PROBLEMS OF THE HAULIER AND CARRIER.
Page 60
Page 61
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Four or Six-wheeler : Which is the Better for the Haulier, Giving Him the Greater Profit and Enabling Him the Better, to Meet Competition ?
HAVE got so far, in considering the problem of the
man who is starting out in business as a motor haulier, as to reckon up his chance of making good on long-distance heavy haulage, working with a 6-ton lorry. In nay previous article I worked out the cost of operating such a vehicle on jobs involving 100-mile journeys out and home, and arrived at the conclusion that, with a vehicle of this size doing four double journeys a week and carrying a full load each way, there was a limiting figure of 13s. 4d. as a rate per ton to be charged. Below that the work would be done at a loss above it there would be a profit of 4s. per week for every penny in excess of 13s. 4d. a ton.
. Effect of Empty Running.
Of course, if there is to be empty running this figure
• will be modified considerably. The total cost of operating this lorry, including some small provision for establishment charges such as would have to be met by an owner-driver having but one lorry, is £32. This is the cost of eight complete journeys, each of 100 miles, so that if only one be empty there is a difference of £4 to be made up, and that amount must be spread over the other seven journeys and a new figure discovered of cost per run and per ton.
In the beginning I suggested that it might be possible to make the work more profitable if a trailer were employed, increasing the load on each journey to 10 tons instead of 6 tons. Unfortunately, with a trailer it will not be possible to do eight journeys a week, at any rate as a regular thing. Occasionally, but rarely, a week of eight runs will be possible.
The operating costs of a lorry and trailer will, of course, be more than that of a lorry alone. The following figures show the running costs :—Petrol, 2d. a mile ; • oil, .3d.; tyres, 1.8d. ; maintenance, 2.4d. ; depreciation, 1.5d.; a total of 8d. per mile.
Standing charges will be increased by the following amounts. There will be the wages of a second man or boy ; this will be 432d. per week. The figure for rent and rates will be increased by 60d.; there will be another 240d. for maintenance allowance for the assistant while away from home ; insurance will be an extra 10d.; and interest on first cost, say, 25d: The sum total of these additions is 768d., and the total standing charges for the 6-ton lorry and trailer are 2,688d.
On a 600-mile week the running costs alone amount to 600 x 8d., which is 4,800d., and the operating cost (which is a sum of the running costs and standing n42 charges) is 7,488d., or £31 4s. The establishment charges will be about the same as before, say, between £2 and £2 10s. a week, and the total expenditure for that period is, therefore, in round figures, 133 10s.
Now, if we deal with this case as we did with the other one, and assume a full load each way, then we have to reckon that on each of six journeys 10 tons will be carried. The total tonnage is therefore 60 and, as the total cost is £33 10s., the figure per ton is 11s. 2d. This is the minimum charge and will bring no profit.
For every penny perabove this the profit• will amount to 5s. per week, always providing that the very important condition is met that there must be a load each way. If there be any failure in that regard, and if it appear likely that that failure will be recurrent, then allowance must be made for it in estimating the charges. If, for example, it is anticipated that whilst it will be possible to make sure of a load five times .out of six, it is more than likely that one journey a• week will, with occasional exceptions, have to be made empty, then the figures should be revised as follows: Fifty tons a week only are carried instead of 60, the cost remaining as before, namely, £33 10s. This £33 10s. must, therefore, be spread over 50 tons instead of 60, which means that the minimum charge calculated as above must be 13s. 10d. a ton, whilst each penny per ton over that will bring in a profit of no more than 4s. 2d. a week.
To put this matter of lost journeys in another way : what it means is that an empty journey with a 6-ton lorry and trailer costs the owner £5 12s. In the case of a 6-ton lorry only, doing eight journeys a week, an empty one involves a loss of £4.
The Trailer Not the Best Solution.
I do not, however, look with favour upon the use of a trailer for this class of work. The principal reason for that view is indicated in the above calculation, in that its use slows the wagon up too much on a long journey. A trailer is best regarded as an auxiliary in cases where the time taken to load and unload is an important factor in the calculation of cost. Obviously, that point is not going to arise in connection with long runs such as those we are now considering, but only when the journeys are short. Two or three trailers, so used that loading Or unloading is going on in the case of one or two of them while the third is on the road, is often enough the best solution of a problem of transport in which the time for loading and unloading is of special importance. A trailer cannot be regarded as of value for temporarily increasing the load-carrying capacity of a unit for long-distance work such as that we are discuSsing, since it is more than likely that on those occasions when it could be used it will have been left behind at the other terminus. It would never be safe to leave it.; so that the scheme for regarding it as an occasional and temporary auxiliary only would fall to the ground.
The best type of wagon to-day for a man who is buying new, and who expects to be able to get loads Of up to 10 tons more or less frequently, is a six-wheeler of the rigid type, either petrol or steam-driven, according to circumstances. In this particular problem we-have. on the express instructions of the inquirer who started this series, left the steamer out of the question and it seems as though a 10-ton, rigid-type, six-wheeler petrol vehicle on pneumatic tyres is going to be most suitable for his requirements.
Advantages of the Six-wheeler.
One important advantage of this type as compared with a lorry and trailer is immediately apparent when we come to calculate the probable costs; it will do eight journeys a week comfortably, and will thereforecarryno
less than 80 tons in that period. Its costs will be approximately as follow : Petrol, 21d. per mile; lubricants, .4d.; tyres, 2d.; maintenance, 1.7d.; depreciation, 2.4d.; total, 9th per mile. The standing charges will .13e: Licences, 288d.; wages, 960d. • rent and rates, 240d.; insurance, 92d.; interest, 400d.; driver's maintenance, 240d.; total, 2,220d.
The cost per week of eight journeys, which is $00 miles, is 800 by 9d., or 7,200d. plus 2,220d.' which is 9,420d., or 139 5s. • Add 12 15s. for establishment, sundries and contingencies, and we arrive at £42 as being the total expenditure per week. The charge per ton which must be made in order to cover expenses only is, therefore, 10s. 6d., and there will be a weekly profit of Gs. 8d. for every penny over this figure which the haulier receives, provided that he loses no journeys.
Possibilities of Profits from Various Types.
Now we come to the most important aspect of the whole matter, namely, the prospective profit from each of these three types. I have shown that the total expenditure in each case, calculated per ton carried and on the assumptions made, is 13s. 4d. for a 6-ton lorry, 41s. 2d. in the case of a 6-tonner with trailer, and 10s. 6d. in the case of the 10-ton six-wheeler. The figures of cost, however, in this case are only half the story ; we must also take into account the tonnage carried, which is only 48 per week in the first case, 60 in the second and 80 in the third. The capacity for tonnage, always provided, of course, that the tonnage is available in the shape of paying loads, is the most important factor in deciding whether a given haulage contract can be made worth while or not. To show exactly what I mean and how it works out in a case like this, I will assume that the average rate which the haulier is able to get on these 100-mile trips is 1Gs. 8d. per ton. For some classes of goods he may get more, but for others he will get less. The average may be taken to be 16s. 8d.
The profit per ton in the first case will be 3s. 4d., and the profit per week £8. In the second case there is 5s. Gd. a ton profit or 116 10s. a week, while in the third, the six-wheeler, the profit is 6s. 2d. a ton, which for 80 tons amounts to /24 13s. 4d. a week. It is easy to -see, in the event of competition having to be met; which type of wagon is likely to be the most useful to its owner.
The above calculations are made on a basis of full loads each way. In the event of there being one empty journey per week, the loss in the first ease is £4, in the second 15 12s., and in the third £5 5s. This reduces the above figure for weekly profit accordingly, so that in the first case it becomes £4 only, in the second £10 18s., and in the third £19 8s. 4d.
Two lost journeys a week would entirely wipe out the profit in the case of a 6-tonner, would reduce that in the second case-lorry and trailer-to £5, but there would still be £14 3s. 4th in the case of the 10-ton six-wheeler.
It does seem that the more we look into the matter the more striking appear the advantages of the sixwheeler.
Now look at this another way. Assume that it frequently happens that loads of no more than 6 tons offer, what will be the position of the six-wheeler in those circumstances? First of all, take it that there are several weeks together in which only 6-ton loads are available. The total cost of operation, including establishment charges, still remains at £42; only 48 tons, however, are carried during the week. The cost per ton to the haulier is therefore 17s. 6d., the loss per ton is 10d. and per week is 12. Suppose, however, that on the average there are four times a week when 6-ton loads are carried and four times when 10 tons are obtained. Then the total tonnage Is 64, the cost per ton is 13s. 1id., theprofit per ton 3s. %d. and per week • £11 7s. 6d. S.T.R.