no haulier has ever obtained a rates increase without first asking for it'
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SO far as I know the examiners for the Institute of Transport have never asked candidates to compose a suitable letter beginning: "The Road Haulage Association has recommended a 5 per cent increase in road haulage rates." The question would provide a useful exercise at the moment for every haulier whether or not he is ambitious for an academic qualification. The exercise might also be profitable, for which reason it should be carried out quickly—the sooner the better,
The kind of arguments used must depend on many factors, including the type of business, the traffic normally carried, the known characteristics of the customer and the personality of the haulier himself. The likely response may also affect the style of the application. The tipping operator who approaches the National Coal Board, especially at the present time when coal rates are the subject of controversy and there is pressure to transfer as much coal traffic as possible from road to rail, may well believe he has a harder task than the general carrier.
• Apprehension of difficulties should not prevent the request being made for a rates increase. Costs have certainly gone up. Whether the rise is greater or less than 5 per cent for each operator will depend on the circumstances, but some increase cannot be denied. London meat carriers have already said that 10 per cent is more appropriate in their case. What every haulier must know is that the announcement of a rates increase by his association gives him the most favourable opportunity to put the recommendation to his customers.
The rates committee of the R.H.A. seem to have had some hesitation themselves about the choice of the right moment. They have announced their decision early in July but have said that it will not take effect until September. Among reasons for delay are that many customers will be on holiday over the next few weeks and that for many operators traffic is slack in August, and that that month is not the best in which to ask for a rise. Meat transport does not have the same seasonal pattern and the meat carriers have elected to apply their own increase on August 1.
Importance of Timing Timing is important but should not be the main consideration. Many hauliers are of the opinion that the rates committee made a mistake in March when they decided against a recommendation for a general rates increase in spite of the fact that—with the exception of the wages increase which took effect shortly afterwards—costs had risen almost as much by March as they had four months later.
On the other haud it can be argued that the climate of opinion throughout trade and industry in March was against putting up prices. This was reflected in the committee's statement which referred to "the necessity to avoid inflationary tendencies at a time of industrial expansion." The day before the meeting there were reports in the Press of an announcement by the National Economic Development Council that five major industries had undertaken if possible not to increase their charges during 1964. On closer investigation it appeared that the industries concerned—coal and oil, steel, cement and chemicals—had either applied a price increase recently or were not likely to need one in any case, and that no information was available from 12 other industries which had also been approached by the N.E.D.C.
The impression remained that basic industries were pegging prices. Any suggestion that road transport was not a basic industry could be countered by rumours, confirmed shortly afterwards, that the Government proposed, if returned at the next election, to include "commercial services" among those items which could be investigated by the Monopolies Commission.
The election itself must have been in the minds of the committee at a time when it was widely believed the Prime Minister would go to the country in June. A price increase almost on the eve of an election, by an industry directly threatened with nationalization, would hardly improve the image of that industry among the electorate, especially when it was probable that the section of the industry already nationalized was intending to hold its rates at the existing level.
An Unlucky Month One way and another the committee may have felt that March was an unlucky month in which to be meeting at all. Had they been given to consulting the. augurs, they might well have expected to find a lurid conjunction of planets and unpropitious stars. As events have turned out, a spring decision for a 5 per cent increase in rates would by now have been almost forgotten. It is evident also, even from the cautious statements recently made by British Road Services, that they would have gladly followed the example of independent hauliers. This is after all scarcely surprising since cost increases are no respecter of political status.
It would seem that gestures in favour of the general economy are not appropriate for road haulage whatever may happen in other industries. The trader or manufacturer who finds his costs creeping up will first examine them to see where he can save money. All too frequently his transport costs are first on the list for reduction, and all too frequently he is able to find hauliers who can carry his traffic more cheaply. Road transport can fairly claim that it is already taking the brunt of the battle against inflation. Operators have no margin which makes it possible for them to bear any increase in their own costs.
This might be the lesson learned from the two meetings of the rates committee. At least the final decision is one with which all hauliers are in agreement. They must now play their part by drawing the decision to the attention of all their customers without exception. There is no known instance where every haulier was able to obtain from every customer the full amount of a rates increase recommended by the R.H.A. What is equally certain is that no haulier has ever obtained a rates increase, or even a pro portion of what is recommended, without first asking for it.
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