Lost Time Raises Rates
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"The Commercial Motor" Costs Expert Examines How Long the Loading and Unloading of Dyferent Types of Goods Occupies and flow to Allow for Terminal Delays Wizen Quoting a Charge to a Customer
TERMINAL delays affect calculations of rates to an extent which is rarely realized by operators, especially newcomers to the haulage industry. How important such delays can be is easily demonstrated. Almost everyone in the industry is aware that the greater the weekly mileage the less is the cost per mile.
Take, for example, the case of the 6-ton oiler. According to "The Commercial Motor' Tables of Operating Costs," the cost of operating such a vehicle when it is employed an work which permits the vehicle to cover 800 miles per week is 11.30d. per mile. If the average mileage per week falls to 400, the cost per mile is 15.50d., an increase in expense of 37 per cent.
I can put that another way. I can easily prove that it is the standing charges per mile which determine the cost per mile, according to the mileage per week. The running cost is the same per mile whatever may be the weekly mileage: on the other hand, the standing charges per mile increase as the weekly mileage decreases.
When calculating rates and fares, however, two other items of cost have to be considered, namely, establishment costs, or overheads, and profit. These react upon costs and charges in a manner similar to that of the standing charges. That is to say, they increase per mile as the weekly mileage decreases. .
When calculating the charges for any particular job, there are three big items which are greatly affected by the mileage run, as compared with the running costs which do not differ with the distance covered per week.
Continuous Work
It should be obvious that, given steady and continuous work throughout the week, the mileage run will be determined by the time spent in loading and unloading, a circumstance which emphasizes the importance of that factor in 'assessing the basis of charge for a contract of haulage.
There must be many readers who have had experience of haulage in only on class. They may at any time be invited to quote for the haulage of some commodity that is new to them. The brief notes given in this article concerning the time taken to load and unload various materials cannot, therefore, fail to be of interest, especially just now, when there are so many new members to the haulage industry.
First of all I should say that unless otherwise stated the traffic is of such a nature that there is no need for a second man to help with the work to be done at the terminals of the journeys. As a first example take foodstuffs for cattle which have to be transported from millers to farm houses. One ton can be loaded in i hour. The time for unloading is about the same.
Timber in planks, or " pieces " as they are called, can be loaded at the rate of one standard in 11 hours and unloaded at the rate of one standard in 1 hour. The weight of a standard of timber varies according to the kind of wood, but the usual figure for pinewood and timber of that kind, as imported from several countries, is about 2i tons.
Furniture forms a load which is of sufficient variety in itself to involve great differences between the times taken for one job and for another. In the case of a houseload of furniture, the time is governed partly by the distance the furniture has to be carried from house to van, partly on the work to be done inside the house in the way of packing and preparing and, in part, by the layout of the house itself.
n34 As a rule, three men are employed to load a van of the usual size and they may take anything from 3-6 hours— usually somewhat nearer the latter figure. Unloading generally takes less than loading, a fair figure for that difference being 1 hour.
Oil collected in tank wagons from an oil company's depot where it is pumped into the tank, and delivered by being pumped from the container wagon into the customer's receptacle, can be loaded at the rate of 500 gallons in 12 io 15 minutes or 1,000 gallons in 20 to 25 minutes. Uploading takes a little longer, being at the rate of 500 gallons in 15 minutes, and 1,000 gallons in about twice that time.
Hay in trusses of cwt., with three men at work, can be loaded at the rate of 2 tons per hour. Unloading does not take so long, say about 3 tons per hour.
Loaders' Skill
It is difficult to apply any simple set of figures to apply to terminal times in respect of sugar-beet. The time taken to load this commodity varies with the position of the heap of beet and the skill and experience of the loaders. Two men should be able to load a 5-ton lorry in about 1 hour. Unloading may take only 10 minutes or so if the beet is unloaded by means of a jet of water, as may be. done at some sugar-beet factories. It may take about the same time if there are facilities available at the factory for tipping the beet from ati overhead runway straight into the silos.
The time may be hour if the beet has to be thrown from the lorry into the silo, and even longer than that if the height of the beet already in the silo is at a level above that in the lorry, so that the beet has to be thrown upwards. Many beet hauliers utilize elevators to load their wagons, and large time savings can be effected in that way, but only where the heap ot beet is sufficiently large to justify the cost of taking the elevator to the heap.
Another factor which is of importance in this kind of traffic is the delays at the unloading end, when sometimes the lorries have to queue up to take their turn on the weighbridge and again, sometimes, to get into position beneath the water jet. There are sometimes similar delays in respect of other traffics, but there are few with such extensive stops as in the case of beet.
Tunes for Cattle
I am often asked what are the times for the loading and unloading of cattle and livestock generally. It is impossible to state, with any degree of accuracy, what those times are likely to be. The question nevertheless is of importance, for this is perhaps the most important of the traffics which hauliers carry for farmers. There is therefore justification for my devoting a little time to the consideration of this matter. 1 should add that it is skilled work, and difficulties which are sometimes encountered are due to the haulier concerned not being quite up to his job.
The principal difficulty is brought about by the variations in the amount of work which the customers offer from time to time. One farmer will ask for transport for three or four beasts and, when the vehicle arrives to pick up the animals, will offer only a couple. If, as is most likely, the haulier has planned his day's work for the vehicle, his scheme may be completely wrecked and in all probability there will be a loss on that day's work.
One of my haulier friends wrote to me recently putting uery which, surely, must find its own answer. It related the carriage of horses. Some of his customers, he said, I the habit of asking him to go to a meet to collect ses. The distance from the haulier's premises might as much as 40 miles. There he' is asked to wait and s so, sometimes as much as an hour, only to be told t he is not wanted. "What should I do," he asks, "in ;ase like that? I have neither collected a load nor vcred one. There doesn't seem to be anything to rge for."
be answer to that question seems to me to be fairly ious. The charge is for a vehicle running a number biles and waiting a number of hours. No man can be ected to work for nothing, or even to make any reduction the price he would have charged had there been a load carried. The way to assess the charges is to use the e and mileage figures in the Tables. Here again, if haulier operates in a country district he can discount iv figures by about 5 per cent. or so.
lour in bags can be loaded and unloaded at the rate 5 tons per hour. This is the case when, as is usual, v is assistance offered at each end of the journey.
ricks arc usually loaded in thousands and 1,000 bricks gh from 25 to 25 tons, and even up to 3 tons in some is. The haulier who is turning to this traffic should :e some inquiries about weight in the area in which operates. The normal time for loading and unloading 0 bricks is 5 hour, and that is on the assumption that v is a labourer to help at both ends of the journey. oal can be loaded from the railway yards into a lorry he rate of 5 tons per hour. Unloading of industrial . is usually by tipping. The time taken to unload in way can be taken as 5 hour. Sometimes, as when the very chute is in a narrow lane, which is often the case he industrial areas of Lancashire and Yorkshire, some time is lost in manceuvring into position for the tip.
Pit Delays
is often the case, too, that there is delay at the pits n the coal is delivered from there. All these matters t be taken into account when assessing the rate, for reason it is advisable to examine the conditions ■ re quoting.
oad materials may be picked up either it the railway lgs or at a quarry. In either case the time needed for Ling can be taken to be at the rate of 5 tons per hour. oacling, when tipping is not practicable, can be assessed le rate of 5 tons per f hour. Sometimes, when hauling a county council, the haulier is required to drop the in 1-ton lots beside the road. Quite a deal of time be lost when that happens and the haulier should e provision for that when considering what he should ge. Unloading, when by hand, can be reckoned at the of 5 tons in f hour..
n average time for loading machinery is at the rate of as per 2 hours. It takes 25 hours to unload. These vs must be used with caution. This traffic is another la often involves extra time at both ends of the journey; :over, the machines are often difficult to handle, in case.the above times should be checked.
Size of Vehicle
n' cattle cake in 14-cwt. bags take 5 tons per hour. )ading this material can be taken to be at the rate of its per f hour, ow for some examples of assessment of rates for the 'e traffics, assuming that the terminal delays are as ed. The problem is sometimes a complicated one. As eliminary it is necessary to know what size of vehicle )ing to be used on the job; the quantity of work which is tually carried out is another factor.
is always difficult to handle a problem in which there .wo variables, and I propose to take the case of a specific :rial and endeavour to discover to what extent the size of vehicle affects the rate. By varying the amount of work /Aide is supposed to do per week and taking out figures :ost and profits. I hope to be able to obtain comparative vs and, in the end, arrive at some idea of the way in which the cost, and charge, are affected when both size of veh:cle and weekly work are different.
The first item on the list of materials with which I dealt above was foodstuff for cattle. The time taken to load and unload this material, according to reports I have had from various hauliers, is 5 hour per ton.
So far as the size of vehicle is concerned I shall, in order to emphasize the importance. of the factor, deal first with a 1-tonner. In that way I shall be able to throw this size of vehicle factor into a highlight, for I do not suppose that there is any haulier operating so small a vehicle on such work. Such a vehicle will cost £8 8s. per week for standing charges, that is, for licence, wages, garage rent, insurance and interest on first cost. The hourly cost per week of 44 hours is 3s. 10d.
For establishment costs I propose to take £1 10s. per week. As regards profit, nothing less than £3 would be worthwhile: to that for the time being I should add 2s. Ofd. per hour for the standing charges. Ignore the odd halfpenny and add the amount to the standing charges of 3s. 10d.-5s. 10d. is given as the total of fixed costs plus profit. The charge for waiting time-that is to say the charge for the time spent in loading and unloading or, if it occurs, awaiting turn to pick up or discharge the load, must be charged at that 5s. 10d. per hour.
Double Journey
Now, if there is a run of 10 miles between the mill and the farm, the vehicle will probably take an hour to cover the double journey. That accounts for a further 5s. 10d. for the time spent in travelling. There is still the running cost to be taken into account and that, according to the Tables, is 7d. per mile, to the nearest penny.
For a journey of 20 miles the cost of running is us, 8d. and the total of standing charges, establishment costs and profit and running costs, is thus 23s. 4d. That covers one hour for loading and unloading and one hour for travelling, two hours in all. The total, 23s. 4d., would have to be the charge per ton when using a 1-tonner. There is in that figure an indication of why a 1-tonner is not used on this kind of work. It is too expensive.
There are three points to be considered in connection with the emergence of that charge. First, there must be no loss of time at each end of the journey beyond that necessary for loading and unloading, assumed to be 5 hour for each. Second, the farmer cannot invariably offer a return load of his products from farm to flour mill. Third, the owner's costs and his ideas of profit will not differ, to any serious amount, from those amounts set out above.
Method of Charging
In the case of a 20-mile lead from mill to farm, a similiar calculation, briefly summarized as follows, should be made. Charge for loading and unloading, 5s. 10d.; charge for 15 hours travelling time at the same rate, 5s. 10d. per hour, 8s. 6d.; 40 miles running costs at 7d. per mile, £1 3s. 4d.; total, £1 17s. 8d., which is the rate per ton.
The reader should be clear as to the underlying principles on which this calculation is made. The method is to take the time for loading and unloading, then that for travelling and charge at the basic rate per hour. This price should include establishment costs and profit as well as the standing charges relating to the type and size of vehicle used for the job. To that amount must be added the running costs of the vehicle for the distance covered out and home, that is to say, twice the lead mileage.
To take one more instance before varying the conditions of the problem, I will assume that the distance is 50 Miles, so that the total mileage out and home is 100 miles. In that case, whilst the loading and unloading conditions and times are unaffected, that for travelling may be 4 hours so that the total time per journey is now 5 hours. At 5s. 10d. per hour that is £1 10s.
The running cost at 7d. per mile is £2 18s. 4d., so that the total charge is £4 8s. 4d. for carting 1 ton of foodstuffs over a lead of 50 miles. I cannot imagine that many hauliers will be able to obtain that price for the work, even supposing that there is much material of this kind conveyed in such quantities by road for such distances.-S.T.R.