Sidelights on C.W.S. Transport
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IN transport management one never knows what may turn up," said Mr. R. W. Royle, president of the Co-operative Traffic Managers Association, at a recent meeting of the Manchester and Liverpool Section of the Institute of Transport, held at Manchester. Mr. Royle is one of the chiefs of the transport department of the Co-operative Wholesale Society, Ltd., which possesses 575 commercial vehicles, and, in addition, hires a considerable number from haulage contractors.
Mr. Royle took as his subject "A General Survey of Traffic Management." The job of a traffic manager, he said, was one that demanded careful and quick thinking, prompt decisions, tact and courage and close application. He must know the best and most ecbnoinical methods and negotiate his costs with the various carrying concerns.
Insurance of goods on the road might be included in the rate by the haulier, but it was necessary to know that the insurance company was of sufficient standiug to meet the liability undertaken. The traffic manager of one large concern found he was paying out so much in insurance and his claims were so small, that he started his own internal insurance and was surprised at the satisfactory results, Lie said that the C.W.S. uses various methods and forms of transport. By road there are machines for carrying grain in bulk, oil in tanks, and milk in
• glass-lined tanks, as well as furniture vans, cattle wagons and other special vehicles for particular work.
Standard costs could not be quoted for road-transport operations, because the service was essentially an individual one and could not be standardized. Actual working costs in any particular case depended on conditions. Discussing the canvassing of traffic
by carriers, Mr. Royle said it was not good policy to jump from one carrier to another, and to play one off against the other. The railway man sometimes asked what was the rate at which the haulage contractor offered to convey the traffic. " Is it policy to tell him— is it fair? " he asked. In Mr. Royle's opinion the correct attitude is to tell each frankly that he is in competition and must do his best in rates and service. The recipient of the information should keep it to himself.
The retail co-operative societies have solved the problem of serving new housing estates by putting on the road travelling shops in groceries, meat and drapery. The societies have more than 1,000 of these vehicles in service. Thus what appeared to be a detrimental policy on the part of the Government in excluding shops from these housing estates was turned to good account by the resource of the transport manager.