PROBLEMS OF THE HAULIER AND CARRIER.
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A Method of Allotting Transport Costs when One Vehicle Carries Several Separate Loads on One Trip.
JJAULAGE contractors frequently find that they have many small loads to distribute on a trip which is roughly circular, and the difficulty innne diately arises as to the correct proportion of cost which must be charged to each of the parties involved. More particularly does this 'apply to firms who use their own vehicles for carrying loads to several jobs on which they may be working in the vicinity of their own factory or works. It is a particularly awkward matter to distribute the charges fairly iithout a vast amount of calculation—or, more generally, guesswork !—and, therefore, we feel that no excuse is needed for introducing this subject to the notice of our readers this week.
The case which the inquirer has put before us is quite a general one, and a few details are necessary before we can discuss it in full. In this particular instance, a firm of builders is concerned. Their fleet is occupied in carrying loads to the various undertakings in their own district, and they report that, so far, they have not been able to find a satisfactory method of booking the accounts without excessive labour and the absorption of too much time. They quote an extreme, but not uncommon, example of a job which falls to the lot of their transport department to handle. A vehicle leaves the yard on a circular trip, delivers goods to three or four places, and possibly collects plant or surplus materials from one or other job, to deposit it at a different spot along the route or returns to the yard with what is not required.
It appears to us that the key to the problem of division of expenses rests with the record sheet, or some equivalent document, which sets forth the actual loads, etc., which are carried for a particular. trip. It is obvious that the driver must not be expected to do the work of a clerk and the less writing he has to do with greasy or dirty hands the better for those whose duty it is to collect the data, with which the driver provides them, for book-keeping purposes. Writing, again, is a difficult matter when the only desk is the wing of a lorry, therefore we have endeavoured to avoid the necessity for it so far as possible, as well be seen in a later paragraph. The illustration, at first sight, will appear very complicated and will probably remind one of a " snakes and ladders board," but upon investigation it will not be found so terrible. The layout is, of course, merely a suggestion and it can be adapted to suit the needs of different businesses. At the head of the sheet the three requirements are date of trip, vehicle and driver's name. On the left-hand side we start with a builder's yard or garage and put down the names of the various delivery points on the route, the last of all being the yard or home. At the head of each thickly ruled column is inserted the description of the article ti) he conveyed, such as bricks, cement, etc. (the description does not occur at any other point in the record). These items may be entered by the yard -foreman, or whosoever is supposed to do this particular work when the lorry leaves the premises. At the right-hand side the
time is inserted and the foreman initials the sheet to certify that the load and time are correct.
Each main vertical column is divided into two, namely, " load '' and " unload." Let us take the first column on the left-hand side and we see that the lorry leaves with 330 bricks ; these are entered in the "load" column. They are not dumped at the first point of call, but 220 of them are left at Teddington. The figures for each of the unloading or delivery places may either be entered on the sheet by the despatching foreman, where it is definitely known that a certain quantity is to be delivered at a place, or they can be entered by the foreman receiving them, where, out of each parcel, only the quantity required is taken. The delivery at Teddington is indicated on the sheet by the driver drawing a line from the figure 330 to the 220 figure in the " unload " column on the line coinciding with Teddington (all the places named are imaginary). The remaining 110 are deposited at Sheep's Farm, which is indicated by a line drawn from the 330 " yard " figure to 110 in the " unload" column at Sheep's Farm. The " Cement" column shows loads carried to four points, the .remainder of the column being ruled upwards from left to right (to avoid confusion with the load lines) to indicate that no more cement is handled. The " Sand " column indicates one unloading point and a quantity returned to the yard. It would be the duty of the yard foreman to inquire why this waste of. transport has occurred and to endeavour to avoid a recurrence.
The sixth column, " Laths," states that of the 100 taken on board at the yard 50 are left at the first point, 200 picked up at the second and the 250 left at Sheep's Farm. In the case of blocks and tackle picked up at Teddington, the downward arrow indicates lead, whilst the other lines show that no such material is on board between the points concerned. The "Ropes " column is somewhat similar ; also the last column for the crane.
Times are set forth on the right-hand side and the foreman at each place initials the sheet for checking purposes. The driver has merely to draw lines from one point to another, as if to say, " I've done that! " Provided he does not enter the description of the articles, he has no writing to do except sign his name, which, of course, can be done at the office on return.
The next problem is that, having got the driver's record sheet for a trip, 'he office clerk must elucidate the information which it contains. The first step is to insert the mileages between the various load points and we have taken the following figures for example. Yard to Moslem Lane five miles, to Teddington three miles, to Wooton Road three miles, to Sheep's Farm two miles, and back to the yard seven miles. This gives us a total trip of 20 miles. The next stage in the proceedings is for the clerk to ascertain the total cost of running the particular vehicle for 2i} miles, which he can obtain_ from his yearly costs sheet. Let us say, for the ease in hand, El 8s. for the 20 miles.
Knowing the cost of the trip, we have to allot a certain amount to each type of material carried, taking its weight and the distance it is transported. Of bricks, 330 are taken as being approximately I ton, therefore, two-thirds of the total weight of bricks, which are dropped at Teddington, must be charged to Teddington. The total weight carried by the lorry for the trip reckoned at the commencing point is, say, 52 cwt. The bricks, therefore, arc • 20 out of the 52 cwt., being 5-13ths of a total load. With these two factors worked out, we can arrive at the cost for the bricks in this manner-2-3rd s of 5-13ths of the proportionate mileage covered. In this case, from the yard to Teddington is eight miles, which is 2-5ths of the total trip. The calculation, therefore, will be 2-3rds of 5-13ths of 2-5ths of 28s., which is roughly 7s. if it is desired to simplify the matter, incidentally sacrificing a certain amount of accuracy, of course, the 52-cwt. load can be ignored and the capacity of the lorry substituted, namely, 60 cwt. This will save working out the total load every time a trip is done.
The foregoing may give the impression of a sort of glorified cross-word puzzle, but the number of vertical and horizontal columns will not always be as great, as they will vary according to the quantity of material carried and the number of loading and unloading points. • The chief advantage this system offers is its simplicity from the driver's point of view, as he has only lines to draw, and it is upon his care in compiling the record under any system that accuracy depends. If a driver gets muddled with his record sheet, no amount of office work will put it right and much good time is wasted in asking questions, which we thinç the sheet will render unnecessary.