Political Commentary By JANUS
Page 50
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Buyers' Guide
THE more fiercely hauliers cut their rates, the more assiduously they work at producing a rates structure. They aim to lay the spectre of the bankruptcy court by conjuring up the vision of the perfect schedule, even if by the time it appears they will be giving their services for practically nothing.
The customer is not easily deceived. A plentiful crop of rates schedules is becoming for him the infallible sign that there are cheap rates below the surface, if he cares to dig for them. He may not think the labour worth the candle. He knows without being told that rates must vary according to circumstances, and that a good, reliable service is worth extra payment. He knows equally well that there is always somebody else prepared to tackle the job for a little bit less.
The haulier is no less intelligent, and is well aware what his customers are thinking. He cannot conscientiously and unreservedly support a national rates schedule. He must have freedom to cut the rate at times, when he wants the traffic and it fits snugly into his programme. He may at times charge more, either when he does not particularly want the traffic, or when he knows he is giving a better service than can easily be obtained elsewhere.
lithe trader will not accept a rates schedule, and the haulier will not keep to it, there may seem little purpose in compiling one. Many hauliers have said this many times, but the fact that they cannot leave the subject alone shows there must be more in it than appears at first glance.
The haulier who condemns work on a rates schedule as a waste of time may be confusing a secondary aim with the main purpose. This is to secure a fair and reasonable profit on a haulage business. If a haulier could achieve this without a rates schedule, he would do so. He finds in practice that he must have some sort of guide, however rough and ready, when fixing his charges, and he finds that the lack of an equally reliable guide among many other operators encourages them to undercut his rates.
Philosopher's Stone
In self-defence, as well as often with a genuine desire to help his fellow-operators, he turns to the quest of a magical formula that will suit them all and at the same time be utterly convincing to the customer. It is the quest for the philosopher's stone that does not exist. There is no easy way to make the customer pay what the haulier thinks the job is worth. The mere flourish of a nationally approved rates schedule will certainly not do the trick. • Even to begin to win conviction, the schedule would have to contain almost as many exceptions as there are individual haulage businesses. There are too many variables to contain within a formula.
Several valiant or foolhardy attempts have been made to solve the problem. The latest to appear is the advisory rates schedule issued by the National Con ference of Road Transport Clearing Houses. It is reasonably easy to understand, and makes provision for some of the variables I have mentioned, but the most eloquent commentary upon it is that it exactly, or almost exactly, repeats a schedule originally issued eight years ago.
al fl The introduction makes clear that the booklet is intended for the use of hauliers. The hope that they will keep to its provisions seems vain. First of all, a copy would have to be sent to every haulier in the country— including British Road Services—and they would have to promise to abide by it. This could never happen. The operator with a taste for the ingenious might follow the suggested steps, and pull the lever at the end in order to see the rate come out like the jackpot from a fruit machine. He would not think of taking the rate seriously unless it happened to coincide with his own calculations.
More useful to the majority of hauliers would be a guide to their basic costs, coupled with a method of keeping a close watch on those costs and on revenue. Most of the information can already be found in The Commercial Motor, and in the " Tables of Operating Costs." The guide or guides now being prepared by the Road Haulage Association may be found to a great extent to repeat what is already in the existing publications.
Preparation of a rates schedule is equally important, but it should be designed to meet the needs of the customer rather than the haulier. As a buyers' guide to fair charges, it need not be too rigid.
Trade Secret
This idea may seem heretical to the operator who has been trained to regard his rates schedule as a closely guarded trade secret. He may have overlooked the fact that, when national rates are under consideration, open diplomacy has usually proved more successful in the past. It would be fanciful to suggest that every time the rates committee of the Road Haulage Association recommend an increase, all hauliers are given a corresponding increase by their customers. Publication of the recommendation, however, has enabled more hauliers to negotiate successfully than if the committee had circulated their opinion privately.
Even the trader who refuses to pay more does not deny that the committee are reasonable and do not lightly suggest a general increase. Although he may not always pay the rates laid down, he accepts as reasonable the document quaintly but almost universally known as RH/13120. His respect may be because it was originally drafted by the Ministry of War Transport.
This document pays little heed to the variables with which every haulier has to contend. There may be a need for a more comprehensive document, such as a sub-committee of the R.H.A. are now engaged in compiling. Members may be prepared to reveal what rates they are charging, and even what latitude they allow to meet circumstances. The difficulty Will be to reduce these details, and the variable quantities, to the simplest possible terms.
It would be helpful if from the outset the compilers had in mind giving the document wide circulation among trade and industry, as well as among hauliers. There need then be no attempt to pin an arbitrary price on something that by its very nature fluctuates in value. The aim should be to fix an upper and lower limit for the fluctuations. This would allow a margin for manceuvre according to the variation of different quantities.