Acute Ignorance 00 - j
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Costing in
SAND HAULAGE
AMONGST the letters which I have received during the past week are two which, taken together, form a most interesting contrast. One of them is an indignant communication from a haulier, enclosing an extract from 'a manufacturer's magazine. The extract relates to the operation of a 3-ton. lorry on sand and gravel cartage, used to convey 4 cubic yds. per journey, which, as most readers are aware, are equivalent to 41 tons, and costing, according to this extract, id. per cubic-yd.-mile!
The other letter is from a haulier engaged on the cartage of sand and gravel and using a 3-ton lorry, which he habitually loads, he states, to about 5 tons. He, too, is probably carrying 4 cubic yds. of sand, which may be somewhat damp and, therefore, weighs 25 cwt. to the yard.
He gives me some figures for cost of operation from which it is easy to deduce that in his case, with regular return loads, his average cost is nearly 2d. per cubicyd.-mile over a journey of 45 miles each way. And every sand and gravel haulier or merchant knows quite well that the greater the distance the less the cost per cubic--yd.-mile.
Practical View of Costing Needed.
I can readily understand the first correspondent's indignation. We have a powerful organization looking after the interests of hauliers and commercial-mptor users, the biggest difficulty of which is to persuade its backward members, and a good many who are not members, to take a common-sense view of cost of operation and rates of haulage. A statement of the kind embodied in this extract, whilst it is, to anyone with real knowledge of costs, so obviously absurd as to be beneath consideration, further unsettles the minds of the majority, which has not sufficient knowledge of costs to be able to appreciate that the figure quoted bears no relation to actuality.
A second reading of the extract discloses that there is mention of an all-in operating cost of 31d. per mile. I have no hesitation in stating that it is impossible to operate a 3-ton vehicle, carrying a 3-ton load, for 31d. per mile. To suggest that figure in respect of a vehicle which habitually carries 41 tons is carrying exaggeration to the point of absurdity.
Even supposing that, for the briefest of moments, I accept this absurd figure of 31d. per mile, it is still untrue to say that the cost of haulage is less than 3d. per cubic yd. For that to be true there must in
Bal3
variably be a return load, which is practically impossible in relation to sand and gravel haulage; moreover, the time involved in loading and unloading must be nil. The statement, in whole or in part; should never have appeared. It can only do harm to the interests of those who publish it and to the road-transport industry as a whole.
It will help if I now turn to thq other letter from a sand and gravel haulier, who, because of the long lead over which he is operating, is in a particularly favourable position as regards, net cost per cubic-yd.mile. He is making two round journeys per day of 90 miles each and is actually covering 900 miles per fiveday week. That, as everyone knows, is another point favourable to a low figure for operating cost per mile.
High Running Costs on Sand Transport.
At the same time, by reason of the conditions of the work, first, that the sand pit is awkwardly situated, and, secondly, because his vehicle is habitually overloaded, running costs are high. The vehicles" engaged on this class of work are good for only a year, at the end of which period they must be discarded. The petrol and oil consumption is high, tyres wear out quickly, and the cost of maintenance is excessive. The total for the usual five items of running cost, namely, petrol, oil, tyres, maintenanceand depreciation, is 51d. per mile.
The standing charges are those normally experienced in connection with a 3-ton lorry. They, of course, are not affected to any appreciable extent by the factors which make for high running cost. The total of the standing charges is the usual figure of 2s. per hour.
A round journey, which must provide for two loadings and two unloadings, one of each of which is in difficult circumstances, occupies five hours, and the total bare cost of operation is thus five hours at 2s.-10s.— plus 90 miles. at 51d.-41s, 3d. The total is 51s. 3d., say, 26s. each way, which is a fraction short of 7d.
per mile, or led. per cubic-yd.-mile. In similar work, but assuming a five-mile haul in each direction, it would take at least li hour and thus cost 7s. (3s. 6d. each way), which is 8.4d per mile and just over 2d. per cubicyd.-mile.
If, as is more than likely in the usual course of sand and gravel haulage, the load was only one way, the respective figures would be 31d. per cubic-yd.-mile for the 45-mile lead and 4.1d. per cubic-yd.-mile for the fivemile lead.
The foregoing figures, deduced from this contractor's letter embodying data for cost, are not, of course, fair charges for the haulage of sand and gravel. They embody no provision for establishment cost and profit. It is of interest to find what experienced operators take to be fair figures as the basis for charges for this class of work. I have in Mind data standardized by the Ballast, Sand and Allied Trades Association.
Cost Data for a 3-tonner.
• The costs of operation differ slightly in arrangement from those set out in The Commercial Motor Tables of Operating Costs., in that depreciation is regarded as a standing charge, and not as a running cost. I also note that no provision is made for garage tent, which, in my view, is .a serious omission. For a 3-ton vehicle of the type under -discussion, the running costs quoted ate ,as follow :-Petrol (11 m.p.g. at is. 2d. per gallon), fI1.27(3. ; oil MO m.p.g. at 2s. per gallon), 0.10d. ; tyres (151000 miles per set), £33 9s. per set of six tyres, 0.54d. ; repairs and maintenance per mile, ld. The total
running cost per mile (exclusive of depreciation) is 2.91d.
Deducting the amount for depreciation, The Commercial Motor figures are :-Petrol (10 m.p.g. at is. 4d. per gallon), ; lubricating oil ((300 m.p.g. at 4s. per gallon), 0.08d.; tyres (20,000 miles per set), 0.40d.; maintenance, 0.90d.; total, 2.98d.
The annual standing charges, according to the B.S .A.T. A. , are as follow :-Depreciation, £110; interest, £19 10s. ; tax, 230; insurance, £25; wages of driver, £195; total, £379 10s. Taking 268 working days to the year, the aggregate sum is equivalent to a standing charge of £1 8s. 4d. per day. Assuming an eight-hour day, which is the usual maximum, apart from the payment of overtime, which necessarily complicates the calculation, that figure is equivalent to .3s. Old. per hour.
Operating Over a 45-mile Route.
The cost, according to these figures, of a day's work of the haulage contractor engaged on the 45-mile lead would be £1 8s. 4d. for day's standing charges, plus a certain amount of overtime, which I will assume to be 2s. 8d., plus 180 times 2.91d., which is 43s. 8d. The total is £3 14s. 8d. On a day of 180 miles' running, that is equivalent to 5d. per mile, or approximately lid. per cubic-yd.-mile. Here, again, there is no provision for establishment costs or for profit.
If, again, taking the usual case, this work had been carried out with no practical means for obtaining a re turn load, the bare cost would have been 2-id. per Cubicyd.-mile. Going back to the figures of actual cost from this haulier, namely, Md. per mile and 2s, per hour standing charges, a fair method of computing a reasonable charge for the work would be at the rate of 4s.
per hour, plus 6d. per That basis, for the complete round journey of 90 miles, occupying five hours, would give a total of £3 5s., which is £1 12s. 6d. each way, or 6s: 6d. per cubic yd. for the 45-mile lead, say,
lad, per cubic-yd.-milt. S.T.R.