What Users Tell Us Interview 2
Page 6
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We Gather the Experiences of a Well-known Furnisher.
Our readers will remember that, a fortnight ago, we described the experiences of a. West End dairy company with electric parcelcars. Following our scheme of interviewing the responsible heads of representative trades in this series of users'. articles, we next decided to interview some well-known supplier of furniture. Our choice eventually fell on the Hackney Furnishing Co., Ltd., which has its head office and warehouse in Mare Street, Hackney, together with extensive and palatial West End showrooms in Oxford Street.
Few of our readers have not, we imagine, at some time or other, been brought in contact, with the telling and forceful advertising methods employed by this company. It will readily be understood: then, that a progressive enterprise, such as the Hackney Co., would not be content, with any slipshod, or in any way obsolete, method of delivering its goods.
Mr. H. Stewart. junr.. who is directly responsible for the company's deliveries, granted us an interview quite recently.
"I am only too pleased to afford readers of THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR any information that I can," he said. "We found out, quite a number of years ago, that our business was increasing to such an extent. that drastic alterations were imperatively needed. One of the weakest spots in our whole organization was undoubtedly the delivery system. It is a peculiar trait of the average buyer that no sooner does he make arrangements for taking over any articles from a tradesman than he at once desires to obtain possession of them. By this I mean that if a man, or, perhaps, it would be more fair to say a woman, for ladies buy much more furniture on the whole, gives an order for a footstool, or for furniture to equip a 16 or 20-room house, it is no uncommon thing for us to be requested to deliver these supplies on the following day. You can easily imagine that radways are quite incapable of helping us in such a matter.
" Five years ago we entered into a contract with Milnes-Daimler Mercedes. Ltd.. the showrooms of which were, at that time, located ii, Tottenham Court Road. This company supplied us with four of its 28 h.p. vans, 'similar to those supplied to the old London Motorbus
CO.. Your readers will remember vehicles of this type better, perhaps, by the name of Vanguards.
" I was looking at our books the other day, and I noticed that the mileage of each van was roughly 75,000, a total distance of 300,000 miles in all. Each machine takes it useful load of three tons, and during the whole of the five years I have never known what it is to want a van which was not available for instant service owing to a breakdown or any other unfortunate occurrence."
" What are the chief advantages obtained by the use of motor-vans in your particular business, Mr. Stewart ? " we queried. " Well," replied that gentleman; "I estimate that, we effect a saving of at least 2l per cent. of the total value of the goods in the elimination of wear and tear on deliveries? • "That represents quite a considerable sum," we suggested.
" You would hardly credit the exact figure," was the reply. "It means a saving which is represented in many hundreds of pounds in hard cash in every year." " What else ? " we then asked. tersely. " Well, naturally." was the reply, " we have the advantages following on being able to give our cus tomers quick tdellivery. Let me give you an instance. On Friday afternoon a man walked into this shop. He looked a bit down at heel, but it is our invariable custom to accord the same courteous treatment to the purchaser of a halfcrown doormat as to the potential buyer of £1000 worth of furniture. Greatly to our surprise, which," said Mr. Stewart smiling, "I fancy we managed successfully to conceal, in about three hours that gentleman placed an order for over £600 worth of goods. One condition he imposed—it seemed Cinderella-like —and that was that the goods were to be delivered the following day, which was a Saturday. The railway people would have sent round to collect the goods on the Monday. In consequence, we should have had to refuse this man's order. You will be interested to know that the furniture was delivered at Worthing before three o'clock on the Saturday afternoon. I could give you a dozen similar instances where the vans have been of the greatest service."
"We are pleased to think that your experience has been so satisfactory." "There is just one more thing, and that is that we often save the cost of the machines on long journeys because our men travel aboard them and so do not charge up their railway fares. Then, of course, we deliver right to the houses, and so avoid loading and unloading en route. Our vans will go up to Manchester if necessary."
"And so your opinion of motorvans is, Mr. Stewart — ?"
" That I am a satisfied user," he finished.
"The next machines we shall take over will be Bernas, contracted for by the X.Y.Z. Transport Co."