Joint Delivery by Motorvan for Traders.
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War Conditions Must Overcome Remnants of Local Jealousy and Mistrust.
By the Editor.
Co-operative delivery by local traders has remained hitherto in the region of academic proposal. There were, until the past eight months or thereabouts, enough men, youths and vehicles, and to spare, for each local trader to run things on his own, his own way.
Before the Pinch of War Was Felt.
There went out, daily excepting Sundays, simultaneously to all intents and purposes, parallel services from the baker, the butcher, the dairyman, the fishmonger, the greengrocer, the grocer, and other tradesmen, in each and every village or' country town and in most of the innumerable suburbs of every larger town or city, to bring in orders in the morning, and to effect deliveries later in the day. Each such trader bore, and willingly bore, the cost of his own individual order and delivery organization, comprising errand boys on foot, or the same genus on bicycles, with horse. van reinforcement according to the extent of the business. It did not worry these worthy men, before the pinch of war was felt, to inquire particularly into the cost. The service had to be given,, in part because trade over the counter was relatively small, and in part because customers with weekly, monthly,. or quarterly accounts demanded attention of the kind.
Each Call Now Costs From 21d. to 5d.
There is no doubt about it: few traders take the trouble to analyse their order and delivery costs, so as to know how much each call costs them. They know that their prices are higher than for a cash trade, and they broadly reckon that the increases cover the extra outlay. It seldom occurs to them that four or five of their neighbours may be averaging between 3d. 'arid 4d. a call each, along the same roads, and all at virtually the same times at day. There has been, until lately, nothing to cause them to think about it. Calls, under pm-war conditions cost from id. to 24. each, on the average. "They had the men, they had the trade, they had the money too "—if we may vary an old electioneering verse. There were more than enough messengers to go round, until we had been at war for a year, so nobody was attracted, by the 'idea of combined delivery. The suggestion, when made by anybody in a journal such as THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR, was regarded as a superfluous one. Nobody welcomed it. It appeared to be an unnecessary refinement, to offer an economy that was not sought, to imply external interference, and above all to involve the risk of disclosing private details of local. custom.
How now 1 High Wages and Labour Scarcity Enforce the Need for Combination.
What does one find to be the situation as to collections and deliveries since, say, last November? Have not the conditions become steadily worse for the retention of old practices? Has not the Government itself, that slowest of slow examples inso many matters, had to cut out most of its day-time postal collections and deliveries, the while those in the mornings and the evenings become more and more erratic? Have not traders to ask buyers to take away their purchases at the time, or to accept unknown delays? In short, are we not at war, and are not the natural consequences of transfers to the trenches at last becoming so patent to all that each of us must set his own house in new war-time order?
Delivery Has Broken Down.
The facts are, that the men have gone, that boys and women frequently ask much more than can be afforded for their labour, and that the traders—even though they have money in plenty, which, of course. is not always their happy case—find "Breakdown" -written across the skeletons of their pre-war order and delivery methods. To what. can they turn for relief, in order that they may forthwith trade without chaos in delivery as a disconcerting factor., and above all in order that the remedy may h practicable under conditions as they are ? We find the only answer to be :—" Let them turn to joint household delivery by motorvan."
Typical Combinations.
Some localities will have such elements to be reconciled that they can hest fix their own groups. There are, however, broad and general rules which can be outlined, of both what to do and what not to do. Trades in which the supplies are dry and clean will naturally tend to fall together, for one cannot very well mix bread with fish or meat. The bulk and weight of the deliveries, based on averages, must also be considered by the respective parties who discuss or negotiate. A particular group of three or four tradesmen in a particular village may want nothing larger than a parcelcar between them, since 5 cwt. or 6 cwt. and 40 cubic ft. of space, may represent their combined maxima for any one trip. Another group may call for a four-wheeled van, to carry up to 10 cwt., with an internal capacity in excess of 100 cubic ft. Others, of course, although one then begins to deal with larger and wholesale traders, will demand 30cwt, two-ton, three-ton, or bigger vehicles. We know many places where the following groups might with great advantage be formed at once : (1) baker, fruiterer and grocer ; (2) butcher, fishmonger and wine merchant.
Making a Start.
If any one tradesman has a motorvan, let his neighbours approach him: Suitable panels for the van must be agreed. The loose-letter system, in detachable frames, should get over certain difficulties. If a start has to be made de novo, it means joint contributions to make a new purchase. The capital outlay should by preference be shared. £100 represents the value of 5 cwt, of load capacity in a parcelcar (three= wheeler); • it may fall so low as 275 for the same space in a one-tonner ; if a two-tonner be bought the capital value of the same share fall S to £60, or thereabouts.
Pooling Revenue and the Working Cost.
There is but one way on which to conduct a, cooperative scheme of this type ; both revenue and working costs must be pooled. The apportionment must be according to the numbers of calls, with simple mileage adjustments. • A series of mea,ns (averages) must be struck by agreement between the jointowners ; these can be revieWed .every few months, in . order that mutually-approved revisions may be adopted, according to experience. One source of necessity for adjustinent might prove to be a marked excess of weight by any one of the joint owners, althotigh it is obvious thtt latitude for variation must be allowed. The heaviest goOds are seldom those of the highest value, or upon which most profit is made. It is as well to keep weights and values out of consideration if possible, and to be guided more by average space occupied, if there appears to be any cause for grievance. " Give and take" must enter largely into arrangements for joint household delivery.
We recommend the settling, at a conference between the joint owners, of the basic point of divided or undivided space, so that each may not, or may, overflow his fraction at times ; it may some; times be a good plan to have light, removable partitions.
Inward goods from the station may be wanted, and permanent sub-division is a hindrance to such use.
The undermentioned are safe bases of individual contributions to the " pool " ate the, outset. They will safeguard the co-operators against a working deficit, whilst covering both maintenance and depreciation: —Partelcar (5 cwt.), 11d. per call up to one mile„ and 2-1,d. per call beyond one mile ; small van (fourwheeler, for 7 cwt. to 15 cwt.), 2d. per call up to one mile, and 34d. per call beyond one mile ; one-ton van, 3d. per call up to one mile, and 5d. per call beyond one mile; two-tonner, 4d. per call up to one mile, and 7d. per call beyond one mile. " The foregoing payments into the " pool " are on
the basis of 48 miles of running Per and 80, calls per day. The " pool " pays all charges,. including a combined 20 per cent. per annum for interest and depreciation. Surpluses can be ,distributed once a year, or oftener, at discretion.
Arrangements of Ro;ttnds and Loads.
It is difficult to do more than outline a working nrogramme that shall be more than a general vide. We willi)re-snppose, as an average of conditions that shotild suit numerous groups of co-operating traders that the 'first morning round of 12 miles is made (a) to deliver special, bulk orders that it has been possible to hold over from the previous %clay's rounds, and (b) to bring in new orders. This should be finished by 10.30-11.0 a.m. The second morning round, also of 12 miles, is mainly to deliver, and should be over by 12.30-1.0 p.m. Two more rounds, also mainly to
deliver', are made each afternoon. Each of the afternoon rounds may be averaged at 12 miles, the same as those of the morning, or the mileages may be varied. The basis is 48 miles of running, with a total of 80 calls, daily.
The jointly-owned van must not be unduly delayed when picking up from its three points before setting out. The goods and parcels must be ready. Also the sequence of serving the ioutesmust be • strictly observed—the plea to any pressing-customer must be "'The War.',' Where trade admits it, anextra parcelear ca R be held for the very urgent, short-notice orders.'These must, Otherwise, be broucht into line with the schedule of rounds. Once the sequence and the frequency for the roundsis fixed, a copy must be put up in each estiblishnient that is riartieipating, for the information of assistants who are serving. The maximum_ weight per call can be wen above the Usual averages, on the baSis of 50 delivery -calls out of a total of 80 calls 'paid in all. The receipt of. a proportion of oilplers by Mail and telephone allows a better average of effective delivery calls as a rule, but we prefer to make our calculations on the un
assailable ratio ,of only five delivery calls in eight. The balance—three in eight—are for orders. The 5-cwt. parcelcar, before it IS full, can hold 55 parcels of 1,0 lb. each. Our, scheme shows it making only 50 deliveries a daY, on four rounds. Ilence, each of the
three traders who are joint owners can, in practice, rely on making at least 30 cleliverig a day up to 15 lb. each delivery, for -we adinit that not all three of them will have orders each day for each place of call. The
margin here is a" big one for most traders. • The capacity of the larger vans is in ratio. A jointly-owned one-toriner, for example, with three
traders sharing it, can give each of theta a coinitouln service of 30 deliveries .averaging 45 lb. each daily, and preserve a margin'for the necessary fluctuations by which such an average can alone be yielded.
Combination the Present Alternative to Cessation of Delivery.
The war is the reason for all this. There must be combination. There are no men left for the old plans to be retained. IlOys and women have also become scarce, so great is'the demand for them—for munitions work, as bus and tram and " Tube " workers, and in scores of sell-evident directions. The economy of the scheme is well exhibited, if we consider the driver's wages only. Take them at. a mean of 30s. ; they will be less for the youth on a parcelcar, but more fOr a two-tonner. • The miles each week are 48 x 6, or a total of 288.. That is what many such commercial motors may still do, notwithstanding the petrol curtailment. Why should three traders each seek to pay .three men (whom they cannot get) lid. per mile run, have their vans "nearly empty " much of the time, and run them side by side with those of the other two traders who are in no sense their rivals? It is folly in peace-time ; it it impossible in war-time. The same applies to petrol, to tires, to lubricants, to repairs. It is waste, waste, waste, and it sirriply cannot go on.
Traders can put to themselves this question : "1)o I-intend to give up delivering, tacan I combine with
, an d or with and ? " They can combine, if they will That combination may be done with boys, with bicycles, with horse-Vans, or with motorvans. We do not seek to disguise our preference for motors. The scope which they offer exceeds that of all the alternatives added together. The use of motorvans on the joint-owneratip system, for making household deliveries, will enable a delivery to be effected for each of three traders at little more than the cost for one working on Ills own. Alternatively, by combination, a trader can deliver 21 times as much per RI of delivery expenditure as be is doing by running his deliveries side by side with the individual deliveries of non-competitors.