"SMALLS.'
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Fresh Scope for Light Delivery Vans and Lorries.
The title of this article may be insufficiently lucid for some, and to many it may conjure up visions of bakehouses, 'Varsity examinations, or eighteenth-century knee-breeches! To those in the carrying trade, it will be known to indicate those packages of merchandise, small by comparison, which the railway companies carry under a minimum scale, varying from a quarter of a hundred-weight to three hundred-weight. The " Smalls Scale " will be found embodied in the Railway Clearing House Classification for each year, which
publication may be obtained from any railway company for one shilling. A reference to this scale shows the minimum charge on the railway for one hundred-weight at the rate of 35, 4d. per ton to be sevenpence, and an easy calculation shows that, at actual weight and rate, one hundredweight at 35. 4d. per ton equals twopence, the remaining fivepence being an additional sum allowed, by Parliamentary sanction, to be charged by reason of the smallness of the package, and the increased cost of handling, compared with the heavier classes of merchandise. These additional allowances are to be seen in varying sums throughout the scale : thus : one hundredweight at 20s, per ton is not is,, but Is, 4d.; one hundredweight at 405. per ton is 25. 7d., instead of 2S. ; and so on, though not proportionally.
The rates per ton depend for their " quantum " on the " Class "in which the goods the packages contain are shown in the Railway Classification ; e.g., one package of "Drapery (heavy) " would come under Class 3. The Class 3 rate, from London to MancheSter, may be 435. 4d. per ton, and, if a package weighing a half-hundredweight were sent, the charge for carriage under the "Smells Scale " would be is. yd., whereas, at actual weight and rate, it would be only is. rd. While not advocating attempts to carry traffic by road over such long-distances. (unless by a system of "Zones "), it is clear to the writer that an enormous field lies open to the enterprising owners of the lighter classes of vehicles—up to two tons of carrying capacity— in catering for the transit and quicker direct deliveries of these packages, which would otherwise be handed over to the railway companies, at least for distances up to too miles.
Remunerative Opportunities.
Taking " Drapery " as a standard class of goods, let us suppose ourselves the owner of a van or lorry capable of carrying up to two tons. From one firm, we may obtain, say, 120 packages in one day, for delivery in outlying towns and villages within a radius of 5o miles. The railway rates for carriage to these places will vary from 5s. to 20s. per ton, according to distance. Averaging the packages at one-quarter of a hundredweight each, at an average rate of fps. per ton (equal to 6d. per package under the
" Smalls Scale "), we obtain for the total deliveries; or, taking 6o packages at an average of a half-hundredweight each, the result, at the same rate and " Scale," is eightpence per package—'2 for the 6o deliveries.
To those who know the capabilities of some of the hip-herclass vehicles of the present time, a day's work of this kind is by no means impossible, and, when the deliveries number 20, 3o, or 5o packages in one or two towns, the distance travelled, and cost of carriage, is probably lessened considerably. Many of our large firms in London and the Provinces send out as many as 2,000 Or more " Smalls " packages per day, to the various railway companies, for delivery in towns and villages at varying distances. The minimum charge by the railwaycompanies, for the carriage of any package from a pound to a quarter-hundredweight, is sixpence, even though the package be only carried 2 or 3 miles! Now, in a 2o-mile radius, it would be possible to deliver, for large firms, as many as 150 packages, averaging pounds each in weight, in a day, which, at a minimum round charge of sixpence per package, would bring 15s., and prove most beneficial to sender, carrier, consignees, leaving room, in fact, for lower charges wh necessary, quite apart from the advantages of quicker liveries, less handling, and better condition on arrival destination.
Organisation and Quick Delivery.
Much would depend, in order safely to establish sucl business, upon the organising of the traffic, the grouping local towns and villages north, south, east, and west different days' deliveries, collection overnight for early st and deliveries next day, and the ellicient maintaining of vehicle or vehicles in order to prevent disappointments customers. The possibilities of return loads would also well worth consideration, thus increasing the facilities customers, and adding to the carriers' revenues.
The trader who owns his own motor vehicle, of a 30hundredweight capacity, should easily keep up at an av age earning of to .427 per week, and any further ea tags would be, of course, clear profit. It is when the la: fortunes that have been made by carriers by means of hor: vehicles come to our mind—and these chiefly by means " Smalls "—that the scope presents itself to the votaries the newer traction.
Orders Smaller and More Frequent.
The trend of the times, in the knowledge of the increa facilities for collections and deliveries of goods, is to or oftener and in small quantities, and this is borne out by evidence in important railway cases which touch on subject of" Smalls." In the opinion of the writer, who I made the subject a study for many years, there is a r vein to bore in the many millions of " Smalls" packaj passing yearly to and from all points in the kingdom. 1 field is open to the one-vehicle man, or to the fleet-owni syndicate. To the real manager, the real canvasser, and real driver, a commencing staff of three or four vehh may be the foundation of a huge business, with depots most of the chief towns and cities, open at any time, garage, relief, repairs, collections and deliveries.
Railway Delay.
It is a lamentable fact, that on all our railway syste this question of " Smalls " deliveries has never been p perly handled : of recent years, it has grown worse, by rea: of the system, for economy's sake, of concentrating " trans-ship stations," where thousands of packages dumped down daily, to undergo tedious sorting and furt rail transits before the ultimate deliveries to consignees effected. Two, three, and four days often elapse Won package is delivered a distance of 5, To, or zo miles, resi ing in disorganisation of customers' businesses, time 1 money lost in telephones, telegrams, and letters, and cIai galore ! It may not be generally known that these " tra ship stations" may be so miles away, and the towns which deliveries are to be effected actually passed by outward train containing the goods, which must still dergo the sorting and redistribution before finally reach' their destinations.
As the " old order chang-eth," the opportunity is for th who first enter the lists, and, with the essentials of a g4 vehicle, good management, and good drivers, a revolut is in the making for the pioneers in the new order " Smalls " carrying.