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EXPRESS DELIVERIES
Page 117
Page 118
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by a Co-operative Society HE transport problems of a. retail
n g organization unded upon the coperative system • are 11 the more difficult y reason of the fact at the purchasers of goods are all mail ers of the society. hey are concerned ot only with obtaing articles of• the 'nd and quality that lease them at a onopetitive price, but so with the sotisdory service and economical operaon of the delivery fleet.
We find an outstanding example of ansport management in these cirmstances in the case of the Army • ad Navy Co-operative Society, Ltd.
This organization, founded in 1872, has developed so that now it has a large and increasing membership these being mainly of the professional class or belonging to _the services. It has a central. organization in London and three large retailing branches situated at Plymouth, Bombay and Calcutta. It has also quite a large factory in London, where furniture, sports outfits, and leather goods are made, and another at Swanley, in which large quantities of jams and other preserves are produced. The society has members located in nearly every country in the world. Who are continuously ordering from Londoniksupplies of 1a nature which they find unobtainable in-the places where they are
stationed. The handling of such orders from abroad, together with the continual delivery of goods throughout England, involves a transport effort of no small proportions.
A Case of Emergency. .•.
Many undertakings of this
nature place their mechanival transport in the hands of contractors. The Army and Navy " Co-operative Society, 'Ltd., did this until, in the War period, it -was suddenly faced with 14 days' notice from its motor contractors.
The society bought from the contractors a certain number of Napier vans for transport: ing 15-evvt., 1-ton, 25-cwt. and 2-ton loads, and managed to carry on its .delivery work. Ne'w' vehicles were unobtainable and, the number in service being inadequate, the society succeeded in securing about a dozen second-hand Belize chassis, which were used as the
bases of useful 15-cwt. vans. Spare Parts beimg unobtainable, old vehicles were purchased and broken up to
,btain the necessary chassis components.
Determined not to be dependent any longer upon outside contractors, the society equipped a workshop with lathes, drills and other machinery and very soon had the nucleus of a sound maintenance organization.
As the result of experience in the closing years of the war, a specification was formulated in which features of chassis design most suitable for the work in hand were incorporated, and this was circulated to British manufacturers shortly after the Armistice was signed. Many of the makers were still engaged upon, war work, but the Star Co. was able to produce 25-'30-cwt. goods chassis which approached very nearly to the society's requirements. Owing to delays in delivery the fleet was augmented temporarily by Som.: Oldsmobile 1-ton and W. and G. 30-ewt. vans, but in the succeeding years the society bas standardized upon Star vehicles so far as has been practicable, taking advantage of the fact that its operatives were more accustomed to driving, repairing and overhauling them, and that a standardized fleet meant lower maintenance costs.
Nowadays, the London delivery fleet consists of upwards of 50 vehicles, most of these being used for 30-cwt. loads, whilst some, having reinforced springs, carry 2 tons of goods. The adoption of a standard size of pneumatic tyre of 880 mm. by 120 mm, dimensions, is another measure which has simplified the maintenance of the vans.
The Local Deliveries. ,
' There are so many member in the west of. London. who rely upon the. society entirely for their daily . needs. of all household provisions that two clearance depots, one at Kensington and the -• other at Marylebone, are necessary. In these . areas the work is practically of a door-to-door nature,.and for this reason horsed yens are.employed to a large extent; The two depots, hoWever, are fed from the central-organization • at Victoria Street by .Fordson tractors hauling trailers Which at one time did serviee as 11-o rsedpanteCheicons: Pour or five daily journeys are made to eaeh of these distributing depots, the vehicles working to a -rigid time-table.
To improve the comfort of the tor drivers, the mechanical-transport manager devised an ingeniously sprung driver's cab for. the Fordson machines, -thus affording a relief from vibration
and protection from the weather. A porter, who assists in loading and unloading operations, occupies the seat on the trailer which was originally used by the horse driver. He operates the trailer brakes by a pedal, but these may be actuated by the tractor driver if necessary, a hand lever being fitted to the trailer chassis Which he can easily. reach from his cab.
A clever method has been employed for converting old pantechnicons to work as trail'ers with the tractors, as well as with the motor lorries. The existing front axles were built up in diameter by shrinking steel collars on to them, and roller-bearing wheels with cushion tyres of the Henley and Poppe type were fitted. The drop back axle presented a problem, and the method of conversion found most suitable was one of cutting off the axle ends and shrinking into the vertical portions at each side nickel-steel axles made from square billets. The square section was chosen in order to accommodate the brake gear without keying. The Dyson steel-spoke wheels employed are interchangeable among the trailers.
Outside the London area the society uses motorvans for deliveries over very long distances. In certain parts of England, however, there is a concentration of demand owing, perhaps, to the fact that so many of the society's members retire to the southern and south-western counties. At Aldershot and Swanley, therefore, two distributing depots have been established. These are fed by A.E.C. and Thornycroft 3-tonners, and distribution is effected locally by a fleet of smaller vans. Again, from Plymouth, where the society has another retailing branch, local delivery is effected by a separate fleet of metervans.
The members i India, being mainly Army folk and Government officials, are scattered throughout that vast country and, of course, the railways are relied upon for delivery work. One would be surprised, however, to see the society's stores in Bombay and Calcutta, which, in size, variety of stock, service and amenities generally, compare favourably with the main store in London. Members in these two towns and their suburbs are supplied by J140 motor Vehicles of Thorn ye.roft and other makes in much the same way as they are in England.
Apart from the manufacture and sale of furniture, the Army and Navy Cooperative Society, Ltd., has an important warehousing and removal business in England, which is concentrated at its depository at Tumham Green, in the west of London. From there several Leyland and A.E.C. vehicles having lift-van bodies deal with removals in all parts of the country. A number of the converted horsed pantechnicons is used as trailers for operating with these motors. .
' The society's central maintenance depot at Regency Street, London, S.W.1, is entirely independent of manufacturers, except for the purchase of parts, from the time when delivery is taken of new vehicles, The night repair
staff attends to minor running repairs, and mechanics are continuously employed during the day with major repairs, renovating spare units, etc., and the complete stripping of chassis when the time comes for
periodical overhauls.
Specially trained driver-mechanics and a fully equipped van are kept instantly available to deal with breakdowns.
Most carefully run businesses have a definite tradition or underlying principle which may be expressed in words, that of the society is "Unitate Fortier," and that of its transport manager
A Stitch in Time."