S.T.R. Drubbing
Page 39
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for Ratecutters
!".
A T each of S.T.R.'s two recent meet
ings at Andover and Portsmouth, in the Southern area of A.R.O., hauliers were keenly anxious to know how ratecutters managed to exist so long when, in face of the indisputable figures which S.T.R. put before them, it was obvious that they are not making real net profits.
It was pointed out that there are various possible reasons. Some of them carry on for so long because they have other sources of income. Others make ends meet " by what may fairly be termed " cribbing " back loads at cut rates. Evasion of the law as regards loads, speeds and drivers' hours is another cause, and. fourthly, there is no doubt that the owner-drivers who are willing to work without any profit at all, and subsist on the equivalent of a driver's wage, or less, are numerous. This discussion brought up the backload problem and the ways in which it could be solved. A question was asked as to whether a haulier quoting the same customer for outward and inward loads should make that customer a concession in the rates in one or both directions because of the fact that his vehicle was going to be loaded in each direction. S.T.R. made it plain that for the general good of the industry there should be no cutting of rates op any back loads.
Appreciation was expressed of the good which was being done by these addresses and of their educational value. One speaker voiced the opinion that S.T.R. ought to appoint a number of deputies, so that the country could be completely covered. Reference was also made to The Commercial Motor Tables of Operating Costs.