HINTS FOR HAULIERS.
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An Occasional Chat on Subjects and Problems of Interest to Those Who are Engaged, or About to be Engaged, in Running Commercial Vehicles for a Living.
FROM LAST WEEK'S topic (charges for light and _empty 'running), it. is an easy and natural step to that of undercutting, whieh is a mild form of business suicide. The matter has had attention in the general columns of this paper, so that,
in the ordinary 'way, I should not need to devote much space to its discussion. It is, however, a rampant evil just now and, therefore, not to be passed by with a casual nod, or in disdainful silenceA In last week's artiale I laid emphasis on the necessity for charging the client for the twhole mileage covered, in the case of a journey which involved a, load only one way. • " What," I am asked, " is to be the procedure in the event of a return load being obtained from some other client?" The cold, clear, logical and dispassionate. reply to such a query is, "proportion the charges between the two, clients fairly, so that each pays his share, and' so that the total return to the haulier is slightly More than the standard figure for the. mileage covered:" This is fair, since the serving of customers necessarily involves some little extra, trouble, and is almost as certain to necessitate additional idle rimniug, or dead mileage. In practice, it is rarely possible to consider the matter from this quasi disinterested standpoint. Take the case of a man who has gut a full load to carry from Manchester to Liverpool. On arrival in the latter' place, he hears of a chance or getting a return load and, at once, makes for the possible client. What are the circumstances? On the one hand we have our friend the haulage con tractor. He has contracted to carry the load from Manchester at the proper rate. That is to say, he will be paid in full for the total mileage of the jour ney out and home. Anything he may get for the return journey, over and above this, as the result of getting a back load, will be clear "bunce," as they say in Lancashire. He is, therefore, predisposed to consider quite favourably any proposition which may be put before him, without too much concern for any precise scale of charges. In other words, he is an easy prey to the bargain hunter. Onethe other hand, the prospective client, if he be not quite cognisant of the facts, is more than likely to have a shrewd notion as to the conditions obtaining. He is out foe a bit of .bunce too, and has visions, realistic ones, of • effecting considerable economies in his transport charges for the load in question. The surprising thing is, not that our little foster child, " standard rates for haulage" is merely cut, but that he is not actually dismembered and torn to shreds. The usual result is that, while the original customer in Man
chester may have to pay upwards of £10 for the carriage of his five-ton load, the other client in Liverpool, the stop-gap man with the return load, gets the same services for two or three pounds.
That sort of thing is all right when friend haulage contractor is the only man in the business. The trouble comes when a competitor starts the same lay. Price-cutting is a, paying game till the other fellow starts it. Then trouble begins. For, very soon,
some Liverpool carter, with an empty wagon in Man-,
chester, is going to meet the client of our price cuts ting friend, and is going to come to terms with him... The consequence is that, shortly, clients in both. Liverpool and Manchester are going to be on the look-out for hauliers who want return loads, while haulage contractors in both towns are going to be s'ther standing idle for want of business, or taking DC32 • loads at figures whiclnwill never pay them. In either event, the ultimate result is: the same. There is soon a number of hauliers' businesses in the market for sale cheap, "Only reason for selling—leaving the distliet." There has never been, and never will be, any business or profession which can stand indiscriminate price cutting. The hauliers' business will stand it less than any.
The problem of preventing undercutting, however, is far from being a, simple one. It cannot, in my opinion, be. solved by the efforts of individuals, even on the somewhat idealistic assumption, that they all, without exception, act with the best motives, and with the firm intention of scotching the evil in question. Its hidden pitfalls its awkward excreseences, can only be avoided by organized effort. Let me explain. I will take again the case of Manchester and Liverpool. The choice of the locality in question is not made haphazard. It is one which is peculiarlY liable to the disease which we have in mind, and, moreover, it is actually suffering from a severe outheeak of it at the present time. The out and home distance between the two towns is, in round figures, 70 miles. The fair charge for the return journey, with a five-ton load, would be (again taking the nearest round sum) ten guineas. Now as a matter of fact, no one is going to pay that hat the cartage of five tons either way. The agreed minimum price for such a contract is 25 105., so that the haulagecarrier is out to make a loss at once if he cannot get a back load. If he takes on a job of that kind, without being able to make provision for a load back, he is more than ever inclined to accept a cut rate for anything which offers, for by so doing he may turn a lo,ss into a profit. The temptation ,to undercut is, therefore, a very strong one in all circumstances. The, heather should bear in mind, however, that such cutting is only the beginning of the end, that whosover starts it will find it most difficult to stop, that it is a disease which is extremely contagious and frequently fatal. The agreed rate named above has, I take it, been calculated on the assumption that it will show a profit in the event of a certain percentage of return loads being obtained, and that the probabilitiesare that that percentage of returns will' be available. Readers should recognize that, while a rigid adherence to the fixed rate by all concerned will result in those rates being universally paid, and will obviate any reduction, the acceptance of lower rates will eventually kill the business.
I am, therefore, strongly of opinion that all haulage contractors should combine., each in an organization that is farmed in his own particular district, and that all these organizations should have a common headquarters GT principal council formed of representatives from each local body, who should be able to determine amongst them a scale of rates throughout the country. Ruthless war should be waged on, all delinquents in 'the matter of rate cutting, and most energetic propaganda carried out to ensure that all men in the business are swept into the fold.
Such organizations may, if they choose, turn their attention to matters other than the settlement of questions concerning rates and conditions of contracts, but the two main objects should be price maintenance and the backing of the rates duly fixed, by the provision of such arrangements for return loads as will not only enable those prices to be 'accepted by contractors with every assurance of a reasonable profit on the year's working, but also to enable a good fight to be put up against the railways in competition over the same routes.
THE SKOTCH.