A Strong Plea for Better Maintenance.
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By a " Representative whose Duties Principally take Him
"Amongst the Users."
One of our modern humourists recently announced that the way he kept himself clean was to wash himself every month or six weeks or so, whether he wanted it or not? Though most of us can appreciate the absurdity of so drastic a suggestion, there is quite a number of people for whom it has no application.
Careless Owners.
Notwithstanding the increasing demand for commercial motors and the uninterrupted stream of repeat orders from firms which have now been users for some years past, the general want of care and of ordinary precautions to maintain the vehicles in an efficient state is lacking to a degree which is most disheartening to those who have endeavoured to impress upon users the necessity of efficient maintenance for years past.
Economy First—Extravagance After.
Once a firm or individual has bought a commercial motor, he is, of course, quite at liberty to misuse it as he chooses. But what appears to be strange is that, when a traveller is negotiating the sale of a vehicle, he has to show most elaborate figures to prove economy as compared to other methods of transport. Once the sale is made, however, the purchaser appears to trouble very little whether the running costs are excessive or not. Moreover, if they be excessive he often does not trouble to inquire into the cause thereof.
One owner of several 25-cwt. vans assured me that one motor vehicle hardly did the work of a two-horse van, and yet, in the same breath, he told me that he had just placed an order for two more 25-cwt. vans.
The Mystery of Costs.
Of course one accepts either voluntary or solicited information in regard to costs for what it is worth. Secrecy is such an integral part of the business man's nature, whether it be to his advantage or not, he does not appear to be able to avoid some mysterious pose. Knowing this, one must judge from appearances rather than words.
Repeat Orders in Spite of Neglect, Petrol, tires, and repairs are the most variable and the heaviest items in the running costs of industrial motors, and we know that consistent neglect with regard to the maintenance will cause them to increase out of all proportion to the amount of useful work done, or rather out of proportion to what the cost of such work need he. We also know that maintenance, in many instances, is badly neglected ; yet repeat orders continue to come in and the commercial motor increases daily in popularity.
The Proof of the Pudding.
Those loudest in their complaints with regard I o cost continue to order new vehicles, and admit with commendable frankness that they could not do without them. Badly as the two statements agree, the firm referred to above gave this as the explanation for ordering two new vehicles.
The fact of it is that business firms do not use methods which involve them in unnecessary expense. In the first place there must be a direct saving, and this, however trifling it may be owing to the general neglect of maintenance, as a general rule, can be shown. Again, practically every user automatically feels the benefit of his motor plant by virtue of the -increased trade which it brings him. The latter is tire great advantage, and there cannot be the slightest doubt but that as trade extends the mere saving of a
few shillings per week becomes quite a secondary consideration. Weekly the mileage increases, and so much time is occupied in travelling that no time is left for overhauling, so that adjustments are often left, and nothing is done until an actual breakdown occurs.
"The Absolute Limit."
One vehicle, of which I know, does a 90-mile round six days in the week, and during each journey it makes from 110 to 120 deliveries. The mileage has increased imperceptibly, as far as the owners were concerned, from about 45 miles per day to its present
total. The owners would still have remained in ignorance had not the driver intimated to them—the dispatch manager having refused to listen to him— that he thought he " had reached about the absolute limit." They agreed with him, and put him on the journey on alternate days ; on the " off " days he now does 50 miles instead of 90.
An Example of Neglect. I inquired of the dispatch manager in question as to how and when repairs and adjustments were made. He said that, beyond sending the vehicles periodically to the depot of the firm which supplied them to run the rule over them," nothing was done. He had no direct interest in them himself, and, furthermore, he knew nothing about them, and the drivers had no time to do more than was absolutely necessary in the way of oiling, cleaning, etc., and very little of that. He, the dispatch manager, ordered the stores through the secretary, but separate accounts were not kept for each vehicle, and the total costs were got out once a year only. The firm was thoroughly satisfied with the performance of the vehicles —" they could not, in fact, do without them."
An Extraordinary Testimonial.
Such " management " is surely eloquent testimony to the sound construction and trustworthiness of the present-day commercial motor. Obviously there must be such a wide margin of economy in favour of the motor between its present operating costs and the previous costs of transport, that the owners can actually afford without actual Toss virtually to neglect maintaining it in a state of efficiency.
A Disgraceful Five-tonner.
A carrying firm's five-ton petrol motor which I was casually inspecting recently, with the driver, struck me as having a neglected appearance. The band tires were slack, nuts were missing, bolts were loose, and in some instances also non est. The engine case was leaking oil, and its external fittings were buried in dust and oil. The chains were dirty, not from one journey only, but from the accumulated dirt of many journeys. The driver gave the usual explanation—no time for repairs. The vehicle was supplied by a wellknown firm and was an approved model ; but on this machine the repairs were obviously out of hand. The driver showed me the clutch, the leather of which needed renewing, but he was "making shift "—his method being to drive wire nails in between the leather and the cone!
The Good Work of the C.M.U.A.
The drivers cannot entirely be blamed in such eases as these. If the owners take so little interest in their vehicles, how can they expect the drivers to be keen. If the owners could only be brought to realize that the C.M.U.A. offers the requisite incentive to the drivers they would not be slow to join. Apart from every other benefit the association offers, that alone is worth the entrance fee and subscription.