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Problems of the
Page 108
Page 109
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HAULIER and CARRIER The Haulage of Milk—Some of the Problems in Connection with a Subject of Particular Interest in an Agricultural District AN insurance broker, a friend of mine, regards vehicles used in the collection and delivery of milk as amongst his most hazardous risks in connection with the insurance of motors. I gather from him that the reason is that these vehicles are overdriven, which doubly increases the prospects of accidents. There is, first of all, the greater probability of an untoward occurrence as the direct result of speed and, secondly; they are more liable to be mechanically defective, because their owners, working seven days per week, do not appear to have time to give them adequate attention.
This comment is more or less in passing and as an introduction to discussing the problems of milk transport. It is, however, important in that connection, inasmuch as it indicates the probability that mainten
ance costs in this branch of haulage are likely to be above the average.
In Derbyshire, a part of the country with which a large part of this issue is concerned, the bulk of the milk produced by farmers is collected by hauliers and delivered to one of three principal destinations. There is Nestle's factory in Ashbourne, the depot of Wilts. United Dairies in Uttoxeter, and the Brailsford Dairy Co.'s premises in that village.
Usually, payment for this transport is at a flat rate and, in the majority of cases, I understand that rate is per gallon. It will be of interest, therefore, to discuss. the .prospects of profitable haulage, basing our calculations on that rate.
All types and sizes of vehicle are employed, but most of the haulage of milk appears to be on 3-ton sixwheelers. There is, however, quite a number of 4-tanners and 5-tonners similarly engaged, as well as some smaller vehicles.
There is, unfortunately, no direct relation between the distance covered in a single round and the number of gallons collected on that journey. A short run, in a district where the farmers produce considerable quantities of milk, may result in a maximum load for a minimum distance covered. On the other hand, it may well be that the maximum distance will not produce a full load, because the route taken lies in an area populated by smaller farmers who do not, individually, produce so much milk.
The conveyance of milk in this fashion is not generally a full-time occupation. The
collections have to be made in the early morning, leaving the lorry, often enough, available for other work during the day. Sometimes this routine is complicated by the fact that payment for milk collection is usually understood to include the return of the empty churns to the farms.
Obviously, where the haulier has plenty of other work and is able to keep his vehicle fully employed during the week, perhaps covering a considerable mileage, he can, with profit to himself, carry out these milk contracts at comparatively low rates. In connection with such circumstances, it is necessary, however, to keep in mind not only the foregoing warning about the high cost of maintenance, but also Section 19 of the Road Traffic Act, which limits the working hours of drivers. It should be borne in mind that the section applies equally to owner-drivers and employees.
On the whole, the best way to make calculations is on the time-and-mileage basis, as that eliminates the factor of alternative employment of the vehicle. It does not, however, serve as a complete calculation for the man who has no other work to do, because it inevitably assumes a fair week's work. There is, 'however, no method of avoiding the risk, that the haulier who has no other work to do may find himself unable to make a full and fair week's profit. He is inevitably in competition with those who can obtain work for the week, and his prices are graded accordingly.
As a preliminary item of information, it Is necessary to note that, in the Derbyshire area, most of the churns are of 10-gallon capacity and weigh, when full, approximately 1 cwt., as compared with the 17-gallon churns more generally in use in the London area ; 11 of the latter, when full, make a ton. There is just one other point. Owing to the size of the churns, only an exceptionally large platform lorry can take a full load. It is for that reason that so many milk lorries are provided with a short supplementary platform immediately behind the driver's cab, so as to enable their full rated capacity to be utilized.
It is necessary for a haulier, when estimating his prospects of profit, to calculate the cost and revenue from the individual round. No hard-and-fast rule can be set, chiefly for the reason, above enunciated, that there is no connection between load and distance.
Suppose, as an example, that I take a round which involves 20 miles of running, and that the haulier is able to collect 50 10-gallon churns (500 gallons of milk) and distribute the empty churns within three hours. There is a full load for a 3-ton vehicle, which, preferably, will be a six-wheeler.
A minimum scale of charges for a lorry of this type is 45. per hour plus 41d. per mile, and the total for the above round is thus 19s. 6d. That is slightly less than Id. per gallon and, in those circumstances, the flat rate I have already mentioned will be profitable.
If, liowever, it be necessary to cover 30 miles for the collection and delivery of the 500 gallons of milk, the time will probably be increased to 31 hours and the total charge should, on the above basis, be
7s. 3d. If the haulier receives only id. per gallon, his revenue will be D. Os. 10d. Actually, payment at the rate of 0.65d, per gallon is the minimum for this round to be reasonably profitable to the operator The calculation for a 4-tonner carrying 600 gallons should be 4s. 6d. per hour plus 51d. per mile, which, for four hours, covering a distance of 30 miles, totals fl 11s. 9d., as against a revenue, at id. per gallon, of El 5s. A flat rate of 0.60d. per gallon is the minimum at which this contract could be made to pay.
1.1, however, it were possible to collect 700 gallons on this route and that is, of course, within the capacity of a 4-ton lorry, and suppose that only another half-hour were necessary for the additional 10 churns to be loaded, the minimum revenue, according to our time-andmileage basis calculation, should be 34s. The actual revenue at the rate of id. per gallon would be £1 9s. 2d.
So far as the haulier with the smaller type of lorry is concerned, a problem recently brought to me for so1u. tion is of interest. The haulier involved apparently lived next door to a farmer. At any rate, the told me that he was to start his work at this farm, which I will call A, picking up four churns of milk, running a retie to another farm (B), where he picked up three churns, a further mile to C for another three, four miles to D, picking up yet another three churns, and then four miles more to a station, where he delivered the milk. These churns were, in actual fact, 17-gallon churns and his lorry was a 1-tonner. The time taken, he told me, was two hours and, of course, the mileage was 20. What should he charge per gallon?
For a 1-tonner operating in a country district, a fair charge would be on the basis of 3s. per hour and 21d. per mile. The total would be 10s. 2d. that is to say, 122d. for 221 gallons, or slightly over id. per gallon.
S.T.R.