• HAULAGE CONTRACTING.
Page 32
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When Working for Building Contractors and Road Constructors, the Haulage Contractor Must Watch Costs and Charge on the Correct System.
I HAVE been good enough, this week, to agree to
a suggestion of the Editor's that I should
endeavour to bring my usual article into line with those others with Which ,a, large section of the rest of the paper is full.
This is, as readers will instantly, recognize a reversal of the usual course. I understand that the issue of The Commercial Motor in which these words will appear is to be devoted, in the main, to the discussion of the transport requirements of the builder and road maker. Now, I could easily meet the Editor's request by saying : "In the rest of this paper will be found a complete statement of the wants, in the way of haulage, of the building contractor and roads constructor. Read,mark, learn, and then carry on, carry, and make money while ye can, for to-morrow is pay-day."
All of which, joking apart, means that in those two sections of trade are to be found, to-day, the most abundant sources of work for the haulier. He is wanted at every stage, from the carting away of materials from excavations, or the conveyance of stuff for levelling depressions, to the carriage of furniture for the garnishing of the property when i completed—and even subsequently to that, n the days of occasional lapses of fortune and consequent changes of address!
The haulier is wanted in every branch of each of these two businesses, which is particularly fortunate, inasmuch as, of all trades, they are suffering least from the general depression ; houses are wanted, business property is wanted, and no reader of this journal will deny the need for new and better roads. All these wants are so insistent, and the requirements they meet are so far from being luxuries, that money simply has to be found for thent. The haulier is thus fortunately placed in having his two most prolific sources of employment forming the most imperative of present public needs. Indeed, the business offering in these two directions is such that many haulage contractors find themselves able to concentrate their energies on them alone, to the exclusion of any other. Carmo, Ltd. for example, a, well-known London concern, of 43-44, Upper Berkeley Street, W., employ all their own machines, and 'others which they freqUently hire, almost exclusively
--. in connection with building contracts. . , All sizes of lorries are employed, even the light van, which, as I remarked in the course of an 'article written a few weeks ago (in connection with another of the Editor's special issues), is a valuable adjunct to any haulier's fleet, being available for emergency journeys and similar work. The five-tonner is the most useful and profitable. It carries a heavier load
• at a proportionately less expenditure than any other, • and in most building and road contracts the loads
• offering are the limit of the vehicle's capacity. A tipping body is useful at times, and in selecting a machine for this class oCwork, a tip-wagon should, in ray opinion, be given preference, provided that,
• apart from-the provision of tipping mechanism, the bodywork is otherwise of the general-purpose order.
The reason for this selection is that, although for much of the baulage work a tipping body may be used as such, there are many jobs in which tipping is not permissible. Take the cartage of bricks, for example; no arguments in favour of tipping would obtain much of a hearing, and if the haulier had been misguided enough to buy a tipping lorry with an all-steel body having a radiused .corner at the junction of side and floor, he would find the curves inedrivenient when loading up.
The provision of a "bolster," high up at the back of the driver's cab, to support the front ends of long beams or baulks, girders or iron bars, which may then project. over the bonnet is advisable. It is a good idea, too, to have the cab made much narrower than the body, so that further accommodation for. long pieces may be provided at the sides.
Trailers are useful., but not so much so as one might, think. Objections lie mainly with regard to difficulty of manceuvring, particularly in the narrow alley-ways which are often the only means of access to building work. Thste is no doubt, too, that, apart from legal restrictions, which are differently interpreted in different districts, some constables being more blessed' with blind eyes than others, a vehicle with trailer is proportionately slower, on the whole round, than a Bolus machine. This criticism is particularly applicable to the building and road-making industries, as the mileagea are low, and, therefore, afford lessoopportunity for making up losses due to terminal delays, and, in saying this I am not blind to the saving of such delays which may be effected by the use of several trailers, of which some may be in course of loading and others unloading, while others, again,. are in transit. Hitching and unhitching, turning, reversing, and turning again, in places Av hi oil afford small scope for such gymnastics, involve waste of time, which can, as a rule, only be justified if a reasonably long distance, not less than 20 miles, has to be covered between terminal points.
Rates That Should be Charged.
The rates offering for this class of work, although perhaps on the lean side ,nevertheless afford a workmg margin of profit, provided that overhead expenditure is kept down. Round about 9s. an hour for a five-tonner, 7s. 6d. to 7s. 9d. for a three, 7s. for a• two-ton machine, and as. 6d. for a ono-ton Ford are London figures. Slightly less is obtainable in the provinces. Quotations are nearly always given by the hour, as should be the case, the mileages being generally low, and most of the time being spent loading or unloading. The haulier who on investigating any particular job which offers, anticipates that this condition will not hold, should, in tendering, stipulate a maximum mileage, which might very well be, in the case of a five-tonner, 200 per week, beyond which an extra 3harge for mileage run should be a,greed. Of course, this maximum mileage figure may alter with the circumstances and according to the rate which offers. It would be a fair limit if the payment was that which is named above. Quotations 'lay the mile, or tonmile, are entirely unsafe unless tilt haulier has an exact knowledge of the conditions and can calculate precisely the mileage, or ton-mileage, which it will be possible to cover or carry out per week. Remember that the lower the weekly .figure of mileage or ton-mileage, the higher must the rate per mile or ton-mile be.
It may be of interest to compare the working expenses of a five-tonner with the receipts under the above scale, assuming a mileage of 200 per week. which, as I stated, should be a maximum for this size of machine. The running costs are 200 timer 10.37d., total 28 13s. ; standing charge 26 Os. 6d. operating costs in all are, therefore, 214 13s. 6d. Receipts; 95. per hour for 48 hours, 221 12s: Gross profit, 26.18s. 6d.' -out of which must come establishment charges and other incidentals. THE SiTorost.