REPLACING HORS FS IN CO-OPERATIVE SERVICE.
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The Activities of a Yorks ire Society Whose Transport Department Caters I for 11,000 Members.
DEMENTS in the Southof England It can scarcely realize the important part which co-operative societies play in the retail distribution of household goods and commodities in the North of England and in the industrial portions of Scotland. Every place which can lay claim to be called a town, and many villages also, has its own society, and that society is linked up with either the• English or the Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society on the one hand, and has numerous branches for the retail distribution of goods on the other hand. This system of drawing supplies from the wholesale society and distributing them through local societies, and then through branch shops of these local societies, lends itself to an almost ideal transport system, and, consequently, the cooperative movement is a large user of power propelled vehicles.
A representative of The Commercial Motor recently, had the opportunity of inspecting the fleet of vehicles and the transport department of the Windhill Co-operative Society, a body which possesses close upon 11,000 members. Windhill is a district which has the misfortune of joining very closely with Shipley and Bradford, and in consequence it has almost entirely lost its separate entity. In the matter of local government, postal affairs, and almost all other matters, Windhill has been merged into Shipley, but Windhill maintains its co-operative society, and the society has activities not only in. Shipley and Windhill, but over an area of 18 miles, which embraces several of the suburbs of Bradford, the outlying districts of Shipley, which include the separate urban district of Baildon, and the villages of Charlestown and Esholt. Bakery products are also delivered in Rawdon and Greengates, two districts lying still farther afield.
Groceries are the principal goods requiring transport, but the society supplies almost any household necessity, from food to wearing apparel and furniture, and all these materials have to be supplied to the various branches in the district described. Formerly nothing
but horses were used for transport by the society. but in recent years a wellequipped transport department has been organized, and Mr. George Swallow, a practical automobile engineer, put. in charge. Formerly the society owned 26 horses, but that number is being steadily reduced, and in their place motor vehicles are being substituted. A wellequipped garage has been built specially for the transport department which has been sot up, and a good road made to the depot, aud although the capacious building was erected in war time, when building costs were abnormally high and the fleet was got together when prices were exorbitant, the society is finding that its progressive policy in the matter of haulage is paying, and when depreciation costs become easier it is expected that still further economies will be effected, it being the principle with most co-operativix societies that depreciation should be written off very quickly.
All the departments of the society keep separate accounts, and the work of the transport department is charged up against the various departments at a
fixed rate per vehicle per hour. The
principal items in the ordinary work of the transport department are represented by the removal of 300 tons of coal, 200 tons of mixed groceries,. £400 worth of bakery, and innumerable odd jobs which present themselves with an organization of this nature. A great part of the incoming supplies for the warehouses of the society are brought in by the-trans. port department, being purchased from the Co-operative Wholesale Society. and brought from the manufacturing centres connected with the movement
For instance, regular journeys are made to Halifax and Sowerby Bridge for flour from the society's flour mills; to Manchester for jams, cheeses and imported goods; to Irlam, away to the West of Manchester, for soap and general sundries; and Clitheroe, to the society's farm, for cheeses. Every half-year there is a complete stocktaking throughout the society and every item is valued. By this means, and by careful records made during the half-year, the running cost of each vehicle in the transport department is ascertained and thereby the rate at. which the various departments are charged for haulage is fixed. When the profits of the society are ascertained these are distributed in the form of dividend, according to purcha.ses, to the members, and each department contributes its quota.. The non-trading departments, which include the office staff and the transport department, are not expected to make the full dividend, but in these cases they are not supposed to work at a loss, and the charges for work done are fixed on the more gonerems scale to ensure this, any profits, of course, being shown at the end of the half-year.
The transport department now includes eleven 'vehicles, Uommer Cars having been selected as standard for heavier haulage. The vehicles vary from 10 cwt. vans to a 4 ton steamer, and each vehicle is put to work for which it is most suitable_, according to the requirements of the moment.. Each department of the society makes out its requirements for transport and communicates with the transport marine-or, and4seallocates the work. Each driver records on a time-sheet his work, journey by journey, and the time occupied, the petrol used, and the department for which he is working, and, at the end of the week, the time and the charge to each department are extracted and forwarded to the respective departments.
The actual keeping of accounts has been rendered as simple as possible by Mr. Swallow, and details of the running and the expenses for fuel and renewals or replacements for every vehicle are easily ascertained. Spare parts obtained for the vehicles are kept separate in bins, clearly labelled for each vehicle, and at the end of the accounting period, the standing charges are divided among the vehicles and added to the running charges, the hourly cost charged to the .departments during the following year being ascertained in this way.
Heavy war-time purchases and building charges, coupled with the rapid depreciation charges, naturally affect today's costs, but the advantage will be gained in the near future when the department has wiped off almost all its -initial charges and still has garage and vehicles in good condition. _
The district is a difficult one so far as transport • is concerned, being hilly and with many narrow streets in the town, but last half-year the following charges were made to the departments : 1 ton Commer Car, 8s. per hour;,2fton Commer Car, 10s. per hour ; 3 ton and 4 ton Commer Car and 3 tonKarrier, 12s. per hour; 5 ton steamer, 13s, per
hour ; Chevrolet .van,. 8s. per hour ; Stewart van, 7s. per hottr; Austin 10 dwt. van, Is. 6d. per hour; and a private car used by the office staff, 7s. per hour. Much of the work is notsteady running, however. The vehicles average 300 miles per week, and during the week an aggregate of 2,000 boxes of groceries is delivered from house to house. In this connection it might be mentioned that One motor does almost the work of four horses. The groceries are delivered from the various branch stores, and, of course, there is the run out to the branch to be considered, a matter which is very much in favour of the :motor vehicle.
For the delivery of bread a box van hoiding 44 trays is used, and this can be lifted from one vehicle to another by means of the overhead lifting gear which is fitted hi the garage. All the heavy vehicles are fitted with lifting gear in the nature of a capstan, driven from the flywheel, which hauls a rope under a pulley at the rear of the vehicle and over another pulley above the crane door of the store. The vehicles get a general inspection every week and are regularly washed down, overhead and underneath washers being provided in the garage. One man is kept on repair work, and 90 per cent. of the repairs are done in the shop, turning being practically the only work which is sent out. The garage has a floor space of 5,040 sq. ft., and has a sloping floor to allow the water to drain away. A Bowser 500 gallon equipment is fitted, There is adequate provision made for lifting bodies, and in this connect-ion it might
ight be mentioned that the 4 ton Commee Car is used as a motor coachwhen required, and the lifting apparatus can be used to change over to the 32-seater coach body in Calf an hour. The coach is used for half-day, whole-day and twoday tours, working from a private stand in front bi the society's office in the Market Square. The central office makes convenient.booking station for patrons, and during the sunimer months the . vehicle is kept wholly employed on coach work. Money spent by members on motor coach bookings is subject to thepayment of dividend, as in the case of any other purchases made from the society, and thus the members of the society get the advantage of riding in "their own vehicle."
The department is also open to accept
haulage haulage work, such as furniture removal for members, and there is little in the field of transport that does not come the way of this enterprising branch of cooperative activity. The Windhill Society is by no means the largest societer in the immediate neighbourhood, but its activities are typical of most societies, and illustrate the entent•to which transport is coming to be used by such organizations. The producing side of this interesting system has not been touched upon here, but it may truthfully be Said that in the co-operative .movement millions of pounds worth of goods are produced every year arid transported wholly in the motor vehicles of the various societies from the producer to the user in the working-class homes of the couutry without coming into contact with any other form of transport.