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"The Skotch " Deals with Other Considerations in Clearing-house Work and Quotes a Haulier's Experience.
• T FREQUENTLY falls to my lot in various ways / to consider, on behalf of others, the pros and eons. i3f some project which they have in mind-.
I may .liaVe to adVise a4 to the -Selectien of means of transport fot certain work, as to the irse of machinery for fanning, or even as to the choice of fuels, and I am continually noticing: how seemingly large, yet how really small, lodins the question of cost in relation to the final choice. _•
, At any rate, this curious phenomenon persists
wherever direct costsonly are in mind. A man always asks first of all : " flow much will it cost? " Having satisfied himself on that head, he turns to the other aspects of the matter, and, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, makes his decision on points arising from the consideration of those other aspects,
the matter of cost having become quite secondary. .
So it is, to a lesser extent, with running commercial motors for a living. On the figures which I gave last week it would seem that, so far as the owners of fivetonners are concerned, they would clearly be best advised to go for contracts with a clearing-house, and leave all else alone. Yet they do not all choose this seemingly obvious course so that clearly there are other considerations whi!ch weigh in the balance against that of direct cost, or direct profit. Many of these considerationshave been suggested to me in letters I have received. I am dealing with them here without direct individual acknowledgment of the source, such being the wish of the writers themselves.
Most small hauliers do a local trade i they rarely run long distances, or, at most, are seldom away from home more than one night a week, on an average. Such a man, particularly if he is a home-loving individual, will find the clearing-house business very trying. In such service he may be called upon to so, as • one of my correspondents puts it, "to anywhere from anywhere." The result is, that he may start from hem-c one fine morning and not get back again for a fortnight.
Then that average mileage of 400 a week is not easily maintained. To keep it up, and to keep the lorry, in good trim all the, time, means hard work from Monday 'morning to Saturday night, if no longer. Not only is the mileage itself ,sufficient to keep 'the driver busy, but the waiting time which is so often unavoidable makes it impoisible to knock off the -Weekly tally without overtime and much running during the night. Perhaps the following quotation, from A small haulier Who is, on the whole, favourable to clearing-houses, may cause some of those people who write long letters to the editor, blowing their own trumpets, to look near home and see if the
ariticisnis apply there. .
A Typical Clearing-house Experience.
A job for a clearing-house, he says, usually starts with a 'phone message, such as "Report clearinghouse at 9 a.m.," which the haulier does. At 9.20 the office boy or girl arrives, and, on being told your business; advises you to wait till the manager (who is actually expected at 10 o'clock) arrives. A little after 10 he arrives, and his first duty is to go through his letters, after which your not-too-pressing business is brought. to his notice. He then gets on the 'phone to all the principal warehouses in the town, or, at least, all those with whom the clearing-house does business, in the hope of finding a load. He may be successful in getting one for you, either for the same day or, as is more likely, for the next. Assuming, for the sake of argument, that this is one of your lucky days, and a load is found. You set out on, perhaps) a five-mile
run through a strange town to collect it, and, as you arrive, the dinner -hour whistle blows!
Now-vve nonenf its need any corroboration of this moving tale. We can'all conjure up the whole 'scene, or group Of scenes, inour riiind'S eye.. 'True, the scene Will be different in every-case,. as it appears to each of us 'individually, .because each of us will be reminded of some actual incident, so nearly like this one, that we can almost imagine that it is our own story which has just been related. The scene and the characters differ, but the story remains the same. It is' a familiar one.
The point is, of course, that the lost morning has to be made up during the week somehow if that 400 miles is to be covered. Moreover, in order to keep up an average of 400 miles—it is the average, that counts—the haulier must be trying, every week, to do a little more than 400 miles every week, laying by a few miles each week, as it were, against a " rainy" week when his actual mileage is small. The only way to get back that morning is by running on so far as possible during the night4
600 Miles in Four Working Days.
Now another man, a driver employed by a haulier who works for a clearing-house, sends me the following particulars of a journey, or series of journeys, which he covered in such service. He drives, he says, a 4-ton platform lorry—a Maudslay. One day—I will call it August 4th—he completed a day's work at 5 p.m. but loaded up after that time with five tons of machinery. (I do not know if using a 4-toriner for 5-ton loads is necessarily a good way of making haulage pay). Next morning, Saturday, August 5th, he left Sheffield at 8 a.m., on his way to Edinburgh. On the road, however, a tyre left the rim, and, as he could not find anyone in the neighbourhood stocking tyres to fit his rim, he had to travel slowly on until he reached Newcastle. at. 7 p.m. Here he found all the establishments which might have been able to help him closed for the week-end. .So he had, perforce, to stop there until Monday, having completed 125 miles.
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He continues: "Monday morning, August 7th, new tyres pressed on, and left at 9.34) a.m. Travelled without further mishaps to Edinburgh, where I arrived at 7.30 p.m., completing a second stage of 125 miles.
" Fortunately, I found that the clearing-house people at Edinburgh expected me, and I was at once sent off to ICirkliston for a further load-4 tons 10 cwt. —which I took on board, returning to Edinburgh again for dinner and 'leaving that city for Newcastle at 3 p.m. Not being able to find convenient lodgings en route, I ran straight through to my destination, 139 miles, arriving at 1 a.m. I slept on the lorry, and on Wednesday morning delivered my load, which was in three parts, for three different clients. I then reported to the clearing-house, and was given another load for Hull, for which place. I departed, with four tons up, at 2 p.m., arriving at Boroughbridge., where I put up for the night at .6 p.m.—distance, 67 miles. "Thursday, August 9th.--Left Boroughbridge at 8 a.m. and arrived Hull at 11.30. Delivered my load and reported to the clearing-house, and was given another four tons for Sheffield. I left Hull at three o'clock, and delivered in Sheffield at 9:45 p.m. "The mileage, in four working days, totalled 600, including 13 miles for collecting and delivering."
It remains for us to work out a tally of profit and loss for this journey, which we will do next week.