HINTS FOR HAULIERS.
Page 21
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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.
" HAT," asks a correspondent, "should be charged for work done with a Ford van, and how should I account for waiting time, as at terminal points, or when making deliveries or collections ? "
Thil query is typical of so many which I receive, that I am taking it as the text for the first portion of this week's notes. It is not one, I should have thought, that•would•he likely to be put by those who have read " Running Commercial Motors for a Living," yet I do freqnently 'find that questions of this sort are actually received from,friends who claim to have read that helpful little book, and .I am in consequence, fain to conclude that•the chapter Of it which deals with the important matter of the charges which can reasonably barna& for the services of various types of motor vehicles under different conditions is not so clearly written as it might:be. Otherwise, I should reply to all such querists that the answer is on page 6 of that self-same hook.
As a matter of fact, the calculation of hire charges, in individual cases is largely a matter of the application. of a. little common sense, together with:the table whieh appears on page 6 of the periodical which_ I have in mind. Therein it. is stated that the hire charge for petrol vehicles having a capacity of 10 cwt. or under should be at the rate of one shilling a mile, Gs. 6d. an hour, £2 5s per day, or £12 7s. 6d. per week. In a footnote to the same table it is announced that the rates in questionare,hased.an 40imilesper day, 10 hours per clay.(depot to depot), and five and a half days per week. OVertimeteharges are : evenings —time and a half ; Saturday.afternoons and Sundays —double time. The services of a driver are included in every case.
'Those charges were agreed upon as minima by the Midland section of the Motor Traders Association in October of 1918, and are now subject; in my opinion, to an increase of at least410 per-cent. to cover the cost of increases in the prices of materials and wages which have taken place since that date.. The present ratesetmay, therefore; be taken as being, in round figures, l.lid. per mile, 7s. 2d. per hour, £2 9s. 0d. perday, or £13 12s. sd. per week. Our correspondent's query is answered in full by the first and second items of the latter scale of charges, Coupled with the qualifying statement that thet rates in question are based on 40 miles per day, 10 hours per day , . ." He must, in other words, charge by time or distance, whichever is the greater, just as does the taxi-driver, according to the amount indicated on the face of the instrument Maybe, a little explanation of the:workingi:of the. taximeter may be of service iti elueidating, this apparently difficult matter. The actuaPfigures which are to be seen on the face of a taXiineter are in connection with gearWheels.which are driven, in the ease of a taximeter, in one of two yi'a.y.s. When the. cab is travelling, it is driven from the wheel of the vehicle and registers at the rate of twopence for every quarter mile which the vehicle travels. (And when it has registered twopence you know you have to pay threetpence, the 8 ttle of increases allowed by the Home Secretary being displayed in front of the passenger.) The machine also incorporates a clockwork 'Mechanism, which is released and commences to work so soon as the driver puts the flag down. The clockwork drives the same registering wheel, to such goad effect that it registers twopence for every two and a half minutes. These two methods of driving the registering wheel are independent, but they cannot 'both control the taximeter' together. Each operates the same spindle, hut, by means of freewheel gear, only that which is driving at the higher speed takes effect. If the cab is travelling at more than six miles perib.our, :that, gear which is.eontrolled by the wheel of the vehicle tales charge, but when, as. in traffic, for example,, the speeds drop below six miles per hour, the. clock takes up the drive.
It is claimed that the passenger can tell whether the driver of aeab is the owner or not by the way in which be drives up to a block in the traffic. If he is not theeowner, and does not, therefore, feel the effect of excessive upkeep charges' hedrives as quickly as he dares to the block, and then waits, so that the two means of adding up the total orethe cloak tieth have their maximuin, effect the mileage one notes the distance right up to the block, and the clock then, owing to the man having reached the stopping place as soon as he.ca,n registers as much as possible. On the other hand, the owner, if he happens also to he the driver, will 'realize that, by the damage to the chassis s and the cost of replacing brake linings, etc., he will hese more than' he can gain_ by the " tip and
run" tactics of the other.
This little digression may seem. irrelevant, but it is not altogether so If the reader once understands; the principle On which the taximeter works," and applies it to his own hire accounts, there will be a sudden slump in inquiries such as the one which heads this article. He has.bilt to imagine,' when 'calculating the amount which he Must charge for any given job, that thereiis a taximeter on his machine, which registers, either :at the .agreed mileage rate, or at the agreed time rate, whichever shows the greater amount in favour of the hire..contractor. • For instance, let us consider our queeist's case in detail. Assume that he has an inquiry from a hirer whe•wislies a' load•of 7 cwt., say, to be 'brought from a place ten miles away, that is to say, he wants the vehicle for a run of twentfmilos. The charge for this on a mileage basis, 201iines or 13 2s. 6d. That amount, on a time basis, would cover a period of rather more than three hours (at the,,rate of 7s. 2d. per hour), so that ample time for loading,. etc., is allowed in the rata which welhave taken a,,standard. Thnow, the jab, for reasons beyond the control of the contractor takes , longer than three hours—for example, let us suppose that, owing to the fact that the load was not ready, or other similar reason, it occupied five hours—then the proper charge would be five times 7s. 2d., or 21 15s. 10d. , Now ,look at the other side of the picture, and assume that the van was.hired-for a week. The rate for such serviee'is.E1 3: 12s, cal:, on the basis of 5.4 days per -Week and 4:0 miles.per day. If, however, the hirer has manylong-distanee journeys to run, he may do, in the time, 330 miles, an' average of 60 miles per day. In such a case the charge must be reckoned at the mileage rate, namely; Is. 14d. per mile, thus totalling £1-8 Ils. 3d. A plain and simple rule, which even the least familiar with figures and high finance should readily be able to understand, is reckon up the cost both ways, and charge the customer the higher of the two. There is nothing greedy, grasPing, or profiteering" about this method ; it is perfectly fair, and only the same as the taxiineter 'does automatically every journey. Besides, the rates which I have quoted herein, and which appear "Running Commercial Motors for a Living" are minimum rates,