HINTS FOR HAULIERS.
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An Occasional Chat on Subjects and Problems of Interest to Those Who are Engaged, or About to be Engaged, in Running Commercial Vehicles for a Living.
IN VIEW of the detailed manner in which I discussed, in last week's article, the working costs of a Ford van, there will be little need for me to enter into any long explanation of tho various items of the following statements of the working costs of a four-ton petrol lorry and of a five-ton steam wagon. The methods adopted are the sametas those described last week, and the items are practically the same, except that in the case of the steam wagon, of course, the fuel is coal, instead of petrol, and, in that wagon also, there is an additional item to cover part of the wages of the driver's mate. The whole of his wages are not debited to the wagon, because he is generally able to assist in other wails, in loading, etc., 60 that it would not be fair to look upon the whole outlay as part a the working cost of the wagon. — I will consider the petrol lorry first, and commence by adding up the running costs. Petrol will be consumed, on a lorry of this type, at the rate of about one gallon for every six miles, more or less, according to the capacity of the driver and the degree or care which is taken of the naechanism of the chassis itself. Six miles per gallon is the average result which is obtained in ordinary commercial service. Cost of petrol is therefore 7.25d. per mile. Oil will be consumed at the rate of about a gallon for every. 100 miles; grease will cost about one-tenth of a penny per mile ; total cost of lubricants per mile 0.9d.
Tyres are, of course, at the time of writing, pretty sure to be solid's, for this size of vehicle. They will cost about £80, and will last about 10,000 miles. A little arithmetic 'suffices to prove that this is equiva lent to 2d. per mile. Maintenance, 'which, as I pointed out in the previous article, has to cover a multitude of petty accounts, amounts to 2.8d. per mile. For depreciation we have to know the initial cost of the complete machine, which I will assume to be £1,230. From that we subtract the cost of a set of tyres, £80, leaving £1,150, which we assume to be disposed of in the course of 125,000 miles, at the end of which distance the lorry is supposed to be worth nothing. This, as, once again, the application of a little arithmetic will show (and. I hope I have made no mistakes in mine!) is equal to 2.2d. per mile. The total running costs alone, therefore, amount to 15.15d. per mile.
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Rent and rates, including a little expenditure on cleaning, amount to 15s. per week. Insurance' for the same period, will be approximately 10s. The driver's wages are .24 per week, and interest on first cost, '21,150, at 6 per cent, works out at 27s. 6d. per week, assuming 50 weeks to the year. These are the standing charges, and they add up to 26 12s. 6d. per week.
Now, I mist again explain how to use these figures to obtain the total work cost per mile, or per week, and at the same time take the opportunity once more to point the moral of keeping up the number of useful miles per week. If the lorry runs for 50 miles per
week only, then the standing charges per mile will amount -to £6 12s. 6d. divided amongst the 50 miles, which means that each mile costs, on that account alone, 2s. 7.8d. Add the running costs, and the total working costs per mile are seen to be 3s. 10.95d., 'which is pretty considerable. On the other hand, for a 500 mile week, the total standing charges are still the same, but they may be divided amongst, instead -of 50 miles, 500, and, therefore, amount to only 3.18d. per mile ; the total working costs per mile when the mileage is 500 per week being therefore 3.18d. added to the running costs 15.15d., which is 18.33d. per mile. Between these two extremes the cost varies accordingly, but not in strict proportion to the mileage, being much greater, by comparison, as the mileage decreases. This is illustrated clearly on diagram (1), which shows how the cost per mile, which is enormously high at 50 miles per week, rapidly falls as the weekly mileage increases. At 300 miles per week, it is approaching a reasonable figure, considering the times in which we live. At that point in the diagram, it is shown as 20.47d. per mile. It will rarely be fg,und profitable to run a lorry of this size much less than 300 miles per week. At 200 miles per week, for example, the cost is 23.10d. per mile, practically 2s. per
Incidentally, it may be necessary to point out that, notwithstanding the reduced mileage cost per mile if a, high average weekly mileage is run, there is no point in mileage for mileage sake. This is illustrated by Fig. 2, which shows how the cost of working a lorry per week mounts up as the mileage increases. If the lorry is kept in the garage, the cost is 26 12s. 6d. per week. At 500 miles per week, the cost is £38 4s. 2d. per week, so that the haulage contractor who uses his lorry to assist his wife in doing her shopping is likely to find the bill a fairly heavy one. The important point to remember is that every mile the. lorry runs should, so far as possible, be paid for by a customer. A cemparatively small profit per mile may, in the end, result in a bigger return for the year. This will be even more apparent, later on, when I come to discuss the fak charges for the hire of a. vehicle, for the establishment charges, in connection with the ninning of the business itself, further aggravate the case against the low mileage business. By way, however, of showing
how much more profitable it is to rim a high mileage, I have made out_a diagram (Fig, 3), which shows the relation between the percentage profit and-the weekly mileage. I should like to emphasize, however, that this diagram is not complete until the establishment charges have been added. .
In considering the working coats of a. steam wagon, the game rules have to be followed. Taking a five'tonner as an example, they work out as follow :— Running costs : Fuel (assuming coal to be 23 per ton), five-tanner should average 10 miles per cwt. when running, which equals 3.6d. per mile. A steam wagon differs from a petrol machine, however, in that .fuel is required for an hour in the morning for starting up, and fuel is required all day long, whether the lorry is working or idle, so long as it has to be kept in readiness for a start at any time. For these uses, it is generally found that an average addition of 20 per cent, to the above figures is necessary. The actual amount will vary very much according to the use to which the. lorry is put, whether its mileage is high or low, and Whether there. is much waiting to be done. Twenty per cent. on 3.6d. equals 4.32d., which is the cost of fuel per mile.
A steam wagon requires about one gallon of lubricating oil per 100 miles' run, as well as .a certain amount of grease. The cost per mile of lubricants is .78d. Tyres, at 2100 per set, and assuming a life of 10,000 miles, equal 2.4d. per mile; maintenance. 2d. per mile ; and depreciation, on a prime cost of 21,400, including tyres, for which a deduction of 2100
must be made, is 2.5c1. per mile. Total running cost is. per mile.
Standing charges are: driver's wages 24 per week Wages of mate (proportion only), 22 per week: Ren and rates 15s., and insurance 1.0s. per meek. Interes on first cost, 21 Ils. ad. per week. Total; 2.8 16s. 3d Cost per mile for the following weekly mileages :– 50, 48. 6.3d. ; 100, 2s. .9.15d. ; 300, is. 7.05(1. ; 500 Is. 4.23d. Diagrams, like Figs. 1, 2, 3, could, of -course be drawn for the steam wagon too, but as tberwouli be precisely the same in shape, being only differen in regard to scale, there is no point in reproducim them.
An interesting comparison is possible here betweer the cost of a five-ton steamer and a five-ton petro wagon.' The running cost of the latter, worked ou on the same basis as the four-tonner above, is 18.80d per mile. The standing charges equal 26 16s, 3d. 'Th( running cost, it.Should be noted, is higher than 'am of the steamer, but the standing charges are 'less, be cause of the lack of need for a supplementary man as is general with a steam wagon. The effeet of thif disparity is shown in diagram 4, in which the tota working costs of the two types are compared. At Tom mileages, when the effect of the standing charges ii marked, the advantage possessed by the steamer it not great, but when the mileage per week beconaek what is, after all, reasonable, then the advantage ol the steam wagon, for the same work, is perceived. What does not appear on the diagram, however; is the practicable impossibility of ever achieving the same distances, week in, week out, with a steamer..as witt the petrol lorry. The former, owing to thelleeessit3 for getting up steam every morning, loses an bout while the petrol machine may have run 20 miles or so. There are other delays with the steamer, too, which largely discount the advantage shown on the diagram, and, as a matter of fact there is little t( choose between the two unless it be desired to hail a trailer, when, personally, I should unhesitatingl) choose the steamer as having a bigger margin 01 power for use at starting, etc.
One more point, which perhaps I ought to have
mentioned before. The above figures are based or the'first cost, which would..be called for in the even' of the bodywork being of sample nature, as in the ease o1 a platform lorry or a medium high-sided lorry. When other types of superstructure are employed, at tip wagons or expensive furniture vans, etc., co Lions should be made to the figures here given. ThE items of cost affected are those for depreciation and interest on the first cost. For every £10 increase ovei the capital costs stated, an addition of 0.02d. per mile to the former, and 2.88d. per week to the latter; should be made. TEE SKOTCH.