HINTS FOR HAULIERS.
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A Barge Owner, Desiring to Extend his Sphere of Operations to Delivery by Road, Seeks the Real Facts Concerning Costs and Charges
HAULIERS, as I know them, are mainly con
_ cerned with three things about the business in which they are engaged, or which they are contemplating entering. They want to know the cost of runninethe vehicles with which they propose to
earn their daily bread ; they want to know what they
should charge for the services of themselves and of their Tea:chines ; and they desire to know, how they may most satisfactorily keep records of the income and experiditare in connection with their business.
The first of these, as the following true story, goes to show, is extremely difficult of access: in-, deed, it would appear that this is the Only journal which . really affords its readers' accurate and up-to-date information on the subject. The second is unattainable withoutaa proper realization and understanding of the first. • The third is essential to the haulier who would be successful, in that, without it, he cannot have any real idea whether, in the long run, his business is paying him or not. And now for my story, which affords, besides a moral, useful guidance, at least, as regards one size of lorry in connection with the first and second of fethe hauliers' requirements as' , specified above, although I should like to point out that there is little
that is quite new in it—at any rate, to those who have consistently read this series of articles from the commencement.
It concerns a bargee, on the Manchester Ship Canal, shall we say, or in the Humber, or maybe, on old Father Thames—what doesit matter ? Now when I say bargee, I don't mean to say that he was the sort ornian you read about in W. W. Jacobs's books: an
old bewhiskered individual, with markedfondness for
beer and barmaids ; nor have I in mind the pro verbial bargee whose principal • characteristic is fluency in a language
ail his own. Not at all The man I am thinking of is the sortiof person who, if you wanted to best him, you would have to get up very early in t h e morning indeed, which makes it all the more remarkable that he could not get any really reliable informa, t i o n, apart from this journal, as to the running costs
of motor vehicles. His experience of haulage contracting was extensive, but confined mainly to haulage on water. He was accustomedtop such work as the transhipment of upwards of 5,000 tons of goods of various kinds f r o na incoming (weep-going ships to rail way wharves, whence the merchandise was _distributed, by the railway companies, to the various consignees. He had wondered, 'from time to time, whether he could not himself undertake the distribution and delivery of the goods direct, using motor lorries as the means, and, an opportunity occurring recently to purchase, at a favourable price,
half-a-dozen substantial secondhand five-tonners, each capable of drawing a trailer, be decided to get at the facts. As a preliminary, he inquired of various acquaintances as to their opinions and experiences, directing his investigations mainly amongst those .of his friends who actually owned and used motor lorries. The reports were invariably discouraging. One, and all aeleieed him that he could not possibly compete with the railway companies. The objections being clearly on the score of expense, he made inquiries amongst the same people as to the actual cost of. running their machines. No one could tell him.
He found himself, therefore, in the position of being strongly advised against a, certain course, but without being given any real con crete reasons to back the advice. He is himself a motorist of ex perience, with a leaning towards the more extensive employment of mechanical transport, and turned to the Editor of this journal, under the scheme of free help i which is announced n the tablet on this page, in order that the opinions of his friends might be confirmed, or otherwise. Everything, he told the writer, turns on the operating costs of the motor vehicle, which would he employed in conjunction with a trailer in every case. Petrol lorries onlyneed be considered, as he was doubly prejudiced in favour of that type, although, in the writer's opinion, the claims of steam, for work of the kind which he had in view, were at least worthy of careful examination.
Lubricants.
The assessment of the running costs is a simple problem. A vehicle of this size, used habitually with a trailer, will average only about four miles to the gallon of petrol, which is equivalent to 6d. per mile for fuel. Oil and greaselubricants—will run to about id. a mile—rather under, say, 0.7d. Tyres are comparatively cheap now, and allowing 7,500 miles per set, and including a small fraction for the cost of those on the trailer, the cost per mile works out at 1.7d. Maintenance of lorry and trailer will be met by 3d. per mile. The first cost of a lorry and trailer, less tyres, is '2'500 (the lorry being second-hand., but thoroughly overhauled in the workshops of the purchaser). Assuming a mileage of 75,000 as the " life," for purposes of assessment of allowance for depreciation, we arrive at a figUre of 1.6d. per mile on that account. Total of running costa: 13d. per mile.
Now for the standing charges. Licensing will cost 2:30 per annum, whieh equals lie. .6d. per week. Insurance, if effected with a good non-tariff cornpany, should not cost more than about ten shillings per week. Driver's wages 23 10s. Allowance, for rent, in the special circumstances of this case, 5s. Interest on first cost 6 per cent. on 2500 is Us. 6d. per week. Total standing charges 25 7s. per week.
This, of course, is not all. Before any proper idea of profitable charges can be obtained, it is necessary to decide what actual profit ,is expected from the lorry. Moreover, there arc the establishment, or overhead, expenses to be reckoned in. In this case, without going too deeply into the matter, and mainly for the purposes of illustration, I am going to assume, that a sum of 25 per week will suffice to cover both these items.
This means that the return for the use of the lorry must amount, each week, as a minimum, to 210 78. plus is. id. per mile run. If 300 miles are run during the week, the return must be 210 78. plus 300 times is. Id. (216 5s.), or 226 12s. in all, which is equivalent to is. 90. per mile, to the nearest halfpenny. On the other hand, if only thirty miles are run during the week, the charge will be 210 7s. plus thirty times is. id. (32s. 6d.) or 211 19s. 6d. in all, which is nearly eight shillings a mile.
Keeping' more rigidly to the case which we are discussing, we may take it for granted that the lorry will be fairly well occupied every weekday, and if we assume six days per week, it is clear that the daily takings must be at least 34s. 6d. plus the same figure of is. Id. per mile. A typical journey is of thirty miles out and home, which can readily be accomplished twice a day. For this work the charge, reckoned in the same way as in the examples given above, must amount to 25 for the day. As eight tons will be moved each journey, or sixteen tons in all, and as the railway company's eharge amounts to 10s. per ton, there appears to be no doubt as to the saving which will be effected, apart from the fact that the railway company only delivers to its own Riding in the town in which the consignee carries on his business, whereas the motor lorry will deliver direct into
his yard. THE SKOTCH.