What the Years Have Taught Us
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A User Who Contributed His Experiences to "The Commercial Motor," nearly Thirty Years Ago, Compares Conditions of tgog With Those of To-day THIS week The Commercial Motor continues the reflections of an operator who, nearly 30 years ago, contributed a series of letters to this paper, under the heading of " User's Experiences." He now compares the conditions of 1909 with those of to-day and provides one or two illuminating examples of directions in which greater progress should have been made.
A letter dated February 6, 1909, opens as follows:— " . . • Owing to a blunder on the part of our customer, the wagon took two hours to collect a piece of machinery which should have been dropped on the wagon in as many minutes; and, alas, three and a half hours to deliver the same.
The above case is one of many in which motor-wagon carriers suffer severe loss with apparently no possibility of compensation. I have had a threat printed on the back of my delivery notes that undue delays will be charged for, but it only remains a threat. Has anyone dared to he a Daniel in this respect, I wonder?
On the whole, the position to-day has improved on that of 1909. This is due to the fact that traders are now more frequently Operators themselves, and have learnt the cost of keeping vehicles standing idle. Moreover, the law has placed a limit on drivers' hours and it is no longer possible to rectify the position, after delays, by making the driver work longer hours, as it was in the bad old days of 1909.
• Costly Delays •
That the matter still deserves increased consideration is demonstrated by a capable article that appeared in The Commercial Motor dated March 5, 1937, in which the writer emphasized the proportion that delays still bear to the general cost of transport.
* * " User" then proceeds to emphasize the value of road motors as an advertising medium, a point which the trader has since learnt to appreciate, although only to a limited extent.
Not long ago, a local baker had a delivery van, excellently painted, describing the merits of his particular make of loaf. Surmounting the whole appeared a rather exaggerated dummy loaf. At first, the loaf looked fresh and clean, and thoroughly appetizing, but as time went on it became dull and dirty, and eventually revolting!
Similarly, the picture of a beautiful damsel advertising some feminine requirement. started her career with a glamour of sex appeal, but finished with all the appearance of a woman who had been engaged in a street brawl and had decidedly got the worst of it.
General hauliers' vehicles are not well adapted for acting as advertising media. They are called upon to serve all and sundry, and it does not promote goodwill with an enthusiastic temperance customer to send him a vehicle with " Beer is Best " plastered all over it!
Advertising on motor vehicles requires special treatment. The value of the motor is that it passes through busy thoroughfares and can be seen by all, but, at the most, the public gains only a glimpse of it. Therefore the display must be simple and striking.
The most valuable positions to catch the eyes of passers-by are those facing to the front or back. The subject matter of the advertisement must be visible at a reasonable distance, to draw attention in advance, and the colouring and material must be suitable to withstand the effects of sun and rain.
o Sell by Motor
There is a form of advertising by motor vehicle that appears to be capable of greater use than it at present enjoys. I refer to the mobile showroom. Such a vehicle, if equipped with a loud speaker, could be turned into a powerful sales medium, as the voice of the most highly skilled salesman would accompany it wherever it went. The commodity might he " served up" in an attractive Programme of music, such as we are all familiar with in other directions.
Instead of giving the log for the particular week in question, the figures published below refer to the work of a steam wagon and trailer over a period of five months, May to September, 1908:—
The wagon had carried 775 tons, run 3,725 miles, and earned £315. It covered seven miles per cwt. of coke, at 7d. per cwt., or id. per mile. Later, " User" gave the following excerpt "Typical work: We consider a typical fair day's work is to run a total distance of 40 miles, with 5-6 tons each way, and earn from to £3 10s. a day for five days a week, running about 20 days a month, and we can guarantee to do this work and keep it up with our present wagons."
This rate of operation gives 8-10 hours per day running time at 5 m.p.h. and suggests a 12-14-hour working day for five days a week, the sixth day being spent in cleaning the vehicle and washing out the boiler. As a matter of fact, the wagons ran at a speed of 7-8 m.p.h. on the level, and easily averaged 5 m.p.h., which was the maximum legal speed allowed.
The name of the driver is given as J. Ridgley-, who, after more than 30 years' service -in road transport, eventually became engineer in charge of one of the biggest fleets in the country.
The weekly mileage of 200-250 seems low to-day. It was due partly to the lovi maximum legal speed allowed, but still more to the shocking state of the roads, through lack of foundations.
The letter of February 25, 1909, discover's poor old " User" in sore straits. For weeks the, roads have been covered with snow, and frost has sadly disintegrated them. "User " deplores the futile expenditure of money in repairing the surface of a road which has not a proper foundation, and protests that the road surveyors deserve rebuking for neglecting their work, rather than the motor owners, whose vehicles are rapidly destroyed in trying to negotiate roads with no. foundations. He calls upon the C.M.U.A. to take up the case and the Editor comments " The C.M.U.A. does as much as its limited funds permit. Did every user support it, as should be the case,' instead of some 300 only as now; there would be more ' campaign money'.''
• Anachronistic • Whilst it must be admitted that the provision of suitable roads, with proper foundations to withstand modern traffic has advanced since 1909, it cannot be suggested that the position is yet satisfactory. The roads, to-day, are probably as little suited to the traffic that they carry as those of 1909.
• Is there any real criticism brought to bear upon the modern road surveyor, any more than in 1909? Are there not far too many glaring instances of the waste of public, money; of main roads being widened for short lengths, with intervening narrow links; in fact, of a programme of national road construction carried out in penny numbers?
" User " proceeds to deplore the lack of good lamps for lorries. Here, we operators of 1937 can at least chuckle with satisfaction. In 1909, electriclighting sets on commercial vehicles were unknown, but to-day they are standard equipment. We have just one step farther to advance before we reach Valhalla—when starters will also be. come standard equipment.
venture to quote at some length from " User's Experiences " (March 4, 1909) on the subject of the road haulier versus private owner:— " As I view the facts at present, a contractor should be able to do a given piece of work at the same cost as a private owner, taking into account the risk of ownership in both cases. The difference between the skill of the professional carrier and that of a privafe owner in executing the work should represent the profit to the carrier, which he augments as occasion offers by feeding his vehicles with work from his general carrying business.
" This last point is one which gives the contractor a big advantage in dealing with Work which a private owner cannot possess. Whilst I am prepared to admit in advance that a contractor will probably make more generous allowances than a private owner, for possible contingencies, these allowances are dictated by his professional experience and will eventually become known to the private owner.
" I have touched upon the subject of private ownership at some length, because an erroneous impression of whit it involves, as compared with using properly organized carrying companies, is likely to lead to loss, not only to ca:rriers but to the trade generally."
The position now is not quite comparable, where large concerns operate fleets under a competent transport manager. The arguments employed by " User " may not cover the whole situ
ation, but his statement that " . . . I am prepared to admit in advance that a contractor will probably snake more generous allowances than a private owner, for possible contingencies.
. .'' stands good as in 1909.
The trader is far too prone to refuse to allocate to his transgort department all the expenses, including overheads, which it ought to carry. The motor manufacturer is frequently an accomplice to the fact by dangling incomplete operating costs before the trader.
Transport managers are called upon to give an account of their stewardships, and, in some cases, exercise considerable skill and ingenuity in producing figures that make the _rest of the transport world's charges look silly.