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FROM THE POSTBAG
Page 90
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A Staffordshire reader asks for an analysis of the operating costs of an eight-wheeler as a basis on which to formulate tonnage charges.
With this type of vehicle the average weekly mileage could-be expected to be relatively high and will be assumed to he 800 in this instance. Dealing first with standing costs, licences are reckoned to cost £3 18s. 5d. a week, asming an unladen, weight of 7 tons 10 cwt. for this rigid with platform body. For the purpose of basic costs, wage i are reckoned at £11 19s. a week, though additions for specific overtime working will need to be added where appropriate. Garaging the vehicle is reckoned to cost fl 4s. 3d. and insurance £5 6s. 10d. a week. Interest at 5 per cent on the initial outlay of £4,440 adds £4 8s. 10d., giving a total of £25 17s. 411. a week for these five items of standing costs.
Fuel is reckoned to cost 5-58d. a mile on the basis of 9 m.p.g., whilst the remaining four items of running costs per mile are lubricants, 0-31d., tyres 2.62d., maintenance 3-49d. and depreciation 2.85d.; total 14.85d.
At 800 miles per week the addition of standing and running costs results in a total. operating cost of 22.61d. per mile, or £75 7s. per week.
These amounts are the actual cost to the operator only. To them has to be added overhead costs and profit margin. But even then the total relates to the vehicle as a whole. In practice few, if any, operators can maintain 100 per cent loading consistently and any tonnage rates, to be realistic; must take account not only of the average loading factor but also the level of competition, both locally and in the particular type of traffic carried.