S.T.R. LECT ES MAKING HAULIERS "COSTCONSCIOUS"
Page 24
Page 25
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Fruits of Endeavour: A Typical Concrete Example of the Good Effects of These Talks EVERYONE with any business experience is aware that profitable returns from a new enterprise are almost invariably long delayed. Much spade Work is necessary before the first fruits can be gathered.
Apart from one or two spasmodic addresses, The Commercial Motor series of lectures to hauliers really commenced somewhat less than three years ago. Actually, I am in the middle of the third season. It was shortly after the commencement of the series of lectures that The Commercial Motor Operating Costs Record was introduced. These two separate, but closely allied, measures to assist small hauliers were thus nearly simultaneous in their introduction.
For some time past, more concrete evidence of the good that is being done has been available. I often receive letters from readers commencing something like this :—" I heard you lecture at Blanktown a couple of months ago. I have been thinking over wpat you told us and would now like your advice on . . . ." And again: "I have been using The Commercial Motor Operating Costs Record for some little time and this point has arisen. . ."
Sometimes the two are linked together, which, of course, is as it should be. In this connection I had a most interesting talk at Warrington with Mr. John Muskett, who is a director of John Buckley and Co., Ltd., a concern of haulage contractors of that town. In the conversation, he referred to the fact that he had previously listened to me at Liverpool (and it says much for the value of those addresses that he thought it worth while to hear me a second time, at Warrington), that he had also been using The Commercial Motor Operating Costs Record and had devised a inethod of c26
making an annual summary from the Record, which he thought might interest me. • The accompanying schedules, Figs. I and II, are Mr. Muskett's; that is to say, the forms are his, but the figures are Someone else's. It should be appreciated that these are annual summaries, the data being, I understand, compiled from figures entered in The Commercial Motor Operating Costs Record.
The important point to notice is that Mr. Muskett has adhered strictly to the basic principle of the Record —one which I always insist is so essential—namely, that independent records must be kept of expenditure on each individual machine.
Fig. I provides for a summary of the actual expenditure on maintenance and tyres. At the end of the year this can be utilized as a check upon the estimated figures
used in the records and, in the course of time, may even be applied to modify the estimated figures, bringing them into closer touch with realities, if such modification proves to be necessary. The word " purchased" in the top right-hand corner is for entry of the date when the vehicle was put into commission.
• Fig. II is, from the point of view of myself and readers, the more important one. It affords information of the total cost of operating the vehicle, with preelse details as to the amount expended on each of the
• 10 items of The Commercial Motor 10-point Cost Code. It shows what the vehicle should have earned, the earnings being -calculated by the process of adding 50 per •
• cent, to standing charges and 25 per cent, to running costs, those percentages being a fair average assessment to cover overheads and a reasonable net profit.
At the bottom of the form there is provision for entry
of the number of miles covered during the year, for cost per mile, cost per hour and per day. Finally, there is space for the entry of the actual amount earned by that vehicle during the year, this being comparable with what, by calculation, ought to have been earned.
The scheme is an admirableone and can be recorn
mended as a method whereby a haulier may make ari annual check upon his outgoings and income. I am now going to offer some suggestions. I do not put them forward in any critical spirit, but rather with the idea that, at the expense of little trouble, additional, useful information may be afforded.
First of all I suggest that, besides recording the total number of miles run (Fig.. II), there should be provision for total hours and total days worked during the year. This' is important, because I find that many hauliers do not appreciate the fact that their vehicles do not invariably operate for 52 weeks of 51, or 6 days per week every year. If by entry of this item they be brought to appreciate that they have to earn a year's income over, perhaps, two-thirds of a year, in point of actual days worked, they will be more alert to the importance of obtaining a full day's pay for every day that the vehicle is operated.
Next I would supplement the line commencing "Cost" by another commencing' "Rates," also per hour, per day, and per mile. The hourly rate would be 8s. 5.1d., daily £4 is. 8d., and per mile 7.08d. The figures are calculated from the totals in the main body of the schedule. .They are useful as enabling comparisons to be made between rates actually charged and those which ought to be charged in accordance with the method embodied in the schedule. S. T.R .