Shorter Hours Mean Quicker Turn--round
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'THE diminution in the number of hours which may be worked by drivers and their mates is, to all intents and purposes, an increase in wages, for few, if any, operators can make any reduction in the time they use their vehicles each week. They, will, therefore, have no alternative but to pay additional wages for the same work. What this means, in effect, can be assessed only if certain assumptions be made, mainly, that overtime rates—time-and-a-quarter, time-and-a-half, etc.— will be calculated on the new hourly rate. If that be so, the percentage increase in the cost of an ordinary week with overtime will be 8.8 per cent., but where overtime is worked, upwards of 10 per cent., depending upon the amount of overtime.
As an example, take the case of the driver of a maximum-load six-wheeler in a Grade 1 area. His normal weekly wage is £5 3s. Od.—an hourly rate of 2s. lid. On the basis of a 44-hour week, that will now become 2s. 4d. an hour, an increase of 8.8 per cent. Now, if he works 60 hours per week and his wages are made up of £5 3s. Od. for the 48 hours, plus £1 2s. Sid. for the first eight hours' overtime and 12s. 10id. for the remaining four hours, the total is £6 18s. 4d. In future he will be paid £5 3s. Od. for the first 44 hours, El 3s. 4d. for the next eight, and another £1 8s. Od. for the following eight, making £7 14s. 4d.
The increase in that case is 1 1 per cent. The total cost of operation of this particular Vehicle, working 60 hours per week, based on the current issue of "The Commercial Motor Tables of Operating Costs," will rise from £39 7s. Od. to £40 3s. Od., which is approximately 2 per cent.
That is the immediate effect of the increase. The long-term result must inevitably be greater attention by operators and the buyers of transport to means for speeding the turn-round of vehicles. We have, from time to time, dealt with this subject, and suggested ways to that end. A particular example, showing how effectively it can be done, is afforded by the British Sugar Corporation at its various factories, and dealt with in detail in an article relating to the Bardney factory, published in the previous issue. These are the lines which must be followed if cost of transport is to be kept at a minimum, and no one will dispute the necessity of that.