Selling and Delivering Petrol Simultaneously.
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TBE Indian Refining Co., Inc., of America, recently ordered seven specially equipped tank wagons with a vieW to giving better service to its customers. The New York branch of this organization has felt for some time past that if it could sell and deliver simultaneously economies could be effected and the desired improvement in service would result. In formulating a plan to carry out this idea it was found that speed and large capacity, together with comfortable riding and a smart appearance, were absolutely essential.
This plan called for what seemed to be a tank-wagon passenger-car combination. To secure the nearest approach to a vehicle having these features the com pany purchased a Mack city-type bus chassis. On this it mounted a fourcompartment 700-gallon tank, incorporating features not often found on such bodies. It has a leather-covered steel cab, which is more like the type employed on high-grade buses, and its deeply upholstered cushions provide ample room for three persons. Pneumatic tyres, in addition to the standard rubber shock insulators, make for ease of riding.
The practicability of this tanker is demonstrated by its carrying capacity and by the number of bulk deliveries th‘at Its wider scope of operation ,enables to be made. The whole appearance of the tanker does ample justice to the chassis on which it is mounted, and the comment that it evokes demonstrates its Vile as a forceful publicity medium. •
When the first unit of this type was placed in service it was used between Baltimore and Washington, ac. The salesman accompanied the driver to take care of the sales end of the work and to see that immediate deliveries were made. Later the tanker was placed in service
• in New York City on the same plan, and . with this vehicle in use sales increased 300 per cent. in the first 60 days.
That the company made no mistake in introducing this innovation is proved by the fact that at the present time it has one of these tankers operating in each of the following centres :—New York City, Detroit, Chicago and Indianapolis. Three others operate in St. Louis, the total of seven vehicles being the outcome of a successful experiment, combined with the right equipment.