JANUS The haulier may find himself
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WRITES
being squeezed in the interest of lower prices in the shops'
kESALE price maintenance, and other devices for keeping charges stable, have long been the envy of hauliers who have found no effective way of protectig their rates from. over enthusiastic competition or in ame cases the ultimatum of a customer. Whether or not ley ale directly affected, therefore, hauliers will follow ith interest the progress of the Government's proposed ew legislation which is intended to abolish price-fixing. Except where special exemptions can be justified, most f the items regularly bought by road operators will call nder the Government's interdict. They will expect to see new price structure for vehicles, tyres, fuel and accessories nd equipment. The general hope is that prices will fall. rideed, there would have been no point in manufacturers nd distributors adhering to their restrictive agreements ' they had not believed that the arrangement would work
1 their favour. .
There inay not be so great a benefit as appears at first lance. Many operators, probably the great majority, njoy a discount on most of their supplies and services. 'hey may find it less easy to obtain the same rebates s in the past if there is no clear price level from which le rebates can be calculated as a percentage. Other ifficultics may arise if the agents and factors, and even le manufacturers themselves where direct purchase is lade, i educe their service facilities in order to recompense lernselves for a reduced margin of profit.
HE MAIN DIFFICULTY
For hauliers the main difficulty may arise where pricexing is no longer permitted on some of the goods they arry. Faced with the ultimate prospect of a drop in the ening price, makers, wholesalers and retailers alike will ach do their best to ensure that no part of the reduction alls tipon them. If this cannot be avoided, their next tep will be to seek reductions in their own costs. They dli be tempted to follow the line of least resistance, which a the past has too often led them to the provider of ransport. There will be pressure on transport departlents to cut down expenditure. If he is not careful, the aulier may find himself being squeezed in the interest of Dwer prices in the shops.
The proposed legislation is coming at an awkward time or hauliers, who must soon make up their minds what Iteration they should make in their rates as a result in articular of the four per cent. wage increase recently roposect by the Road Haulage Wages Council. For many perators wages represent as Much as half of their total osts, and they are bound to seek agreement with their ustomers for this reason alone, apart from other increases 1 costs since the last rates increase of five per cent, was ecommended in June, 1963, by the rates committee of the toad Haulage Association.
Where hauliers have taken prompt and firm action, they ,ave usually had no difficulty in the past in persuading heir customers that a recommendation by the committee .s reasonable, although sometimes it has been found
expedient to settle for something less than the percentage suggested. Failure to make any impression is almost invariably due to tardy or inadequate presentation of the case, or lack of support from other operators engaged in the same traffic, or even in some cases the absence of any approach to the customer at all, on the somewhat unlikely grounds that a polite request for a higher rate would mean the loss of the business.
RATES REDUCED?
Hauliers bold enough to approach their customers cannot blame their representatives on the committee for not preparing the ground or for not being sufficiently precise in their proposals. If a rates increase is not given, there must be other reasons. In the coming year, with the efforts of the Government more than usually directed towards keeping prices down, hauliers may have to combat the suggestion from many of their customers that rates should be reduced rather than increased. Abolition of resale price maintenance, if it comes to pass, will be used as an additional argument, whether or not hauliers are in fact paying less for their supplies.
On behalf of the hauliers, more might be made of the fact that their rates have not risen since the war by anything like the extent of most other prices. To a considerable extent this is due to improvements in operating efficiency and in the performance of vehicles, tyres, fuel and so on. A comparison of the tables published by The Commercial Motor before the war and at the present time will show that, although road haulage wages have kept pace with wages in general, operating costs have approximately doubled. whereas the price of most commodities and services has increased at least three times,
A RHETORICAL EXERCISE
It is doubtful whether rates have even doubled over the past 30 years. Some old-established operators are in the habit of saying that the rates they are expected to charge
have not changed at all, or have even fallen. Such a statement may be no more than a rhetorical exercise for it would be difficult to find an exact basis of comparison; but if this were possible there might conceivably be a few examples where the statement is true.
For many.. traffics, the proposed increases cannot be regarded as cumulative. They are strictly applicable to specific rises in costs over a specified period of time. During that time, an individual haulier may have changed his methods and equipment, and the traffic may also have changed. Where this happens, as it frequently does, the rates may also have been adjusted, perhaps out of all recognition. This does not mean that the new rates should not go up with all the others when items of cost are clearly seen to increase.
In other words, hauliers should pursue the recommendations of their representatives without being distracted by side issues. If their rate was fair before certain increases in their costs, it is logical that the rate should go up to meet those increases.