Traffic Office rou tint
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REVENUE protection begin: with the first phone call which offers traffic. For *i. purpose, an efficient traffic office procedure is essential for it is at this point that thE profitability of any transpor job is secured.
A good traffic clerk is wel worth his salary, and staff wid a pleasant but brisk business like approach, will reflect th( efficiency and reliability of th( company for which they work Moreover, a brisk manne without being brusk will say( their company — and th( customer — money on phon( bills.
It is well worth while taking look at office procedures frorr time to time to assess thei value and to find out i improvements can be mad( which will save time ant money.
At Humber McVeigh, ir Grimsby, two traffic clerks wori to two cardinal principles get i down on paper and keep i flexible. These might seen irreconcilable terms, but th, system works well and has th( advantage that, should one o them be absent others can picl up the procedure without diffi culty.
In effect, the office is oper 24 hours a day. The nigh foreman can operate the systerr -short of actually quoting 2 rate — so that the regular traffli office staff can continue virtual ly uninterrupted at the start o work the next morning.
The Grimsby depot operate: 48 tractive units and some 24( trailers split between refrigerat ed or insulated containe transport and flat-bed vehicles One clerk handles the refriger ated side, which has priority and the other deals with variety of traffics such a: aluminium, potatoes, pulp an so on carried on the flats / group general foreman acts a: "trouble-shooterfor both. Th( office procedure is the same ir principle for both activities.
As vehicles are ordered or the phone, the job is recorde in a -roughjob book. Thil records the time of the call, th( name of the consigner, th( traffic involved, the weight, thi
empty so that each clerk is aware of what trailers are available. Foremen at the cold store or the docks or in the yard keep them, posted about what trailers they have used to load traffic so that the list is constantly being amended.
Rates quotation is a combination of the rates schedule, knowledge of the back-loading position and experience.
In general, the staff know what is a • reasonable rate per mile and per day. Quoting regular customers is no problem though different customers .want to know the rate for different unit loadings — per pallet, per bag or per cubic metre according to the traffic. It is not difficult, however, to reduce the time-and-mileage based rate to cost per unit.
More caution is required with new and unknown customers. In this case it is considered wise to offer to ring back after a short interval with a quotation. This enables an assessment to be made of the worth of the traffic in relation to the workload already accepted and the vehicle availability. It also provides time to check credit ratings.
Of course, there are occasions when the traffic being offered fits in very well with the pattern of work so that is can be accepted at a competitive rate.
The office provides back loads, too, for other hauliers in different parts of the UK. These operators will ring to ask if Humber McVeigh has any traffic consigned to their own area which will fit in with a job they, themselves, have undertaken.
Often, the availability of back loads from Grimsby will influence other hauliers in their choice of vehicle for their own job. For instance, while F was at Humber McVeigh recently, a Bristol haulier rang to say that he had a job for a two-axle rigid to the Grimsby area but on learning that there was a back load in excess of that capacity decided to send a larger vehicle.
No doubt he was encouraged to make inquiries to find further traffic to make up a full load for his own truck on the outward journey.
.,Printed notice
Each sub-contractor taking out a Humber McVeigh trailer, however, is given an official printed notice stating the trailer's number and details of any other equipment such as sheets and ropes, etc which belong to the company. This is checked on his return and the endorsed notice handed back to the traffic office on completion of the job.
As the day wears on and drivers report back, the traffic book is used to record the progress of each job and where the driver finishes work if he cannot reach his home base. Jobs are allocated for the start of the next day's shift so that a driver who might arrive back, say, in the middle of the morning can be scheduled for a shorter run when he returns. In this way the most economical use of vehicles and of drivers' time can be made. These follow-up jobs are transferred into the next day's job record.
If there are further developments after the day staff have gone off duty, the night fore man will carry on the documentary system in the same way. Thus, when the day staff resume, they have a complete picture of the state of the operation immediately.
There is flexibility, too, in the allocation of vehicles and drivers. If the refrigerted traffic side has a surplus of vehicles they will be offered to the other clerk, but if it becomes short then it has priority from whatever is available.
There is also a Continental refrigerator transport activity which does not, itself, operate vehicles but approaches the group's general foreman for its transport. He is responsible for finding the drivers and vehicles to meet its demands in collaboration with the two traffic clerks
In a busy office such as this time is at a premium and I wa interested in the automati, dialling system which is used ti save the precious commodity. roller on this instrument can b, preloaded with regularly usei telephone numbers. These cai be positioned for use and, b. pressing a button, the clerk cal obtain a number without th, laborious dialling process. A the required number rings, . light is illuminated on th. instrument. The clerk can pu down the receiver on the des. and get on with other work ti the light is extinguished, ind eating that the dialled numbe has answered.
Thus, if the clerk has to find say: a sub-contractor for particular load, he can call on after the other quite quickly b repositioning the roller an, pressing a button.
Together with the intercor nected telephone system whici enables each of the staff t answer any call or speak wit the caller simultaneously, thi instrument eases the work a'ri. switchboard system, and save the endless transfer of calls c staff rushing between phones.
In a busy period, th atmosphere of the traffic offic of a large haulier can present chaotic mixture to the outside' To the initiated, however, it ordered chaos and eac member of the staff is reall engaged in a\ well organise routine.
Without tl at routine, could be expensive chaos indeed.
• Johnny Johnso