Hauliers back Returnline
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• Returnline, the hi-tech telephone return load service which is due to be launched on 3 June, is already attracting hundreds of hauliers, according to founder Peter Smith.
He is so confident of the scheme's success in the UK that he is planning to set up a Returnline service in every major EC country.
Smith believes that existing computerised load information services will be made obsolete by Returnline, which uses Mer cury's interactive telephone technology. "You just can't get many hauliers or owners-drivers to use computers, but they are all used to using the telephone so the educational process is pretty straightforward," he says.
"Returnline is an electronic load clearing house that is completely corruption-free. There will be no primary scalping (when load brokers buy up loads for resale and cream off the money) because the system is open only to reputable operators who will deal direct with customers. A lot of clearing houses punt out work to the chosen few and the rest of the lads have to take it or leave it," he says. "We are taking out the middleman and putting hauliers and customers together. It gets hauliers out of a trap they have been in for long time."
Returnline membership costs £365 per year plus 50p per advertised load.
Both hauliers and customers can call in toll-free to the service.
The interactive telephone is basically a machine that can talk to the caller.
It will record dates and destinations and will double check them with the caller. Customers then call in and specify a load they want moved and the telephone lists hauliers who are available to handle the job.
"Operators can get guaran
teed backloads and therefore be fiercely competitive on their rates for primary loads," says Smith. But he recommends that member hauliers ask for cash or a cheque with the load, especially when dealing with a new customer.
The interactive system can take up to 55,000 calls an hour, and when the European network is in place information will be flashed through quickly on British Telecom's 'Killerstream' lines.
"These crunch up information and blip it over super-fast. Again, new technology will allow us to feed information to users as fast as we like," says Smith.
Returnline will benefit British hauliers more than their Continental counterparts, he says: "I'm sure that come 1992 British hauliers will be the nomads of Europe.
"They will be the guys going anywhere and doing anything," he adds. "Returnline will allow them to organise advance back loads anywhere in Europe."
Smith's background is in computing rather than transport, but he says that all eight of his recruitment agents are professional haulage people. Chris Harris, who is in charge of enquiries on (0455) 233998, worked at BRS for 25 years.
A national advertising campaign for Returnline is about to be launched and more than 100,000 manufacturing and wholesale businesses will be sent a brochure outlining the service. Mercury is using Returnline to launch its interactive phone service.