IGNORANCE MAKES THE PURS1 3ROW SHORTER
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Solving the Problems of the Carrier
N°THING contributes so effectively to realization as personal experience. Often I have heard manufacturers deplore the fact that operators and drivers of their vehicles do not read the instruction books which they prepare with such care and at such expense. I have sympathized with them as sincerely as I have been able, because I do appreciate that instruction books, especially those 'which are issued to-day, are costly and in their preparation entail a great deal of trouble and care. I have always imagined, until recently, that in that way I fully appreciated how these manufacturers felt about the matter.
Now I have had a jolt of the same kind administered to me and I realize to the full, instead of only half appreciating, how exasperating it is carefully to prepare a set of instructions and to find them completely ignored by the very people whom they are intended to help.
The other day I called on a haulier, at his request. He had written to say that he had bought a copy of The Commercial Motor Operating Costs Record and was using it, but did not quite understand some of its finer points. Ile asked me whether I would assist him. I found that he was the owner of two vehicles, a 2-tonner and a maximum-load four-wheeler. He had made entries in the Operating Costs Record for a few weeks, which, at a casual glance, appeared to be in order. "What is your trouble?" I asked.
"I can't understand how you get at this 1.88d. per mile for tyres, maintenance and depreciation," he said. "Surely, it can't be right for both my lorries—the 2tonner as well as the 8-tonner?"
" What 1.88d.?" I asked, mystified.
"This," came the reply, with a reference to the example of a completed page which is set out at the beginning of the book. In that example, in the lower portion of the page, under the B8 heading of "Running Costs," the cost of tyres, maintenance and depreciation is actually quoted at 1.88d. per mile.
"But, good gracious," I said, "that relates only to a 3-tonner."
"There is nothing on this page to show that," he complained.
"No," I answered, "but it is fully explained on the opposite page, on which are printed instructions for use of the Record."
" I am afraid I've never troubled to read that," said
he, without so much as the indication of a blush. "Well, you ought to," I replied. "If you do so, you will find in the second column, under the heading Example of Use,' that this vehicle, which is dealt with in the example of a completed page, is a 3-tonner."
"Then how am I to find out what figure I ought to use for my 2-tonner and my 8-tormer?"
"All that," I said—and it was as much as I could do to avoid showing my exasperation—" you will, find if you read that page of instructions. It is there suggested that if you have no details of your own cost of maintenance or cost of tyres, or if you are not sure what you should allow for depreciation, you Should refer to The
-,Commercial Motor Tables of Operating Costs. It . is pretty obvious that you have no knowledge . of these matters. Or have you?"
"No, I'm afraid I haven't."
" Have you a copy of The CoMmercial Motor Tables of Operating Costs?"
"Oh yes, I have one of those all right."
"Then, if you turn to Table I and look under the heading '2-ton,' you will find the figures for tyres, maintenance and depreciation to be 0.36d., 0.77d. and 0.55d. respectively. The total is 1.68d. That is the figure you should use, instead of the 1.88d. in the record. Now, as to the other vehicle, is it petrolengined or oil-engined?"
"It's oil-engined," he answered.
"Then, in that case, you must turn to Table IV and, under the heading Ma.rirnum Load,' you will find the corresponding figures to be 0.80d. for tyres, 1.37d, for maintenance and 1.28d. for depreciation. The total is 3.45d. and that is the figure you must use."
"I am a long way out, then, in my costs up to now," he said, "especially in the case of the bigger vehicle."
"You are, rather," I answered. "A matter of rather more than 1id. a mile, which is equal, on the mileage you are covering, to £5 a week."
"But how can I possibly be so much as £5 a week out, without knowing about it?" he exclaimed.
Preventing Under-estimates.
"It is quite easy, as a matter of fact," I said, "and that is one of the principal reasons for drawing up The Commercial Motor Operating Costs Record in this way : to prevent operators who have no idea of cost from under-estimating the cost of maintenance, tyres and depreciation."
"Then how do you get at these figures?"
"They are averages from the records of operators' cost of a large number of vehicles run under all kinds of conditions and collected from practically everywhere in the country. The cost figures from some operators are in excess of those in the Tables: information from others shows that their vehicles cost less to rim than is indicated by these figures, but the majority finds that the total costs which are given are about right."
"But if I stick to this scheme of costing," he objected, "I shall never know what my own costs really are— whether they are less than yours or more."
"Once again, I am afraid, I must refer you to the instructions. You will find references made to some ruled sheets towards the end of the Record, on which .you should enter actual expenditure on 'maintenance and tyres, as and when it arises. If you do that you will, in time, have some information to check the average figures which, for the time being, you are recommended to use."
"Do you know, I'd never even seen the extra vheets at the end of the book," he replied.
Extra Work that is Essential.
He spent a minute or two looking over the extra ruled sheets, and then said : "But doesn't this make a lot of extra work—arriving at my costs one way by using average figures and then having to find them out all over again from what I put put down on these pages?"
"You have yourself given me reasons why you must do both," I answered. "You said, or, at least, you hinted, that you would not be satisfied to go on using these ' average ' figures, because there is the chance that your actual costs might be greater or less. On the other hand, as again you yourself have said, you definitely do not know what your costs are."
"But doesn't that point to the wisdom of finding out my own costs and not using these average figures? "
"How long do you think you will be before you know what your own costs are?"
"Oh ! a month or two."
"You are much too optimistic. I will tell you how long it will be. You will know approximately what your tyre cost is by the time you have worn out and replaced three sets of tyres on each vehicle: you will know what your maintenance costs are for each vehicle and what your depreciation account should be when you have finished with the vehicle and replaced it.
"You can't judge your tyre costs by the life of the first set, or even by the second. Tyres wear out more quickly on an old vehicle than they do on a new one, and only by the time you have used up three sets will you be get ting somewhere near an average figure. You don't know what maintenance costs are going to be, because, whilst in the first year they may or may not be low, in the second year they are likely to be higher, and in the third year they will be even more expensive.
How to Calculate Depreciation.
"As for depreciation, the only way to obtain an accurate figure is to subtract the price you receive for the vehicle when you sell it from the price you paid for it in the first place and to divide that amount by the numper of miles which it has run."
" Then do you recommend that I adopt the average ,figures and avoid the trouble of preparing actual ones?"
"Definitely and positively no. You should use the average figures while you are compiling the others and when you have actual figures to work upon, substitute them for the averages, revising them from time to time, as you add to your experience and obtain more informa tion about the real cost of operation." S.T.R.