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The Transport Department of Waring' s.

14th April 1910, Page 3
14th April 1910
Page 3
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Page 3, 14th April 1910 — The Transport Department of Waring' s.
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Keywords : Van, Delivery, Commer, Bicycle

Armed with a letter of introduction to the Transport Superintendent of Waring and Gillow, Ltd., a representative of thit.rjournal recently paid a visit to Mr. T. E. Harrison, with the object of ascertaining with what degree of sueees.s this important furnishing company was operating its considerable fleet of heavy motor ve

hicles. In t h e ordinary course of affairs, it would naturally be supposed that a transport department would have to concern itself almost exclnsively with the organization of goods or passenger-e a r r y

ing eqoipment and services. It was, therefore, considerably to

the surprise of our representative to find Mr. HarriSOIL'S office to be the centre of a truly remarkable network of departmental works, nerve centres of all kinds. -It, indeed, appeared as though every detail of

this company's huge business, which did not ac

tuaily concern the buying and selling of furniture and other household requirements, was part of the special care of this omnigenous department. The organization of the private firebrigade and police services, the maintenance of salvage, fire-prevention and ambulance equipment, the service of the cleansing department, with its complete installation of vacuum Cleaners, the control of one of the laruest private telephone exchanges in -ramdon, the training of a cadet corps comprised of boy messengers, all of whom have been telegraph boys, and for whom the Post Office authorities have

been unable to offer continuous employment, the installation of dust destructors, burglar alarms, sunshine recorders, heating, lighting, and water-pumping plant, these, and many other portions of a remarkably-complete and efficient system of works maintenance, fall to the care of the so-called transport department and

its versatile chief, Mr. T. E. Harrison, who, it is quite evident, is an organizer of conspicuous ability.

An inspection of all the carefullyconsidered details of the many branches of this " domestic " department, which carries out the duties of housemaid, caretaker, messenger boy and porter combined, ta the whole establishment of Waring and Gillow, Ltd., served to give our representative a preliminary impression that in whatever form the actual transport system itself had been developed, it was certain to be well organized, efficient, and exaelly suited for the special requirements of this particular

business enterprise. Subsequent investigation eonfirmed this pre-:supposal on his part.

It would be well for the reader, before considering the (lethal results which have been aehieved liy the special class of road-motor transport which serves Waring and Gillow's farreaching business interests, to real ize that this is house-to-house delivery, in the ordinary sense of the word. From the very nature of the business the complete interior furnishing of all classes of buildings (whether they

b e hotels o r bungalows), and the carrying out of removal contracts of all kinds, nn regular round of deliveries would meet the sales departments' requirements, and in this essential the daily journeyinga of the fleet of two-ton and threeton " Commer Cars" are quite

distinct from those of the lighter vehicles which compose the transport fleets of others of London's largest stores. Whereas these latter organizations have snecessfully superseded and extended their horse-van services to the outer suburbs, 'Waring's motoryans, with equally satisfactory results, are beating the railways to all parts of the country every day.

At the present time this fleet of commercial motors consists of eight " Commer Cars," a Wallis and Steevens tractor, an Argyll delivery van, and a Gillett steam van, and there is, in addition, a considerable number of horse-vans which are retained for deliveries throughout the central portions of London and the inner suburbs. The tractor, the Argyll and the Gillett steamer are each employed on special classes of work ; the first of these, which Mr. Harrison has had the foresight to register as a traction engine, maintains a regular service with a train of pantechnicons between the Oxford Street premises and the warehouse and despatch department in Bloomsbury. The Argyll delivery van, which has an enormous mileage to its credit, is used for special last delivery in case of ernesgeney, and for journey.; with coteparatively-light loads to districts all

round the Metropolis. The Gillett steamer is still, to some extent, iii the experimental stage, and it is used on work of varying nature. All the motorvans are named after towns or countries in which Waring's has a business interest, such as "Paris.'' " India," " Berlin," "Buenos Ayres," etc. Each motorvan carries a complete first-aid ambulance chest. It is interesting to note that the transport foreman is an ex-sergeant-major of the A.S.C., and that many of the drivers are old A.S.C. rankers.

As the result of continued experience, Mr. Harrison has formed the conclusion that the best class of commercial-motor vehicle for furniture removal, for long or short distances. is a three-ton petrol van fitted with a specially-low gear, and arranged to draw a rubber-tired trailer. A combination of this class has been in use by Waring's for nearly two years, and has been most successfel. We. reproduce a photograph of these two associated vehicles. The trailer was specially built by J. Liversidge and Son, Ltd., to Mr. Harrison's design. The wheels, which are shod with Polack tires, are of artillery pattern, and the track is of the same width as that of the van which hauls it. A horsepole is carried an this trailer, so that, if occasion should arise, it can be hauled by a pair of horses.

Since the inauguration of the motor department, Waring's has dispensed with no fewer than 13 horse-vans, and

it is anticipated that a further decrease will take place as a result of the successful operation of the motor transport. It is upon the eon-Tact fleet of "Cammer Cars" that the duty of properly carrying out the whole of the long-distance transport falls. Wherever passible. the whole of Waring's removals are carried out by the motor fleet in preference to the employment of the railway in many

cases, clients specify that their goods shall he delivered by motor. .

A carefully-devised costing system has been put into operation, in order accurately to ascertain the net advantages, it any, which transport by motor vehicles secures over that by rail. Sufficient evidence has now been collated to enable several very-interesting contrasts to be made. We therefore take the opportunity to quote a few examples of the comparative costs of alternative inethads of carriage for chaiaeteristic journeys. A contract was recently completed, by means of a three-ton petrol wagon and its rubber-tired trailer, to carry five tons of furniture, which included a quantity of such fragile and valuable property as pictures and china, from Edgware to Reading. On completion of the delivery at Reading, the van and its trailer were commandeered, in order to collect no fewer than three

complete loads of miscellaneous household equipment in the neighbourhood. The journey to Edgware and that back from Reading were run " light." The actual running cost of this round trip, together with estimated costs for completing the same contract by rail and by horse-vans, are given .above. The petrol consumption ■its 24 gallons for 140 miles, whielt is at the rate of 5.83 miles per gallon. In the foregoing table, we also give comparative costs for other typical removal jobs which Waring's has completed.

It should he noted that, on journey A, the cost of the motor delivery covers the additional subsequent collection of goods round Reading, but that such further service is not included in the alternative estimates. The advantage in the matter of cost on journey B, so far as motor transport is concerned, is most marked. The three costs for the motor vehicles include the following detailed charges: petrol, at 70. per gallon ; oil and grease; maintenance and repairs; tires; depreciation at 20 per cent, per annum; wages.

In addition to the actual monetary saving effected, as shown above, other important advantages accrue to the removal contractor and furnisher by the employment of motor vehicles_ Amongst these, it is interesting to note that, owing to the shorter times taken on the journeys, in comparison

with horse transport, it is found economical to send the actual removal men down by road. Their fares by rail are thus saved, and this is an item of no little consequence when cross-country trips, such as those instanced, have to be undertaken. Wages are also reduced as compared with either of the alternative methods, owing to the oan.siderable reduction in the time taken over the complete jobs. There is less handling of the goods, and, therefore, less risk of breakage than when rail transport is adopted ; the rubber-tiring of the machines renders it possible safely to transport material which is of a mostdelicate nature. For the cartage of specially-fragile goods, Mr. Harrison has had the interior of one .of the motorY A n upholstered throughout. The average weekly mileage for each machine of the fleet is well over 300, although, on occasion, it has been necessary for an individual vehicle to complete 140 miles in one day_ Apart from the memorable cross-channel trip to Paris, which some while ago received a considerable amount of publicity in the columns of the daily Press, the longest individual removal job by motorvan has been to Middlesborough, althotig,h the number of journeys which have been made of over 100 miles is large.

The organization of Waring's transport department is of a most-elastic nature. Since, there are no regular rounds, the day's route bills are made up on the night previous to any particular day's work for each of the vans, so that a man may have either one long straight run down into the country with a full load, or, alternatively, he may have to do a round trip, in the course of which a large number of small deliveries may have to be effected. A common example of such a round is that which was executed one day last week by one of the twoton vans, in the course of which twelve separate deliveries were made in various parts of Surrey. The itinerary was as follows: London, Harley, Holmwood, Hayes Lane, Henley, Whyteleafe, Purley, Kingswood, Burstow, Caterham, Woldingham, Redhill, and Sanderstead.

Further examples of the elasticity

of this service were afforded to our representative on the occasion of a recent visit to Mr. 'Harrison's office. In the course of half-an-hour, two unusual calls were made on the services of the department : the first was that of a client who had ordered certhin goods to be delivered, at an hotel, to be paid for on delivery. When these goods were tendered, the customer was

(lut, and, on the return of the van to Oxford Street, an urgent telephone message arrived saying that the customer ivas leaving for abroad in halfan-hour's time and must inspect the goods befora he went. The transport department was equal to the task, and had the purchases in question delivered at the other side of London within the specified time. The second example came in the form of a telephone message, at 7 p.m. one evening, from a south-coat seaside resort: a distinguished customer required to inspect nearly a fall van-load of special goods before 8 o'clock on the following morning, as she was leaving for the Continent at that time. A motorvan was loaded with the necessary samples, and left headquarters at 1 a.m., and was at the disposal of the would-be customer shortly before eight the next morning. These are examples of performance which have led Mr. Harrison to arrive at the definite oonclusion that business houses undertaking the class of work for which Waring and Cillow, Ltd., has so wide a reputation, should not disregard the economies which may be effected by the installation of a properly-organized motor transport system. " It is vital," he said, " that a transport department for such a firm as ours should be capable of effecting rapid delivery to long distances at very short notice at the lowest possible cost, and it is only by the employment of suitable motor vehicles that these various requirements can collectively be met, No other system is so satisfactory."

It is of interest to note that the actual maintenance of this fleet of vans is undertaken by Commercial Cars, Ltd., for Waring and (Allow, Ltd., at a contract rate, and for this purpose a roomy garage, under the charge of Mr. Ferguson, is provided at the Bloomsbury depot.

Tags

Organisations: Post Office
Locations: Reading, London, Surrey, Paris

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