THE CUSTOMER MUST No
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:ONTROL THE RATES
Brick Hauliers Of ten ar e Compelled to Operate at Little or No Profit in Order to Support Brick Makers who are Afraid of
Competition
0 NE of the ways in which traders are making use of road transport is by exacting services from it at cut rates, so that they can more readily compete with one another in respect of the price of the delivered product. This is apparent in a communication I have had from one of several brick-haulier friends who have responded to my request to contribute something, however small, to the solution of this problem of brickhaulage rates.
He says that, until two years ago, the haulage rate per 1,000 of 2f-in. bricks, weighing approximately 2 tons 8 cwt. per thousand, was 9s. for a lead of 20 miles —not by any means an exorbitant charge, or one likely to put the haulier among the categories of those liable to excess profits duty.
Two years ago, a competing haulier wilfully cut this rate by 2s., whereupon my correspondent ceased to take any interest in the traffic. (He was fortunate -to be able to do so and to turn his attention into more profitable channels.) Last October, however, the brick company approached him and asked him to carry bricks for it again, asking what his rates would be. He quoted his original price of Os. per' 1,000, refused to reduce it and obtained some traffic, this notwithstanding that the brick maker proved that he was getting the work done for 7s. per 1,000.
Eventually, the managing director of the brick company called a conference of hauliers, at which they were shown, very convincingly, that the bricks had to be carried for 7s. per thousand, otherwise he would go out of business, the plain fact being that his competitors B2 were having their bricks carried at that rate and he could not afford to pay any more. In view of this, my friend agreed to come down to the common rate, at least for a time.
No sooner had they settled down to this rate than some hauliers commenced to work for the other brick concerns over the same route for as. per 1,000, and the trouble started all over again.
This meant that my friend came out of the business again, although, as he says, it often happens that he has empty vehicles coming past the brickyards and traversing the route over which the bricks are to be hauled. When this happens, his firm pick up loads and convey them at the cut rate. He says that he appreciates that this is unsound economically and will not help to improve the position as regards rates, but cannot see his way to pass by opportunities of making money.
On the point of what the rate actually should be, my friend, although venturing no opinion, tells me that it is practicable to cart three loads, each of 2,500 bricks. in a 10-hour day, this with 20 m.p.h. vehicles. According to my reckoning, he should obtain not less than 8d. per mile run, which is 10s. 8d. per 1,000.
Another haulier has telephoned me with reference to the table of brick-haulage rates which was published in The Commercial Motor dated June 23. He said: "I thought I would like to give you some actual rates received by brick hauliers from brickyards near Bedford. I am sure," he continued, "that you will be interested to compare these actual rates with those which you published in that table. They are as follow.
"From the brickyard into Bedford itself (seven miles), 4s. per 1,000; to Luton (17 miles), 8s. per 1,000 lo St. Albans (28 miles), 10s. ; to Barnet (38 miles), 13s. and 14s. to Wood Green (43 miles), 14s. and 15s. ad. To as far away as Frome (110 miles), 25s. and tet Dover (120 miles), 27s. (id."
He gave me other rates .which may quote on some other occasion. For the present, the above examples are sufficient.
For purposes of comparison, I have compiled a new table, in Column 1 of which I give the average of the figures from. Table I, and in Column 2 the actual rates as quoted to me by this haulier friend of mine.
The disparity is great and it is, perhaps, advisable to repeat, for the benefit both of those who have read these articles and for new readers, that the rates quoted in Table I have been recommended as being fair and equitable, in connection with brick haulage, by various groups of hauliers throughout the country. The present table is useful as showing what a wide difference there is, as I might put it, between theory and practice.
As regards the question of stacking, there does not seem to be any regular practice. In the case of certain of the larger brick companies the rule is this :—If the waybill handed to the driver does not embody any reference to stacking, then the haulier cannot obtain payment, even if his driver has to stack the bricks at the delivery end. If the ticket does embody instructions that the bricks are to .be stacked by the driver, then the haulier can claim an extra shilling per 1,000 on that account.
This is another example of the way in which haulage contractors are forced to "hold the baby." It seems fairly obvious that the brick maker makes his bargain with his customer. If he can persuade the customer to pay for haying the bricks stacked, well and good. The haulier gets some, at least, of the benefit.
Another friend of mine who does a lot of haulage for the London Brick Co. says that the haulier is largely in the hands of his drivers, as to whether he can make brick haulage pay at current rates. A good deal depends on whether the driver will so operate as to get two loads in per day, one of• which is perhaps a long run and the other a short one. The drivers go to the brick factory, take their instructions and pick Up their loads without referring back to their employer.
This haulier friend puts 3,000 bricks on his lorries. The weight, he says, is approximately 8 tons and his experience is that it takes an hour to load 3,000 and about the same time to unload. This time includes provision for stacking, but it also assumes that the men employed are good men and used to their work. He says that in his experience a good man will handle the bricks in sevens and eights at a time, whereas a " help " handles only two at a time. He gives me the following as being actual rates and he says that the 21-in. bricks are such that 2,500 weigh (i tons 5 cwt. and 3-in, bricks weigh in the neighbourhood of 6 tons 15 cwt. S.T.R.