Invitation to Tender as a Cause of Excessive Cutting of Rates.
Page 44
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TT is to be regretted that much of the blame .1for the unfortunate state Of many small hauliers should be laid at the door of public bodies. Yet such is the case. The method by which county councils apportion contracts for the haulage of road materials, whilst logical and consistent in theory is, in practice, not so satisfactory. The practice is to invite tenders and generally to accept the lowest of these.
The result of this is that small hauliers, who, as we know only too well, are generally incapable of assessing their, proper, charges, merely quote a little lower than the next man or than the last price at which the work was done. The consequence is that there is an unending nieces• sion of failures of small hauliers who do this kind of work. On the other hand, reputable contractors are abstaining from tendering for county council work, and in this abstention is the chief hope of improvement.