Problems of the
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HAULIER and CARRIER
Some Helpful Suggestions for Those Readers who Submit their Transport Problems to " S.T.R."
A S this will be the first of my articles to appear in 1930 I should like to take the opportunity for wishing all my readers a very happy and prosperous year, with plenty of full loads, going and • coming, full rates for every one of them, and a steady lessening of that unfair competition which is based upon unprofitable rate-cutting.
Now, I want to check a growing tendency amongst inquirers who are apt to omit essential information from ,their letters. There are those who ask me what rates they should charge per mile, yet forget to state what size and capacity of vehicle they propose to use, and there are others, equally remiss, who leave out that important item, the weekly mileage which um vehicle is running. Sometimes, neither of these data is included, and I am then in a far worse state than the Children of Israel under Pharaoh, for they at least had every ingredient, but straw, for their buck-making; and I am deprived of both clay and straw.
A typical example is the question that, a week ago, was quoted in This Week's Problem." The inquirer asked what he should charge per ton for the cartage of beet over a variety of distances. No further information was vouchsafed and, to be quite frank, if the subject of beet haulage had not happened to be one of my specialities, I should have bad to refer his letter back.
The Difficulty of Answering a Query.
How is a problem like that to be tackled? If it were not for the fact that this journal is entirely devoted to the interests of users of mechanically propelled road vehicles I might be justified in imagining that the inquirer was going to do the haulage by means of horse and wain. Even if I confine my attention to motor vehicle's I am not much better off, for beet is carried in every type and size of machine, ranging from the .I-ton petrol vehicle to six-wheeled steamers. One, doing its best under the difficult conditions which are presented at some beet factories, might, in a week-, be able to deliver no more than 15 tons—a quantity that the steamer could handle in one journey, The cost, in the first case, of delivering that quantity a beet could be determined only after consideration c44 of the mileage involved. Let me assume, for the sake of argument, that the distance is 15 miles. Each journey will thus involve travelling 30 miles; three journeys per day will amount to 90 miles, and the total per week will be 450 miles. .The cost will he £9, and if a gross profit of £3 per "week is to be made, the charge will have to be 16s. per ton.
Now, if the steamer be doing the work, and if it completes only one journey per day, it will deliver75 tons, running 150 miles. The cost will be (15, and the charge, to ensure a gross revenue of £5 per Week, instead of £3, will need to be ..120, Which is equivalent to 5s. 4d. per ton, that is, one-third the rate per ton which is chargeable in the case of the one-ton lorry, yet shows a profit which is greater by £2 per week, That, I think, clearly illustrates my first point, the necessity of an inquirer telling me the capacity of the vehicle in which he is interested.!
Then, I had an inquiry from another haulier who was beginning to wonder whether he was making money or losing it, and sought my opinion. (There is no joke intended by that statement ; it is unfortunately possible for an inexperienced man to go on for quite a long Period losing moneyat motor haulage, and be blissfully ignorant of the fact. That I have demonstrated many times.) He said that he had carted a two-ton load for 75 miles, involving a total distance, including ICI miles dead running, of 160 miles.
had been paid £3. .His vehicle was a two-tonner. Had he made a profit? The journey, he added, was completed in a day.
Useful Information Omitted.
He offered no information as to what the vehicle was doing during the rest of that week, and none as to its occupation for all the other weeks of the year. I am apparently free to take it either that the one journey represents a week's work, or that it is a typical day's work, of Which five go to each week and 50 such weeks to the year.
Suppose that no other work is done in the week. In that case, the vehicle is covering 160 miles per week, its total cost of operation is approximately £8, and the owner is losing £5 per week. Lest the reader Jumps to conclusions and thinks I had no. right to
come to such an absurd conclusion, let me state that the facts Were just as quoted. 1ascertained by correspondence that, for aweek, at any rate, that was all the work done.
On the other hand, if the vehicle be making a similar journey every day, five days per Week and 50 weeks per annum, its cost pr week is £19, and the revenue is £15, the inquirer, by working much harder, having reduced his loss by £1.
The point is this : if only one journey is being covered per week, the cost per trip is £8, but if five be made the cost is £3 8s. each—considerably less than half. In the former case, the price that must be 'charged to ratl.ke a profit of £2 per week is £10. In the latter case, £4 5s. per load will bring the same weekly profit. One price is palpably absurd, whilst the 'other is probably quite reasonable. Not, by the way, that I regard £2 per week as a fair and sufficient profit, for J do not.
Essential Items of a Query.
In inquiring, therefore, the first items that the inquirer should mention are the capacity of the vehicle or vehicles, and the second is the Weekly mileage which is being covered or which it is anticipated will • be covered, If therebe Circumstances that make-either or both of these conditions impoAsible, put as much useful . inforrnation in the letter • as is available. Indeed, I wOuld suggest that the last-named course be followed wherever and whenever possible.
The inquirer may rest assured that whatever information he supplies will, if he so desires, be treated in the strictest confidence. The fact that the Editor occasionally publishes hauliers' letters in his correspondence columns and that, every now and again, refer to one in these articles, need not deter him. The letters so dealt with form but a small proper. tion of the whole. No letter that is marked confidential or which, in its nature, appears to be confidential, is published in any shape or form. Replies, in any event, are sent through the post, especially if the inquirer complies with the formality of enclosing a lid. stamp.
A Warning Regarding Overloading.
One more word of warning and this of a character quite different from any of the foregoing. I have, of late, had far too many letters in which the inquirer states that he proposes regularly and consistently to overload his vehicle.
It never pays consistently to overload. It may be permissible occasionally and in emergency, or if no other means be available. There are many 2-ton lorries on ..t.pe market, so why buy one with a capacity of 30 cwt. when two tons are to be carried? A 10-ton lorry is a sound proposition for a 10-ton load—an eighttonner for 10 tons is not. Next to cutting rates below an economic level the loading of a vehicle beyond its capacity is the most foolish mistake that a haulier can make, S.T.R..