George Sums Up His Support Yr Stabilized Rates
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Continuing His Reply to Charley and Bill, George Deals with Some of the Supplementary Conditions Essential to the Establishment of a Statutory Schedule
of Haulage Rates
THIS article completes the summary of my Yorkshire friend, George, who has taken Charley and Bill to task for their attitude towards the problem of stabilizing road rates. His earlier comments have appeared in the issues for the past two weeks. Now, •he says, I think I have dealt fairly with all the various arguments put up by Charley against the application of the principle of stabilized haulage rates.
Bill, I note, appears to have a poor opinion of the work of the Road and Rail Regional Committee of the Central' Conferenee. Possiblir Bill's interests have not yet been touched upon by that Committee: he is concerned only with streams of traffic which, as yet, have not been dealt with.
Surely that is a narrow view? The Committee has done a deal of good work. I. have already mentioned the • scheduling of rates for coal, sand and gravel, and bricks and described how satisfactory the stabilized rates for these traffics are proving. Operators are working to the fixed rates, and traders and hauliers are both pleased. Surely that is something upon which the committee is to be congratulated. The result of its efforts in those directions has been to put some of the lowest-rated traffic into the profit-making class.
But clearly, if there be many representatives on the _Committee who have the same opinion as Bill concerning stabilized rates and if they do not regard fixed rates with favour, progress is bound to be slow. Moreover, if they be permitting their personal prejudices to influence their actions in committee, they are, in my opinion, not truly representative, and should resign to make room for others who will put the views of others before, their own.
There is another function of these regional committees which, to my mind, is almost, if not quite as important as that of fixing rates.
Charley and Bill—Look to the Future I.
Neither Charley nor Bill should overlook the fact that, some day in the not far-distant future, the largest haulage companies in the country may decide that they and others like them are a menace. The largest companies are the railways. No matter how friendly may be, at present, the relationship between read and rail, the latter will not hesitate to take extreme measures to fight road hauliers if and when it becomes evident that the power and prestige of the railways is on the wane.
That appearance of ffiendship will then vanish and the four companies will throw all the weight of their enormous influence into a fight to eliminate or absorb all like Charley and Bill. Moreover, the one thing which is likely to precipitate such a condition is the prevalence of cut-throat rates competition by "business at any price" hauliers_ With • the Road and Rail Central Conference and its Regional Committees in being and with the prospect of agreed and stabilized rates before them, that situation is unlikely to arise. The ultimate achievement of a statutory rates schedule would end, once and for all, a battle which the haulier is always likely to lose.
While on the subject of collaboration between road and rail, I should like to .warn Charley and Bill of another menace to the continued prosperity of the haulage industry, one whicb was beginning to grow before the War and is likely to loom large upon the horizon when the war is over. I refer to the C licensee. His activities must be curtailed. For that purpose it is inevitable' and logical that road and rail should combine forces.
Ancillary Users a Menace, Says George
The prevalence of large fleets of vehicles belonging to ancillary users is a menace to their prosperity and a drag upon the progress of the national transport organization. I say that C licensees must be limited, if not altogether abolished. Only a united front by road hauliers and railway companies war enable that battle to be won.
Like you, S.T.R., George went on, _I agree with Charley and Bill that neither railway rates nor railway classification,will do for road haulage. If it be true, as Bill says, that the Regional Committee to which he belongs is endeavouring to make road rates the equivalent of rail rates for the same traffics over the same distances and, more especially, over the same routes, their work is bound to come to naught.
It should be appreciated by all concerned that direct comparisons On the one hand between cost and service of the railways, and, on the other, road transport, are almost impossible. In 99 cases out of 100 road transport can operate at less cost than rail and give better service.
No useful purpose can be served, at least so far as evolving a rates structure is concerned, by road and rail holding hands and mutually agreeing, if there be a flaw in the assessment of the cost 'of service rendered by either. Nor can it be expected that the Government will give its bleSsing to any such scheme.
The only method which is likely to produce lasting success, is for the road side to formulate its own rates, assessed on the basis of cost plus profit. It can then enlist the support of the trading interests, persuading them to insist on being given freedom to choose whichever method of transport, road or rail, on the basis of economy and efficiency, as well as suitability for the purposes of the trader—not suitability according to some more or less academic standard set by a Regional Transport Commissioner. In my opinion, too, the present is the time to be negotiating for that stand.
Classification of goods and standard conditions of carriage are inseparable from any stabilized rates schedule which is to be practicable and workable. It is ipo big a subject for me to deal with now. I am convinced, however, that it would be just as fatally wrong to copy the railway classification as it would be to copy rail rates. It should be possible to classify traffics in a manner suitable for application to goods-haulage conditions. Such a classification can be much simpler than that of the railways.
Flaws in Official Standard Terms
The Government scheme of standard terms and conditions of carriage, as laid down in connection with the operation of the chartered fleet, embodied many imperfections. In principle, it was welcomed by the road-transport industry. It was felt that here was, at least, the beginning of something for which the responsible members of the haulage industry had been fighting for years, namely, equality of treatment.
As an example of one clause in which improvement is desirable, take that relating to the conditions of loading and unloading. The haulier's responsibility, according to that condition, begins and ends at the tailboard of the vehicle. That is in flat contradicfion to the traditional policy of the industry, which has always been to accept the responsibility for goods from the time they are received for loading until they are actually delivered.
Those who specialize in dock traffic have always had it impressed upon them that they are solely responsible for the safety of the goods they carry, from the time of their receipt until they are finally delivered. That, to my mind, is a reasonable and proper condition of carriage.
[I wonder if George's views on this condition" hive altered as the result of the endeavour, by corn millers, to make hauliers responsible for accident or injury to any miller's employee who is assisting to load or unlikd. It seems to me that, in interpreting its responsibilities in the generous spirit suggested by George, they are undertaking more than they should.—S.T.R.] At an earlier stage in this discussion, continued George, I mentioned return loads, referringto them as heing a factor in the assessment of rates for long-distance traffic. I often wonder if more effective use of clearing houses would not prove to be the solution of that problem, even if it meant the authorization, or even licensing, of clearing houses of the type which is solely concerned with the business of obtaining and distributing traffic.
I am, of course, aware that many hauliers are antipathetic
to clearing houses. Their attitude is, to a certain extent, understandable, because so many of them have suffered at the hands of these establishments. At the same time, I think it is now coming to be appreciated that clearing houses were given a bad name because of the sins of some of the more unscrupulous.
Clearing houses, moreover, are not unique in or industry in sometimes endeavouring to take more than their just dues by way of commission. There are many hauliers who unblushingly assume—I might almost say usurp—the function of the legitimate clearing house by sub-letting traffic to other operators.
Incidentally, I should be interested to know how much business Charley and Bill have "given away" in this manner, and what was the percentage " rake-off " they considered to be fair and reasonable. -Actually, of course, sub-contracting is widely practised in the industry, but whenever it is carried on to any considerable extent, is nothing more or less than operation as .a clearing house.
Clearing Houses Need Wide Knowledge
Successfully and efficiently to operate a clearing house is not easy. The proprietor must have a wide knowledge of haulage problems, be acquainted with the peculiar difficulties involved in the handling of each class of traffic, must know the traffic potentialities of all the routes in the country, and be in close touch with all sources of traffic. He must engage a big and efficient staff, and his telephone bill alone would eat up the gross profits of many a haulier.
Charley showed his ignorance of haulage problems and the way in which clearing houses must work when he talked of the uneconomic Carlisle route. He showed that his knowledge of goods carrying is almost entirely limited to the class of traffic he carries. Hitherto, apparently, he has achieved the ideal of all hauliers, in that he has been able to pick and choose his traffics. He may not always be alile to do so, and when conditions change he may be glad to accept some of the low-rated traffic. Standard rates obviously cannot be calculated on the basis of operation by hauliers who are fortunately placed: they must take fair cognisance of the poorly conditioned operators. That is why I insist that stabilized rates must be based upon average costs and profits.
This inevitably means that there will have to be a certain amount of give and take. The operators in good positions will have to help those who are not so fortunate. " Without some such arrangement less well populated areas will get scant or no service and that would be against the national interest.
In other words, it is all a question of pulling together, during the peace as well as during the war. If Charley and Bill appreciate that they wM realize the necessity of a system of stabilized rates for road haulage. S.T.R.