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You don't have to be mad...
Page 9
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Brian Lee, MD of Allan Morris Transport, explains the facts of life to a confused potential customer, and reflects that if the price isn't right there's no point taking the job.
My mobile rang as I drove to a social appointment in the evening. I duly pulled over onto the grass verge and this is how the conversation went (names have been changed to protect the guilty): Potential Customer: I was speaking to Joe Bloggs and he said you ran large tippers.
Me: Yes.
PC: Capable of carrying coke between Ellesmere Port and the Midlands? Me: Yes.
PC: Can you do a load tonight? I've been let down. Me: No problem.
PC: What's the rate? I don't mind paying a little bit more.
Me: £1,000 PC: (Audible gasp) I usually pay £78 for the load.
Me: That's why the factory has been let down. If I do the job, I will be late for my function. A driver with legal time left at this time of night will need to be enticed away from the warmth of his fire and that will take a great deal of money before rewarding him, and me, for saving the factory.
PC: You're mad.
Me: Of course I am, I'm a haulier.
PC: I'll let you know.
I'm still waiting for his return call, but what really saddens me about the whole episode is the fact that many haulage companies would have done it on a promise of £25 more.
On a separate note Walter called me to look at some trailer damage the other day. A forklift armed with a clamp in the hands of a muppet had ravaged the inside walls of one of my walking floors. I was told his job was to get the vehicle loaded quickly and he didn't give a monkey's about the truck. I then asked him to point out his car. "Why?" he asked. "So I can take my lump hammer and batter it because I don't give a monkey's uncle either." "You're mad." No, I'm a haulier! Happy New Year.