HINTS FOR HAULIERS.
Page 20
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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.
, ACH WEEK sees a number of raw recruits to the hauliers' business. Each week a corre
sponding number throw up their commissions, and retire, not—as might be imagined by many who look upon this haulage business as one way of getting rich quick—with a competence, but with a more or lesawell'founded feeling of irreparable loss, These are they who entered lightly uPen the undertaking to convey other people's merchandise for reward, and, after a•period during which They have mainly helped to divert that reward, not only from their own pockets, but also from those Atheir•fellow hauliers, the error ofttheir ways. has been brought home to them in no uncertain fashion, and they have retired —hurt. ` Thectrouble arises mainly from the everlasting conceit of the engineer, and the still more everlasting conceit of him who, because he has been in an WT. depot for a few minutes, imagines that he is an engineer and can' therefore ruffle it with the best of them. I have a .perfect right in this strain myself, because I am an engineer, and have also more than a suspicion of Irish blood in my veins. In any event, it should be clear that while, to know how to drive and care for a motovlorry is one thing, that of working it, for the service of others, at a profit to the owner, is quite another.
It seems to be quite impossible to impress upon some people that before they can arrive at a lair estimate of the total cost ofk carrying on their business, which estimate is necessary betereany idea-of the proper charges to make for .service rendered eau ha formed, there-is a whole hea-p of factors to be considered; besides that-which includes the current expenses of runnitig•the9nachine. What frequentlyi,happens is'this: A man.buys a lorry and, at the,same time, of course, he insures it for a year, gets in a supply of oil, and-a few sundries. He has, by the time he takes delivery;iarranged one or two preliminary contracts with friends; at:more or „less reasonable rates, since they will be-approxinaately the same as those Which the friends are already paying for similar work, or they`will be founded onthese -customary in the district, which he has canvassed previously.
Income Well Ahead of Expenditure.
For the first few weeks everything goes well. The pre-arranged contraets are running nicely, and one or two additional orders are received at about the same terms. The epterprising contractor then discovers two things. He finds that hisjricome is surprisingly abead of his expenditure, and that he has plenty of time on his hands, his lorry being still only engaged for about one-third or one-half of its time. The old original idea of getting rich quickly, by the aid of his motor lorry, that old idea, I repeat, always dodging about, somewhat furtively, at the back of his mind. now steps forward boldly and claims a hearing. With the lorry half occupied, a good profit is 'being made, therefore further oontracte, at a reduced rate, would still be profitable, and would swell the gross income. So thinks this short-sighted haulier, and promptly executes a tremendous cut in rates, in order to obtain more work, still, he thinks, at a profit. Since it is always easy to obtain orders at less-than market price, he obtains plenty of work, and, for a time, lives in clover.
On oneoccasion, however, he forgets to put any Oil in his crankcase, he ban a busy day, and does not notice the absence of the usual indications that all is well with the lubricating system. He mat -out a big-end, tries to get home to reline it, breaks the 0211 - connecting rod bolts, which make their exit through. the lower half of the crankcase, He foresees a bill of 130 or so to repait this damage, and is not too greatly cheered at the prospect. Next morning an important client sends round to know why he is not carrying out his contract, his explanation is not accepted at all in the spirit which he thinks it merits, but is countered by a threat of an action for damages if the goods arc not delivered, or ceflected, or whatever it is.
I am almost as mixed about it as our friend the haulage contractor, who is by now beginning to see things. He pulls himself together sufficiently to realize that he muSt find s:omeone to carry out his contracts for him, and begins to search out his haulier friends. •
Price Cutting Does Not Pay.
He nowtumbles upon rather an astonishing circumstancesastonis,hingethat is, to him, but not to you or me, ar anyone who knows anything about business. Ile 11,e7.8 me 16tmlier friends. They are all well and painfully aware of -his price-cutting proclivities, and are not at all inclined to obey the Biblical injunction, and turn the other cheek for him to smack. If, therefore, they refrain from refusing point-blank to help him at all, they do not at least offer to help on favourable terms, not even at those which he himself charges in the ordinary course of Iris business. He has to pay, at least, standard rates.
By the time he has come to a satisfactory arrangement of this matter, and is able to take breath again, he is regarding himself as a much ring-used individual, being barely consoled with the reflection that the whole affair is the result of an accident, and may not occur again, if at all, for some time. fie is, at any rate, considerably out of pocket over the job, may have to raise a small loan to get his lorry out of the repairer's hands, and will have to live well below that income of his for a few weeks, to get square again.
Meantime, his -mind at rest at least about the carrying out of his contracts, he strolls round to the repair shop to see how they are getting on with his lorry. Everything is going well, and he stays to have a little chat with the manager on things in general. The latter, who at least., knows how to find the money to buy butter for his own bread, points out to our friend that his brake linings need renewing ; that thetfront road wheel bushes should be renewed, as otherwise excessive tyre wear will result, and, "by the way," he adds, "your tyres are about done, aren't they? "
At this our worthy friend "takes the count." He has actually. been .so busy making money,, or so he thinks, that he has never noticed that his tyres are getting dangerously near the rim: his scheme of operations has included no provision for tyre replacement, and he has nothing laid by to help pay for their renewal, lie promptly goes home, gets a wet towel round his head, and sits doyin to calculate how long he will be in paying off a. mortgage which he will have to take out on his wagon to buy those tyres.
By the time he has finished he is certainly no sadder than when he began. If be is wiser, he is at the end of his troubles, and, by a more rational scheme of working, will obviate the risk of a similar occurrence in future. In many cases, however, he fails to see his mistakes, and this first difficulty is but the prelude to others, which terminate in his compulsory retirement after the fashion which I indicated at the commencement of this article.
Next week I shall show in detail how it is possible for a man to make...Binh a grievous miscalculation. TEIE SEOTC1i.„