Irregular Work HigherRates
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Continuing His Advice to Hauliers Tendering for Hire by Local Authorities, "The Commercial Motor" Costs Expert Recommends that Greater Profit be Charged for Periodic Employment
IN assessing fair rates for local work, which was the subject of my previous article, I assumed that the contract with the authority concerned would provide regular work for the vehicles, and that they would work 8, 81 or 9 hours per day throughout the period of the contract. That is not always the case and if the work is irregular, the rates should be higher.
In the previous article I took it for granted that the work was regular and I allowed only 15 per cent, as the profit ratio. Where the work is not regular, the haulier should guard against loss of earnings by increasing that to 25 per cent. The appropriate minimum rates for such work are set out in Table H which accompanies this article. The basic figures are taken from the table which was published with the previous article. Twenty-five per cent, instead of 15 per cent, is added to the costs to give the hourly and daily charges. The excess-mileage rate is also subject to the same rate of profit and 25 per cent, is added to the running costs per mile.
It should be noted that there is no provision in either table for a second man on the vehicle. If a second man is employed, the charge should be increased by 3s. per hour.
The calculation of tonnage rates, when carting road stone or similar traffic, is not as simple as time charges. It is necessary to take into account the time taken per trip as well as the mileage. We must have figures for the charge per hour and per mile run. The sum of those two gives the total charge for the job and this again must be "rendered down" to arrive at rates per ton for a given mileage. That is why it is necessary to have time arid mileage charges to be able to quote for this class of work.
Use of Tippers
Turning to the problem of assessing rates, there is another factor which must be provided for, namely that tippers will be used for this work. The cost of operating tippers is approximately 10 per cent, more than that of ordinary lorries and provision for that extra cost must be made in assessing the charges.
First, I take the total of fixed costs and add 10 per cent. as the extra cost of a. tipper. That gives me a new set of fixed charges, as shown in the first line of figures in Table III. • Now I .must provide for the fact that there is bound to be a certain amount of lost time in carting the kind of material. To provide for such delays, I add 10 per
cent, to the fixed costs. .
The third line of figures in Table III, beginning with £13 4s. per week for a 1-tonner, gives the fixed costs per week for different vehicles. These figures are weighted with 10 per cent, of the actual amount to correct for loss of time, to that I add 20 per cent. for profit, making the fixed charges per week f15 17s. for the 1-tonner, for example. In the next line of figures I have reduced the fixed charges from weekly to hourly, by dividing by 44 the number of hours in the standard week. That amount, 7s. 3d. per hour for it 1-tonner, is the time charge which can be used in assessing the charges.
The running costs are next to be considered. To calculate these I have taken the figures for cost per mile and added first 10 per cent., the extra cost of the tipper, and then 20 per cent, for profit. The mileage charges which I shall use are Set out at the bottom of Table III.
It now remains to translate these figures into rates per ton for the haulage of road-making materials. This is not easy. Let us take as a first example a 1-mile lead, the material being dry roadstone, chute-loaded and tipped on site. I shall assume the employment of a 5-ton tipper with a petrol engine.
Timing of Runs
The time and mileage charges are 9s. 8c1. per hour and Is. Old. per mile. According to theory, 15 min. is sufficient for loading and unloading. Taking travelling speed to be 10 m.p.h., the journey time needed is 12 min. The total time for the round journey is thus 27 min., during which the vehicle is presumed to have been loaded and unloaded as well as travelled the two miles of the return journey. The charge, therefore, is made up of 27 min. for time plus two miles of running. Fox 27 min., the time charge must be 4s. 4W., approximately, and for mileage the charge is twice the basic charge per mile, 2s. Id. The total charge is thus 6s. 41d. That is Is. 34d. per ton.
Now let us look at the job from a practical aspect. Faced with an inquiry for work of this kind, the haulier will first of all ask himself how many journeys his man is likely to be able to complete in a day. His estimate will be eight, for he knows that, with rare exceptions, that is the maximum any driver is likely to run day after day. If 8 hr. be allowed as a working day, then the time per journey is not 27 min., but I hr. The charge for time, according to that, is 9s. 8d., to which must be added as before 2s. Id. for travelling two miles. The charge per journey is thus I Is. 9d., and per ton, assuming a 5-ton load, a little over 2s. 4d. That is much more than the rate calculated theoretically.
A difficulty which arises here is that the same number of journeys—eight per day—can still be completed although the lead mileage is more than one mile. In fact, it is quite likely that the driver would still do eight journeys per day although the lead is four or five miles. Operators without experience of these short leads will be disinclined to accept that: it is nevertheless true. The reason is, to a certain extent, psychological. The shorter the journey, the more the driver is inclined to be dilatory. On long journeys he gets a rest between each stopping point. He is sitting down in his driving seat and not shovelling or waiting for his vehicle to be loaded or emptied. On short journeys it seems to him that he is always getting up and down: that tires him and he is less likely to be in the mood to rush the job.
When the material has to be loaded and unloaded by hand, these tendeacies to delay are aggravated. The driver is, in effect, a manual labourer and his inclination to take things easily is intensified. Those are some of many reasons why the times needed to complete short hauls are out of all proportion to the theoretical allowance.
Taking it for granted that it is possible to complete eight journeys per day over a four-mile lead, the total time allowance for the journey is, as before, l hr.. for which the charge remains at 9s. 8d. Eight miles of travel at Is. Old. per mile is 8s. 4d. The total is 18s. or, let us say, 35. 7d. per ton.
Over a six-mile lead it is possible that the average number of journeys capable of being completed in a day will fall from eight to six. That means that a total time of 1 hr. 20 rnM. will be needed for each journey, for which the time charge, at 9s. 8d. lier hour, is I2s. 11d. To that must be added the mileage charge for 12 miles at is.
per mile, which is 12s. 6d. The total is Ell 5s. 5d., so that the rate must be 5s. Id. per ton.
Nine miles is probably the limiting lead for five loads per day. The charge, worked out in the same way as in the other lead mileages, is approximately 6s. 6d. per ton. Taking some critical points in the ascending scale of lead distances .and assuming that a 15-mile lead is the limit for four journeys per day, 20 miles for three, and 30 miles for two, rates for loads to be carried over these distances can be calculated as before arid shown to be for a 15-mile lead, 10s. lid. per ton; for a 20-mile lead, 13s. 6d.; and for a 30-mile lead, 20s. 3d.
Beyond the 30-mile lead it is practicable to add a specified amount per ton per additional mile lead, calculated in this way. Speeds for mileages over 30 are comparatively high. It is safe to assume an average speed of at least 24 m.p.h., so that the additional time per extra mile lead-I must remind readers that this means running two miles-is 5 min., for which the charge would be 9id. To that must be added 2s. ld. for the mileage charge, making a total of 2s. 101c1., or 7d. per ton.
It is important in dealing with rates in this way, and especially in the assessment of the increasing charges over leads in excess of 20 miles, not to overlook the following difficult factor. If 30 miles is the limiting lead for a two-trip ordinary working day, then, as soon as that lead distance is exceeded the problem of the broken day begins to intrude. Assume, for example, that over a lead distance of 40 miles the time for One round journey is 4hr. 50 min.
Two journeys can be completed in the day if overloading is practicable, otherwise the rest of the day is wasted unless there is other work over shorter leads. As a rule, that is possible. If overtime can be worked, the rates already quoted still apply. The fact that the driver must be paid extra does not mean that the operator's profit is diminished accordingly. S.T.R