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YEARS OF PARCELS ARRYING

23rd July 1954, Page 47
23rd July 1954
Page 47
Page 46
Page 48
Page 47, 23rd July 1954 — YEARS OF PARCELS ARRYING
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

By P. G. Tucker

IN the first six days of starting in the parcels carry ing business, N. Francis and Co., Ltd., Parkholme Road, London, E.8, showed a turnover of £7 6s. Id. That was in 1922 when a single 20-cwt. vehicle operated within a 10-mile radius of its depot. Today, well over two million parcels are handled every year, collection and distribution being carried out with a fleet of 72 vehicles.

The business, when first established in 1878, was, amongst other things, concerned with the transport of pianos, mainly new instruments either from the makers' premises to their selling agents, or from the agents to

the purchaser. Mr. H. C. Goozee, the managing director of the company, told me that the delivery charge was 2s. 6d. and that the man who made the delivery would frequently receive more as a tip.

During the period preceding the Christmas of 1914, no fewer than 240 pianos were delivered in one day. Sometimes it would be difficult to obtain payment for the transport service and the company would accept a piano, valued at about £8 or £10, in lieu of payment. If it was of no proprietary make the company would put their own transfer on it and it would eventually be sold as a Francis instrument.

Ford Vehicles Predominate From the early days when the company first adopted mechanical transport, Ford vehicles have predominated and have played an important part in building up, what is today, one of the biggest private enterprise parcels carrying concerns in the country. Of the 72 vehicles operated 61 are Thames 7V 3and 5-tonners, 10 are Dennis Ace—a most reliable vehicle— and the odd one a Dennis Stork, a recent addition which is being run experimentally. (The Commercial Motor, January 29.)

With improvements in vehicle maintenance, overall efficiency has been improved and this is reflected in the monthly fuel-consumption figures. In October, of last year, the quantity of fuel used was 8,585 gal., whereas in January of this year the figure was 7,792. Even allowing for the increased business which is enjoyed during October, November and early December, the indications are that a good percentage of this saving can be attributed to other than seasonal operation.

The average rate of fuel consumption of the Thames vehicle with V8 engines is 7 m.p.g. which induced the B12

company's transport engineer to fit a Cost-Cutter engine to one of the 7V 3-ton chassis. The conversion was so successful that a further four were similarly powered. An improvement from 7 to 10 m.p.g. proved to be one of the direct benefits derived from the experiment.

A similar unit was fitted into one of the company's 7V 5-tonners and the results obtained led to two more of these chassis being so converted.

The only oil-engined vehicle in the fleet is the Dennis Stork which is showing a fuel-consumption figure at the rate of 20-22 m.p.g. Like all the vehicles in the fleet it has a Luton-type body, with a total capacity of 780 Cu. ft. The cab is particularly capacious and as a design feature of the Stork chassis is its low frame height, the driver can step in and out quickly and safely.

On the near side the door is of the jack-knife type, which is not only easy to operate but can be left open should the driver have a number of deliveries to make in fairly quick succession. As there are no obstructions in the cab there is no occasion for the off side door, which is of the normal swing type, to be used.

There has been one criticism of this vehicle and this is concerned with the tow line at the front. Should the driver have to enter or leave a yard where the road camber is excessive, the front bumper can make contact with the ground. This could be overcome by slightly upsweeping the front end of the body. The complete vehicle weighs just under 2i tons.

In 1934 the company took over the premises now occupied at Parkholme Road, from which base the vehicles cover an area within a radius of about 25 miles. This embraces such places as Hertford, Watford and St. Albans in the north, Gravesend, Orpington, Coulsdon and Leatherhead in the south, Tilbury, Brentwood and Epping in the east and Uxbridge, Slough and Windsor in the west.

About 90 per cent, of the company's customers are on book accounts which means that the drivers, who also collect, have their regular calls within the area where they normally make deliveries. The remaining 10 per cent, deliver their parcels direct to Parkholme Road from places as far distant as Nottingham, Lancashire, Birmingham and Swindon.

Following the arrival of the goods at the depot the company guarantee that direct delivery will be made of each parcel to the consignee within 24 hours, but in most cases they are delivered in a much shorter period. With so many parcels passing through each day, any delay, either in sorting or dispatch, would soon lead to chaos. Procedure on the reception and dispatch platform is under the control of a staff of 30. Each vehicle on its return to depot takes up its allotted position, and the platform staff immediately commence to unload it. All parcels are at once routed to their correct loading bays according to the delivery area. Parcels that are brought direct to the depot by the consignor are dealt with in the same way on arrival.

All vehicles are prepared on the previous night so that a minimum of time is spent in getting away in the morning. Each driver assists in the loading, arranging the parcels as nearly as possible in the order in which they will be delivered. Each driver makes, on an average, 90 drops per day, but there are occasions when this number is doubled.

Although the busiest periods of the year are October, November and the early part of December, there are other times when normal facilities may be unduly strained. To cope with such contingencies, a float of 25 vehicles is maintained and those that may be required are dove-tailed into the daily scheme. Thus it is possible to meet all emergencies.

Basis of Charges

Delivery charges are based on weight and bulk and according to the zoned area in which the delivery is made. Quite a substantial amount of business is concerned with packages of known weight and size such as soap powders, custard powders, canned goods of all kinds, vacuum cleaners and so on. Consignment books are issued to regular customers and when the driver • collects the goods he is also handed the book in which the consignor has given full details of that particular day's batch of parcels.

These figures are accepted by the carriers so that booking methods become particularly free of irksome and time-wasting procedure. A system such as this could be satisfactory only if the parties concerned each trusted the integrity of the other, and it is obvious that here is a case where personal contact over many years has built up a happy working arrangement to the benefit of all parties concerned_ ' The company are fortunate in having an excellent record of long service amongst their employees, and of the 140 at present on the payroll 29 have received watches for 25 years' service.

Each driver keeps to one vehicle and although he has no direct concern with its maintenance it is his duty to report on any feature which may indicate the need for early attention. Apart from the fact that he would do this in any case, failure to do so might be responsible for him failing to qualify for an accident-free bonus which is given to all drivers. The company, incidentally, are members of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.

The System of Maintenance

All maintenance work is carried out by the company's own engineering staff and normally there are six vehicles in the shops for routine servicing. Each vehicle has a record book in which are entered the details of the work carried out on it during its docking period.

Following a close inspection of the chassis it may be found, for instance, that the brake facings, although not requiring immediate replacement, should receive prior attention when the vehicle again comes in for servicing. A note is made of this at the bottom of the page on which the jobs which have been carried out arc entered.

When the vehicle next comes in, the first item to receive attention is always the one noted at the bottom of the page. Twelve mechanics work in pairs, the arrangement being that six vehicles are always in the shops leaving 66 available for service.

Vehicles are brought in on both a tune and mileage basis and by taking six off the road at a time it is possible to maintain a fairly short-period service system. No vehicle carries a spare wheel and tyre, the arrangement being that should a driver experience tyre trouble he makes use of the facilities of certain garages which are embraced in a tyre-service scheme.

Some of the reasons given for not carrying a spare wheel are the risk of it being stolen, and the added weight represented by the wheel and attendant accessories. Experience has shown that whilst " flats " are exceedingly rare, tyre mileage figures are not high because of the frequent stopping and starting, combined with excessive kerbing. The mileage covered by the fleet last year was 845,250.


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