To Motor Lorry Drivers.
Page 22
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A Straight Talk, by An Owner.
The modern influx of the motor lorry, which replaces the old order of horse haulage, has brought about a great many changes., and changes which have arisen out of the fact that the steam or petrol-driven vehicle undoubtedly requires the exercise of more brain than is necessary for the old and slower locomotion. The inevitable has happened, and we have, in different parts of the country, a considerable number of drivers—real drivers; we also have, unfortunately, an almost equal number of the others.
A Matter of Classification.
By " the others " is meant men who may be put under three heads : (t) the mechanic-driver, who can do all necessary repairs to his machine, and who consents, when not engaged in repair or fitting, to drive in addition, as a favour; (2) the driver who can do a fair amount of his repairs, and who will drive only, insisting on a loader and unloader being found for him while he complacently moves his machine from point to point, also as a favour ; and (3) the man who can neither drive safely, repair properly, nor do anything well except draw his weekly, unearned wage, and who, perhaps realising his deficiencies, consents to assist in loading and unloading, again as a favour.
Too Much "No. 1."
The fact is that, while recognising to the full the value of a good all-round man, who is a good deal of the difference between failure and success in a lorry, observation and experience prove that there are too many men abroad of the classes r, 2, and 3—men who, with a little knowledge and no great desire to acquire more, are. content to take a berth for a brief period, hang out of work for a while, take another, and simply drift from job to job, or elsewhere. Adepts at "telling the tale," they acquire a false confidence in their applications for work, and lead the employer (for a very short time) to think he has obtained a good man. Indifferent, reckless, and lazy, they forget or neglect to perform the very elementary points of their duties, and the end soon conies. Ask them to name the " cracks " in the football and racing world for the last ten years or more, and the result drives one to the sorrowful conclusion that they have acquired a mass of useless data to the crowdingout of information which should bring them their daily bread. Blame them for acts of omission or commission, and they are ready to go; in fact, they are much more in6pendent than their masters dare dream of being.
The Employer's Side.
This is a straight talk; therefore, no excuse is made in saying that scores of drivers have either not enough brains, or they have not the inclination, to think that, in a business house, they are expected to make their department pay. Many drivers, to their credit, can tell you how many miles and tons they must run and carry to make a paying day : 4‘.the others " simply don't care a — and, if .asked, would tell you so. " Standing " and " running " charges to them are known only by name, if at all : they do their work, in a fashion, and must be paid for it ! Their dinner hour is one hour and as much over as circumstances will permit. If they make a bad day, and know it, they do not regard it as a duty to make up for it in the following days, and an hour or two's extra work at night causes a feeling of wanting to be "paid up." Do these gentlemen imagine that any employer is so delighted to expend 2„z_75oo on a lorry, which is supposed to
perform the work of six horses, that he can be satisfied with the work of three horses out of the machine, and can ignore the consequent heavy daily loss? An actual case is to be found in a man who, engaged after boasting of experience enough to make his intending employer consider himself an insignificant atom in this world's mighty concourse, and after being told that overtime, at times unavoidable, was provided for in a bonus, deliberately came down again in the evening in order to time in another lorry belonging to the firm. It came in about 7.3o p.m.— and broke his heart ! Not turning up next day, nor having sent any explanation, he was called upon, but was not to be seen, nor was he ever seen again—which was not regretted!
Mutual Consideration.
Admitting that many employers have tried to run their lorries with 255. per week " lorry smashers," and that some of them might, perhaps, get more from their drivers by the exercise of more encouragement, financial and otherwise, it is, nevertheless, respectfully urged upon the Lorry Drivers' Union,* and upon the men themselves, that the class of malcontents referred to are a grave danger to a growing industry. A man who has not that knowledge of mechanically-driven vehicles to be sufficiently sure of himself to make his machine a credit to the maker, and make a profit for his employers, should remain a labourer. It is a treat to read of the apparently efficient men who write the " Drivers News " in " TnE COMMERCIAL MOTOR," and it is the aim of this article to induce those men who are not up to the standard to pause awhile and think. " He who knows, and knows that he knows, is wise—follow him," says an Arabian proverb; but what could any employer think of a man who boasts that he is a " fitter," and who can really do a fair amount of such work, but who, after a month's work, leaves to his successor his boiler and engine in such a state, through his neglecting to wash out and pack properly, as to cause the wagon to be at less than half its normal state as regards consumptions and speed! Add t.) this, that his engine bed and cups were so dry, through neglected lubrication, that his escape from accident was marvellous, and one has another actual example of these " Admirable Crichton; ! "
" The labourer is worthy of his hire," but, nowadays, it is necessary for employers to make a man prove his worth before giving him such a wage as that to which a good driver is entitled. In " the others," also, we have the type of man who kicks his horses in the slower vehicles : if a few of them were punished, by the Law, in the same way for reckless abuse and bad driving of their machines, it might, perhaps, be a lesson to them and others.
Is More Encouragement Needed?
Some encouragement might be offered, by .motor-lorry makers, to drivers with the best years records on their machines, and employers will do well, when they know they have a good man, to give him a wage which will make him more anxious still to earn it. " Fair play " should be the motto for each side, and, if "the others "cannot standardise themselves to that level, the sooner a " black list " is started the better. The men who will take a pound a week wage, and immediately cut out their performances to a level which will render them dear at ios. per week, should never be allowed to handle the steering wheel.