Problems of Rationalizing Retail Deliveries
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A Revolution in Trade Customs and Practices as Reviewed by a Sub-District Manager—Present and Post-war Requirements in Distribution
WHEN the Government launched its campaign at the beginning of the year to secure all possible economies in the retail delivery of goods by organizing meetings of traders' associations, Chambers of Commerce, etc., through the medium of the Ministry of War _Transport, Ministry of Food and Board of Trade, it must have seemed to the average trader as if a minor blitz had descended upon his, hitherto, systematic and well-regulated business methods.
What had grown up over a long period of years and developed rapidly, more' so within the past 20 years by the advent of the motor delivery vehicle, into an integral and essential part of that quality of service which every trader strives to give his patrons, it appeared, had, to all intents and Arposes, to disappear overnight. At least, in the words of the Ministries' officials, this was to occur on February 21, by which date, it was stated, local schemes of re-planned delivery services had to be submitted. The development in the war. situation had made it more imperative than ever that all possible economies should be made in retail deliveries which entailed the unnecessary use of fuel, tyres, vehicles and man-power.
There was feverish activity up and down the whole couutrjr; meetings were 'quickly organized in larger towns and cities, where Transport Commissioners, Food Officers, etc., met representatives of organized trade bodies, and the Government's proposals were fully explained. Five distinct methods of rationalization were suggested by the Government;—(1) Pooling of vehicles to provide a common delivery fleet for a number of shops in the same locality; (2) zoning of areas and restriction of customers who want deliveries to suppliers within their zones; (3) preventing retailers from delivering outside the areas of their own scheme; (4) providing a radius from the shop within which no deliveries may be made; (5) restriction to nominated days of the days on which deliveries may be made. It was also made clear that the field of economy covered motorvans, electric vehicles, horsed and hand carts, even bicycle deliveries.
Meetings Under . Winter Conditions Meanwhile, in smaller towns and country areas the Ministry of War Transport's regional organization had set to work and many District Transport Officers and Sub-District Managers were to be found of an evening ensconsed in town and village halls, shivering,in their winter overcoats and inwardly cursing the fact that Mr. Bones, the local butcher, could not see eye to eye with his rival in trade, or that Mr. Eggs, the grocer, had raised the now familiar cry about " the queues.'' Despite these temporary setbacks, however, the meetings as a general rule, if not wholly sympathetic, were attentive.
Consideration of deliveries of milk and bread, which presented special problems, were stated to be temporarily deferred, special investigations being in hand by the Ministry of Food. The ticklish legal point arose as to whether Lord Woolton's Order limiting retail deliveries of bread to any customer to three days per week included morning rolls, and this required very careful consideration before a studied reply could be given. To complicate matters, very often it would be found that Co-operative Societies delivered milk and morning rolls as well. Could they continue to deliver these on six days of the week? As to the delivery of milk, surely the dairymen could say how far the Ministry of Food investigations had gone—but no, neither the dairymen nor the Ministry of Food official had any information on the point. This was puzzling to the Other retailers; if milk was so important that it required special investigations, surely some information as to the efficiency, of a scheme for milk could assist them in formulating their own plans?
Difficulties With Milk Transport Often the absence of information, even from the Ministry of Food officials, made it very difficult to give clear and istformative answers and was apt to instil doubts in the minds of other traders as to the practicability of forming local schemes. Some local mills retailers suggested forming block delivery schemes, provided the Ministry of Food would agree to re-registration of customers, although, apparently, no voluntary effort had yet been asked of them, and they hinted that proper re-organization could effect economy in transport besides reducing distribution costs, with possibilities of lowering the price of milk to the consumer.
The position of the individual small trader using a motorvan as a travelling shop presented difficulty. Many of these traders perform a necessary function by serving the scattered populatiost in rural districts and are depended upon for supplies. As with the main body of ?ridependent professional hauliers, many are men who returned from the last great struggle and who were forced, through the changing fortunes of the previous past-war period, to ally their own trade skill to the mechanized knowledge they had acquired by marketing their wares on road motors.
Of the five suggested methods of rationalization, the common delivery pool and the zoning of areas were more applicable to larger towns, and .generally speaking, the retail traders in provincial and rural areas endeavoured to solve tee problem by'fixing on restriction of deliveries to nominated days, e.g., butchers two days and grocers one day per week, with provision, so far as possible, to prevent overlapping of delivery boundaries. Some traders offered to undergo further cuts in petrol rations and others indicated that, owing to petrol rationing, depletion of personnel, etc., deliveries had already been severely curtailed. 'One would have thought that the urgency of the situation would have resulted in general agreement in towns to stop deliveries within an agreed radius, but at the moment this does not seem to be so universal as imagined.
It is• often remarked, unjustifiably, that country people are narrow.minded, selfish and decidedly parochial. in their outlook. When, however. direct contact is made with the rustic and he realizes the need for urgent co-operation in the national interest, he is not lacking in national pride, nor does he lag behind his urban brother
in taking measures, In the towns, where competition is keener, there is apt to be an undercurrent of distrust between traders,' where there exist side by side, independent traders, multiple combines and hp-operative societies; and the feeling indicated there was that compulsion would prove a common leveller rather than that necessity should take its rightful place as the, father of invention. But there it is, a nation of shopkeepers, as Napoleon had it, must weeds stomach a revolution in its customs brought about by war circumstances.
Retail Transport . in the Future It remains to be seen how far the various endeavours at replanning of delivery services will have the desired effect of bringing about the utmost economy in the use of fuel, rubber and man-power, particularly in view of the new system of fuel rationing, whereby the basic ration is abolished and issues of fuel will be made only if justified by the nature of the work performed, One thing is certain, however, if we take a provincial area including industrial towns and rural districts as a typical or sufficient cross-section of the rest of the country, the various problems and difficulties brought to Tight through the recent investigations show clearly that there is a great field here for the Ministry of Past-War Planning and Reconstruction. If we are to have planned housing, public health and social services, then indeed the problems of planned distribution of goods and other essential services will necessarily arise and with it the creation of a system of planned retail transport which will eliminate overlapping, wasted mileage, etc., so that th& burden of increasing costs may be lessened and have the desirable effect of making for cheaper goods to the consumer.