Customer's confidence
Page 31
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I READ with great interest the letter from Len Payne (CM, April 6) about the obligation the haulier should feel towards his customer.
Sad to say, the Len Paynes of the distribution world seem to be very thin on the ground. I constantly come across instances where if only a closer relationship existed between distributor and haulier, rates could be kept stable or even lowered, and the haulier would still gain — as, of course, would his customer.
But should one try to point out the areas where savings could be made, the distribution manager invariably gets upset as he feels his capabilities are being questioned, and ;f one isn't careful, one finds his traffic has disappeared to a haulier who isn't quite so "helpful'' You are quite right, Mr Payne, to say the haulier has a responsibility to indicate ways of containing costs, both moral and professional. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to be invited not only to carry a customer's goods, but feel free to indicate methods of saving without fear of my services being terminated for such advice as I may give.
As yet I await that invitation. as I am sure do many other professional hauliers.
PETER HARRISON, Keighiey, West Yorkshire