TRANSPORT TIPS FOR TRADESMEN.
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Particularly Addressed to Those Who are Replacing Horsed Vehicles by Motors, or Contemplating So Doing.
THE TRADER desirous of delivering goods has a number of methods from which to choose, though, as a rule' no one method will serve all his purposes and he is therefore obliged to adopt a combination. The methods are as follow :—
(1) Delivery by means of horse-drawn vehicles owned by the trader himself.
(2) Delivery by means of motor vehicles owned by the trader himself. , (3) Relivery by employing carriers specializing in parcels delivery.
(0-Delivery by means of the railways and the road services provided by them.
Choice of Method.
In comparing the various methods, it is very easy to fall into the error which often results from considering only the cost. of delivery per ton of goods carried. Thus,foriinstanca, a trader using horsed vehicles and motor vehicles, and keeping separate accounts for the two systems, with a view to comparison, may find that the cost per ton of the horsed vehicles is lower than the corresponding 'figureafor the motors. In comparing etheie Bgures, he may omit to take account . of the probability that the average mileage over which the motor-borne parcel is carried is considerably greater. than the average distance of delivery by horse-drawn vehicles. The horsed vans are almost certainly used for what may be called the inner circle of deliveries—within a very few miles of the trader's premises. In all probability, the motors do little or none of the work of this kind and are usedeentirely for effecting the more distant deliveriel. Anycomparison on the basis of cost per ton is, therefore, quite unfair.
Comparison of Advantages.
Even a comparison on the basis of cost per ton mile is not necessarily a sound guide to the proper selection i
of a system. The motor may be, and n very many cases is, used, not so much with a viewto effecting direct economy as for the purpose of increasing the area of direct deliveries and providing more expeditious service to customers. There are some trades in which competition is very directly on a price basis. There are others in which success against competitors is far more a. matter of the quality of goods, coupled with the satiSfactory service given. If, by reason of good service, a householder gets into the habit of depending upon a particular trader for everything, within the scope of his business, then that householder's custom can often be retained, even in respect of goods which have, to be priced perhaps a little higher than they should be because of the cost of giving the service which holds the customer. In a sense, such service may be regarded as an adverioiseornent, and it is worth considering whether it is not more effective than many other foems of advertising expenditure, even if it involves the, selling of certain lines of goods at no profit worth mentioning. If the trader is selling only, say, potatoes, it is obviously not worth his while to sell them at cost price, but if, by selling them at cost price, he can find purchasers for dozens of other commodities that he is able to sell at a. profit, then the unprofitable trade in potatoes may be well worth while and the loss of the reasonable profit may be put down as advertising expenditure. ,
The Value of " Service."
Reverting to the choice of method of deliveries, the relative advantages of rail and road transport are just now being analysed very freely, partly on account of the efforts that the railways are Making to get unrestricted powers for the operation of road services:. The railways complain, with reason, that certain custom is leaving them and going to the road carrier. Some people argue that the reason is that
transport on roads is intrinsically cheaper. This, no doubt, is the case in certain instances, but it is not the case generally. It is inconceivable that a. comparatively small unit like a motor van can really carry more cheaply than a large unit like a railway train, especially when one takes into account the fact that the latter runs, on a very smooth surface with only very slight gradients. The Main reason for the transfer of traffic from rail to road must, therefore, be sought elsewhere. It consists, in fact, of a COMbination of factors. The main point is that the road service is expeditious because 'it is absolutely directfroine door to do-or. Intermediate transfers of goods froms one-vehicle to another involve not only delays, but labour-costs and, very probably, additional packing costs. They also involve risks of injury. It may not be the trader's fault that goods are damaged in transit, but their arrival in a damaged condition is certainly irritating to the purchaser, and if a competing trader reduces this risk tea niiniinum by sending direct by motor, he cuts out a possible cause of dissatisfaction and thus renders his tenure of goodwill more secure.
Traders' and Railways' Powers.
At the present juncture the trader has to decide whether it is in his interests that theirailways should have unrestricted powers to run road services. At first thought it may seem to him that the granting of such powers would merely give him a new alternative system to employ at his convenience and would therefore be to his advantage. In point of fact, however, it is questionable whether unrestricted road services operated by theerailways and independent road services operated by other carriers, could possibly remain co-existent. The railways would, almost certainly, be able to knack out their competitors and become practically monopolists of the roadcarrying trade. From the Ordinary trader's point of view, the main disadvantages of this would be that tharrailways, having secured this position, could, no doubt, find means of making their road services so unattractive as to leave the trader with little _option but to send his goods by rail, unless he kept his own motor vehicles_ Assuming him.to be a motor owner, the extent of powers given to the railways does riot concern him so directly. He should, however, remember that the creation of any new system which would be entirely independent of the motor trade as convenient local suppliers and repairers, would tend to reduce the number of properly equipped repair shops at the disposal of the average Motor user, who would therefore have to depend on a system of service somewhat inferior to that which at present exists in his interests. For the rest, the trader, even
if he owns motor vehicles himself, will probably wish to employ rail or road carriers from time to time. If so, he will rrobably prefer that the two systems should be independently owned and thoroughly competitive, so that he might set them against one another and not be at the mercy of a monopoly.