HINTS FOR HAULIERS.
Page 20
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
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.
IT IS OFTEN said, and I have even seen it printed in The Commercial Motor—as the opinion of a
large contractor—that the little man in the haulage business, the man with one or two vehicles only, has no chance of making a living to-day. The sentiment is an old one. We heard it ,Iong before. the motor haulier ever existed, hale before the motorcar was even thought of, except by people who would have been described as visionaries and dreamers, It has been expressed in connection with most industries, and has as many times been refuted by the facts. Indeed, one wanders if this is not one of those cases where the wish is father to the thought; at least, there is no doubt that these big haulage contractors, multiple store giceers, and the like would be only too glad if their oft-expressed opinion could be shown to be correct Ever since the inception of the large multiple store we have heard that the small shopkeeper would soon be ougted. Yet there are hundreds of him still persisting. No doubt he is in a perpetual state of bankruptcy and does not know from one day to the next whence he is to acquire his next meal. As a matter of fact, however, that is not the impression that I have of the state in which the said small shop keeper exists, He is far more likely te be challenging my right to the ingredients of a meal than to be in any danger of going short himself. The number of small successful shopkeepers is, as a matter of fact, legion.
No one can take a walk through the High Street of any of London's borough or suburban districts
without realizing that fact and withont wondering
how so many of them, and seemingly in such keen competition, manage to exist. Yet the small haulier, if anything, has a better chance than the small shop
keeper of competing successfully against the heavy weight in the same trade. The ostensible reason of the alleged advantages possessed by concerns in a large way of business is that they have' better facilities foe buying, partly because of the large orders which they can place and which generally carry better and more favourable discounts, and partly because they have sufficient floating capital to enable them to purchase when the market is in their favour. This is substantially true, but only to a degree, for there is no salesmaneworthy of the name but appreciates how much better it is to have a large number of small customers than to be
dependent on a few big clients, so that the small haulier, in company with the small shopkeeper, can
always be sure that those from whom he buys will he equally anxious to retail his custom as they are that of the man who deals in big quantities. In any event, the man in a small way of business has always the advantage in respect of organization and overhead expense, and 1 believe that it ill largely on account of this, not only that the smell shopkeeper is able to operate successfully, but that. the small haulier will eventually prove to have a better time than his grandiose competitors.
The following may be taken as reaeonable figures for the overhead and establishment expenses of the haulage contractor running ten or a dozen machines.
e26
If anything, they are on the low side. I give them as a weekly charge. The rent of his offices would be 210 a week. The wages of the managing director, office staff, etc., will amount .to 250 a week. The cost of postage, telephone, telegrams, stationery and similar sundries will amount te 210 a week. Other office expenses, such as fuel, light, upkeep of furniture, etc., might be so much as 22 10s, a week, Travelling expenses and sundry items of that nature 25 a week. There will be a small item on account or depreciation ofthe machinery, etc.; in the repair shop which he will have to maintain, which repair shop will also have to be heated and lighted, and there will be a fairly heavy expenditure for power in one form or another. We may put this down as being approximately 210 a week. The wages of a small staff of fitters and mechanics in the garages, say, 230 a week,. Cost of advertising 25 a week. Total, 2122 Ws.
Now, how much of all this expense will have to be met by the owner-driver, the haulier who sets out to make a living with one vehicle which he proposes to drive and Probably maintain to some extent himself. For the time being, he will no doubt manage without an office at all. Correspondence will take place from his home, so that there is no item under that head. He will probably find it necessary to have someone in attendance there to receive telephone messages and take order e and inetnuctions during the day while he is out. A fairly intelligent junior could be kept to do that work for no more than 1:2 lOs, a week. The fuel and lighting of that office will be raahing in the summei' and perhaps as mach as 10s. a week in the winter, say an average of 5s. a week throughout the year. There will be very little by way of travelling expenses; II .a _week should cover it, while, for advertising it will mainly take the form of small ads, in local papers, say 30s. a week, total 16 a week.
Now, it is very necessary for the reader of these notes to understand that none of the above items is included in the statement of working costs which has preceded this article. The expense will have to be incurred,' however, and must be taken into account when arriving at a proper scale of charges, which propose to discuss in a subsequent: article. These establishment charges are an addition to the standing charges which we have already enumerated in connection with the vehicle itself. It will be realized, therefore, that the greater the mileage the -less the -effect of these establishment costs.
Meantime, it is not without interest to compare their relative effect per mile in the case of the large haulier having expenses sueh as I have enumerated above and the small haulier. If we assume that the former has 10 vehicles and that, on the average, each does 250 miles a week, then the total mileage per week is 2,5-00, over which the establishment charges are spread. They are, therefore, equal to an additional working cost of 11.8d. per mile. If we assume that the single-vehicle man -is able to cover 300 useful miles per week, then his 26 per week establishment charges are spread over 300 miles and are equivalent to an additional expense of 4.8-d. per mile. He has, therefore, the advantage to the ex tent of 7d. a mile. THE SWITCH.