PROBLEMS OF THE HAULIER AND CARRIER.
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Rural Parcels Delivery Service by Motorcycle Combinations and Small :Vans for the Assistance of Tradesmen.
TN the course of my travels I stop in many villages _Land meet a number of tradesmen owning or running .ennall shops and businesses. Among them a very common cause for complaint is the cost of delivering odd parcels to customers. Some of them resort to the carrier cycle, commercial tricycle, or messengers, mounted or on foot, but for every man who can afford such a course, there are many who cannot, and in consequence are likely to lose business. In these days people expect supplies to be delivered to their door, and are apt to go elsewhere if a shopkeeper cannot oblige them in this direction.
Let us consider, for example, a small one-man village shop dealing in drapery. With a small and scattered population the number of parcels daily is few, sometimes nil, so the cost of keeping a boy for delivery work is often prohibitive. =True, there are odd jobs indoors which he can perform, but even that does not always provide sufficient reason to pay his wages economically, leaving on one side the first and subsequent cost of a vehicle for him.
One swallow does not make a summer, neither does one trader's delivery prove a good enough working field for a haulier to go to the expense of setting up a small branch business for Serving him. A group of several such customers, however, offers scope for an energetic man to develop a delivery service for small parcels at low rates.
The establishment of a parcels distributing business may well prove a remunerative one for the beginner who has a small capital to invest, and in time become the stepping-stone to more ambitious schemes. Between £100 and £150 should be sufficient to huy a commercial delivery sidecar outfit, and it would be advisable not to aim higher than this in the first case. as a light van of, say, 5 cwt. or 7 cwt. capacity will cost more to buy and run. The smallness of the revenue which can be obtained per parcel must be remembered, and until the business really develops every unnecessary penny of capital outlay and operating costs must be avoided.
A sidecar delivery combination covering about 100 miles a week would cost 6.99 pence per mile, whereas a 5-cwt. parcelcar would work out at over 8d. a mile, or, say, a difference of 9s. a week for the distance named. This sum will take some covering when parcels have to be accepted at a few pence a time, and when the flow of business is not guaranteed or regular.
For those who are already in the haulage business the establishment of a package delivery scheme may be a method of extending a connection and increasing the profit. Art intelligent and reliable youth over 14 years of age can drive the outfit at 12 per week.
Now, whilst tile immediate consideration is small jobs, the idea of getting customers to offer bigger loads is always worth cultivation for the man who owns larger vehicles. Take, for instance, the small shopkeeper who may want a matter of 20 or 30 packages distributed in a week ; occasionally, however, he needs odd loads of goods collected-from a wholesaler, or perhaps a large case sent to the station, one which is beyond the capacity of the sidecar combination. Here, then, lies the scope for getting patrons for one's other vehicles, at the same time retaining their business with small bundles.
In districts where small shops are to be found, there are invariably agriculturists and those who own allotments. At frequent intervals these men have packages to distribute, some locally, and some to be sent to the neighbouring stations. A dozen or so customers of this type can keep up a fairly regular flow of egg boxes, butter parcels, bundles of vegetables, and so on. When treated as a group they are worth cultivating with an eye to ultimate further business. Individually, their output would be negligible, but taken together, the volume of goods would be sufficient to merit a transport service Wadi, whilst capable of taking a fair load, would cost the very minimum to operate.
Say, for instance, a poultry farmer has six dozen eggs per week to deliver to an hotel three miles away. Now, a box capable of holding 72 eggs is a fair load for a bicycle, but assuming that the vendor decides to carry them in this way, he has to leave his work for about an hour to make the journey out and home, whereas the parcel carrier could do the job for him in the course of his rounds for about 4d. to 6d. Naturally, the producer's time is worth more to himself for the one hour than even the larger of the two sums. This argument may well be used as a business lever, changing the details, of course, to suit the circumstances.
So much for the scope of the work. Now as to charges. There are broadly two plans open to hauliers in this connection. The first is the adoption of a flat rate based on distance, the secohd method a fiat rate based on the weight of each package. Subdivisions of either scheme can be thought of, but the best method depends on the distance between the picking up and delivery points and the average type of package. Obviously, there is a great deal of difference between carrying a truss of hay and a dozen eggs for ten miles ; so a combination of weight and distance may be best.
Reasons for charging by mileage alone are obvious— the farther the load is carried the greater the operating costs. When weight is considered, remember that a few heavy items may load the carrier fully and a
second trip may have to be made to pick tip at other points in the same area which had to be left out of the first round owing to lack of space.
When calculating the charges to be made per package, the operating costs are the first things to be considered. In this connection it is a good plan to obtain a standard large-scale map of the district, and to Mark on it one's headquarters as the centre for circles of different sizes. According to the geographical situation it may be advisable to work in circles of 21 to 5 miles. Let us take, for example, the former case.
Use a pair of compasses and make a circle on the map according to the scale in question, having a radius of 21 miles, that is, one giving an overall diameter of 5 miles. Next scribe a circle of five miles radius, then 71, and so on. This now gives a standard upon which to work so far as charges by distance are concerned. Next work out the cost of a trip of five miles out and five miles home, that is a total distance of 10 miles ; find the basis according to personal data, but let us say, for example, 65. for the 10 miles, 12s. for 20 miles, and so on. Take the estimated weekly mileage cost and add the establishment expenses of 10s. On top of this should be a profit allowance, say, £2 10s., then one can ascertain approximately the desired figure to be charged per mile. •
Following upon this, one may mark the charges on the map according to its circles, the figures being in pencil just at first until definite conclusions are reached. Take the total carrying capacity of the machine and divide it by the average expected number of packages. This will give the key to the amount per package for each respective distance.
Other factors to be considered are the percentage of miles run light and the varying tow of business in different areas; these can only be deduced from local knowledge. When tests have been made a charge list should be drawn up and a scale made out beside the map. In this way one can reckon up quickly the cost from one village to another on a mileage basis, and make due allowance for the weights to be carried.
After a little time when the service has become established and experience has been gained, the prices can be revised, but be certain in the first case not to quote too low, as it is easier to reduce the figures than to raise them. S.T.R.