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Why not a Carrot?
Page 45
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AS an ideal, the plan put forward -by the Road Haulage Association's national chairman Mr. A. R. Butt for recommending demurrage charge schemes to members is excellent. Hauliers might well find it less practical than ideal, however, and Mr. Butt himself recognized this snag when he said: It is towards this ideal (of making customers turn vehicles round so quickly, that the questior of demurrage does not arise) that we are working, even if it may not ultimately be attainable."
Individual operators should never throw out an ambitious ideal like this because it is difficult in practice. All power to the elbow of the R.H.A. if it can work out a national scheme which members may adopt. But in considering this thorny old hardy annual, it is difficult not to become at least a little cynical about its chances of successful adoption at the individual level.
Rising costs bring pressures for increased rates. Plating will mean (to many operators) a reduction in "payload ", and therefore in revenue—and therefore need to increase rates. In short, hauliers are likely within the next two years to be seeking higher rates. Hardly the time, it might be thought, to add demurrage pressures. Might it not be more sensible to consider, instead, " bonus " rates. One rate if the vehicle is treated normally; a second, lower charge if it is released within a reasonable period of arriving.
Carrots sometimes have more effect than sticks, and (in this instance) the result is the same as trying to enforce demurrage.
But, having said that, the original point remains. Mr. Butt's is an ambitious thought which is well worth pursuing if only for propaganda value!