BETTER BREAD DELIVERY.
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Arguments Placed Before Bakers, Confectioners and Caterers in Conference on Modern Transport Methods.
PEAKING at the 1925 Conference of the National Association of "master Bakers, Confectioners and Caterers, at Margate on Wednesday last, Mr. C. Holmes Waghorn, A.M.Inst.C.E., said that they were there to discover cleaner and cheaper delivery for the baker and confectioner —meaning bigger profits without increased cost of bread. Traders and manufacturers were often so busy with the main chance that transport problems were neglected. Most bakers with a wholesale and retail business requiring " consumer delivery" spent at least 10 per cent, of their turnover, on delivery service, so that a small saving in delivery expense meant an appreciable increase in profits.
The delivery problem must always he analysed to find which form of transport is the economical solution; and in considering the available delivery means he wanted particularly to remind them of the " Electrivan," for what electricity had done in the machine bakery it could repeat in the transport field. Delivery was the last impression left on customers' minds, and just as every penny spent through the use of out-of-date bakehouse appliances was a direct tax on profits, so was the use of unsuitable delivery equipment.
Wholesale delivery, demanding prompt transfvence of goods in bulk, was a difficult subject, and investigation had shown that efficiency in this field was attributed mostly to the use of well-designed loading-docks, standardized equipment, band-conveyors and, above all, to the keeping of accurate delivery cost records. Vans must be capable of high overall speed, for it was notable that vehicles capable of high, running speed were not always the first to return from rounds incurring many stone.
Retail delivery consisted of comparatively short rounds with a large number of stops. Rapid acceleration between stops meant that more time could be devoted to sales and developing new business. Appearance was of great importance and-drivers must be primarily salesmen. In these days of wrapped bread and hygiene, unkempt drivers and shabby vans could not fail to impress the consumer unfavourably. With efficient driver-salesmen whose attention was not diverted by frequent attentions to horse or van remarkable intensity of delivery 'could often be achieved.
A mistake often made was that of trying to fit the available delivery fleet to rounds as they deeeloped from day to day. If full advantage was to be taken of the various characteristics of steam, petrol, electric or horse trauspert, rounds would often have to be consolidated, divided and remodelled. This might mean payment of compensation to driver-salesmen whose rounds were changed, but the resulting saving would make any such alteration worth while.
In considering the chief characteristics of the various transport means available, they might take first the wellknown petrol van, a' rapid and adaptable means of transport, with first cost more than. the horse and less than the electric van. For long-distance clear runs, the petrol lorry had no competitor, but for city work its economic possibilities could seldom be realized. On congested streets, much engine running with a stationary vehicle involved high petrol consumption and continual gear changing with adverse effect. Rapidly moving intricate parts, engine and sensitive auxiliaries called for frequent attention. To withstand vibration petrol-van bodies must be substantially built, and this reduced the useful load.
Lovers of horses who resist their replacement by mechanical traction must realize that with modern conditions the horse's life in city streets was not a happy one. Often, in country towns or sub-sections of a city, with a delivery radius of about two miles and literally house-to-house delivery, thehorse might be well employed, but the tendency was for horses to be less and less used, and their numbers had been approximately halved in the last decade. Housing and fodder took a great deal of valuable space and increased fire hazard. The horse was often out of service and was then as expensive as when working. Those who had investigated the problem said, generally, that the electric vehicle should take its place.
The motive power of the electric consisted merely of motors obtaining current from a storage battery operated by a simple controller. Motors were usually coupled to the driving wheels by gears always in mesh, requiring no shifting and making little demand on the driver, who should be not so much a chauffeur as a good salesman. More attention could be paid to traffic, so that fewer accidents occurred. Although costing far less in repair than the petrol vehicle, the life of the electric was nearly three times as long, and its economy should need no further proof. Absence of vibration meant less wear on tyres and enabled lighter bodies to be used. Reformers in footstuff handling must welcome the electric for its extreme cleanliness and lack of smell. A van which diminished street noise was a public benefit and brought goodwill to the business using it. Whilst the maximum speed of the electric only ranged from 12 to 15 miles an hour, that did not prevent it from being the fastest vehicle in the world in its own field.
It might be asked, "Why, then, is the electric vehicle not more used?" The speaker pointed out that this mtricted use was confined to Europe. MI' more convincing proof of the worth of the electric vehicle was to be found than its widespread application in America, where conditions for its use were less favourable than in this country. Progressive, private electricity companies there took a different attitude from that of our municipal electricity companies who urge customers to use electrical household devices and ignore the electric vehicle, thus losing an opportunity of selling thousands of kilowatthours of off-peak current per year. The success of petrol transport was largely due to the educative propaganda of oil companies, and with similar support the electric vehicle would handle 70 per cent, of city and suburban deliveries.
Mr. Waghorn said he wished to emphasize the importance of transport cost accounting, and the necessity to keep watch on every item of expenditure and to record details of performance for every vehicle, horse and van. Traders would then realize pat over threequarters of city transport could be performed more economically by electric vehicles, and when this came to pass electrics would save millions of pounds for their owners and for the people.