixed charge of 3s. 90. per hour, and are coveted at the end of the day, so that the operator, like the driver, makes money from overdine. There is, however, a limit to Overtime, and if the lead mileage exceeds, say, .45, the problem of the broken day again arises. I am of opinion that, except in any unusual circumstances, the operator may not debit his customers with the lost time due to this cause: It is up to the operator to make good the time lost by finding other work for his vehicles, In the figures I have given, therefore,
• there may be a nucleus of a schedule of rates for the haulage of road stone in a Grade III area, assuming chute loading, and unloading by tip.
e III Arias
Before applying it, however, most
hauliers would like to 'know what are the earnings per day and the net\profits that are likely to accrue. Over a one-mile lead, 16 tons will
• be carried at 2s. 6d. per ton. The revenue is thus 22 per day, of which 6s. 7d, is net profit. When the lead is four miles the revenue is 23 Sc. per dSy, and the net profit lls. 60., approximately. For the six-miles lead the revenue is 23 12s. and the profit 12s, per day; for nine miles it is 24 2s. 6d. with a profit of 13s. 9d.; for 15 miles the revenue is 25 and profit 16s. &I., as it is for 20 miles and 30 miles.
The margin for absolute net profit is reasonable in all cases except in respect of the one-mile lead: 6s. 7d. per day is insufficient; it ought to be at least 10s. 6d. The desirable minimum can be achieved by fixing the minimum' rate per ton at 3s. 2d. In Table X I have set out a schedule of rates, taking as a basis those have calculated and filling in the blanks by even steps per mile lead.
It is most important that the reader should appreciate that the rates set out in Table X apply only to materials which are chute loaded at the collection point, tipped at the delivery point, and there is only one drop. ' S.T.R.