About the Requirements of Smaller Tradesmen.
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Why Change?
Boy-messengers, cycle-carriers and horse-vans do much, do very well they even have more capacity for delivtly than *mil shops can keep going. That is not denied, They will prelatbly continue to suit the trader of small resources, and most ot all those who intend to remain in that eategor;. Cycle-carriers and horse-vans are cheap to buy ; they appear, OIL cursory examination, to cost reasonable sums per week • for running and upkeep. Who bothers to notice how little they do in mileages or totals of parcels conveyed, compared with a motor tricycle-carrier or a self-propelled vall.! As a general rule, nobody. Attention is, therefore, asked for this controlling factor in the situation cost divided by performance. That is the true test of any delivery system, if con. venience and efficiency are at least equal. It costs a let more per mile to work a steamship in place of a sailing vessel, but the superior earning powers of the steamer render its ern ployment much more profitable to the owner in 99 cases out of 100. That is a parallel. Do not be " frightened off " by the weekly Cost of a motorvan it is only higher in the end where a trader's work is absolutely unsuitable, i.e.. where few or lio parcels are sent to customers' houses, or where it is never of distinct monetary advantage to be able to collect special inward goods or urgent supplies from a wholesale house at short notice, or where the possession of facilities for dealing with " crush " periods is not valued. or where possibility of expansion is scouted as " not wanted." Where. ever there is room and scope to-day for a single cycle-carrier or a single one-horse van, there is potential if nut immediate and positive demand for a motor tricycle-carrier infur a small motorvan. The change should be made in eviler to secure: (a) greater radius of regular custom ; (b) quicker and more-frequent delivery; (c) ability to send an urgent dispatch order six or more miles without upsetting the day's rounds ; (d) advertisement ; (e) independence of railway and 01 her outside carriers, with consequent reduction in expenses of pack ing room and absence of damage in transit; (f) lower costs for equal amounts of work done; (g) safeguards against, rem porary exhaustion of delivery plant by abnormal demands upon it on particular days, or at particular seasons ; thi freedom from the cares arid uncertainties which are imposed by the ownership of horses; indifference to hilly reads; (j■ avoidance of necessity for the establishment of branch &pits; and (k) satisfaction on the dispatch side.
Who Cannot Afford It?
The obstinate conservatism of some traders is finally crystal
iisd the meaningless sentence " I cannot afford to make the change." With a measure of cognizance of the everchangii.g colour schemes, fashions, patterns, modes, styles, etc., rte., which are characteristic of their busioess. one does not readily give credence to assertions that trading houses are slow to welcome changes. Those which fall within the accepted limits of a proprietor's or manager's acquired knowledge of his own trade are certainly accepted and expected ; the necessity for them engenders prompt decisions and instructions. The larger houses, naturally, have their chosen buyer or buyers. Nearly all are equally at a loss when the question; of changing over to motors comes up. Then, to the detrinica of the prospecti alike of their own house and the would-be vendor of the motors, recourse is had to the lame excuse: " It is too costly; we really cannot afford the money." The
specialist is not called in. Who canaot afford to buy an instrument of trade which is
a known and proved money-earner Surely, only the man who is without a margin of capital. It is the, struggling trader, who, already hovering mid-way to destruction, cannel meet his obligations sufficiently to get the best terms or to adopt the best methods in any department, that can alone give an answer of the kind honestly. In such cases, which clearly do not set the pace for traders who have steady bank balances, hesitancy is comprehensible: the trader may conceivably have several more-pressing demands; he may do better to put even £100 into new stock. The writer does not advise anybody who is " pinched "far want of capital to lock up that sum in the motor tricycle-carrier which can be bought with it. More stock of classes which are " turned over " rapidly
will be a better investment for him.
To Replace the One-horse Van.
Let us get down in the scale, for the present, to the case of the trader who has enough work for one van. Is it to be a motorvan! On the basis of costs as the determining factor, let well-authenticated figures speak for themselves. A 10-15 cwt. net load, an average of not more than 120 miles a week and a total cost of 51s. are about the means oi results with a one-horse van and its one horse. The first cost is taken at £80, inclusive of harness. Details of the weekly costs, according to the average stated, are: driver's wages, 23s.; fodder and bedding, 13s. ; farriery and veterinary ser vices, 2s. 3d.; painting, varnishing and repairs, 3s.; rent, rates and taxes, 2s. 6d.; stable labour, 3s. 2d. ; insurance, 6d.; interest and depreciation, 3s. ld.; sundries, 6d. This totals to 51a., and local influences will not vary the aggregate to any material extent. The costs per mile of travelling are :— r On the basis of 60 miles a week, 10.2t1 per wile.
Cost of single one.horse „ „ 7.7d. vao i0 ewt. net loadu. . „ 100 „ „ 6.1r1. „ „ 120 „ 6.11.
It should be noted that only a very-small reduction in weekly cost is possible, in respect of any weeks when the lower mileages are accomplished, and that the mean figure of 51s. has been applied to all. A one-horse van is at its best on the 120-mile basis; that is the practicable limit of regular use, except in unusually-flat country, with a net load of 10 cwt.. to 15 cwt. behind the animal at the start of the journey. Motorvan costs present the basic difference that some of the heaviest items of cost depend wholly upon the mileare. Fuel and tires are to be mentioned as the most noteworthy of these. Reductions are, thus, material.
It is desirable to emphasize the fact that all these figures include the cost of solid india-rubber tires. For pneumatics, which are an unnecessary refinement in most instances, one must add 1.25d. for the 10-cwt. van, and from 2d. to 3d. for the 1-ton van.
Cost in Relation to Mileage-Points about Drivers.
A one-horse van can seldom be worked below an average inclusive cost of 5d. per mile run. If any reader of this article feels sceptical on that point, let him get out his own costs, and let him not fail to take account of all the nine headings which have been adopted above. He will then be convinced. It is true that the driver of a horse-van can be put to other work on days when calls are slack, but that is equally possible with the driver of a motor. Extra mileage beyond 120 per unit per week does not appreciably reduce the cost of horse-vans, except where a firm's organization permits the same man and van to go out upon a second journey of about 20 miles each afternoon, a fresh horse being necessary, in which circumstances the cost may go down to 4.5d. per mile all round. In London, it will remain 5d.
The driver question is no longer one of difficulty to the motor owner, and fancy rates of pay are as unnecessary as are false ideas about their duties in the men themselves. Nearly all the motor-tricycle carriers and motorvans in the service of trading houses are driven by youths and men who previously were in the same employ. It. is only a matter of a few days, or at most a couple of weeks, for an unskilled driver or porter to master all that he is required to know in order that he may safely be sent out in charge of such a machine. There may, of course, exactly as with ordinary tricycle-carriers or with horse-vans, be roadside incidents and accidents, but these, with average care, are less probable in the case of the motor. Traffic experience, it must not be overlooked, counts for much. A good carman or vanman almost invariably makes a
good motor driver. Let it be granted, then, that the mechanic driver is by no means an essential. Consider his wages per mile.
60 miles per week..4.8d. per mile.
1ry0denee of driver's 1 80 „ , wages according to 1 100 ,, =2.911.
mileage (10 cwt. '1120 „ =2.4d. motorvan) I 180 „ --1.64.
1,400 ,.
It will thus be seen that, at 80 miles a week, if the whole of the wages be charged against the van, which has been done in every example herein given, the driver alone works out at
exactly the same per mile run as the total cost of the van on the easily-encompassed weekly aggregate of 400 miles. This one fact serves to illustrate the important bearing which icing mileages may have upon the most-economical results, or, alternatively, how several pence per mile can be saved by finding the driver other work to do. A motor driver has plenty of time on his hands, if his vehicle is only doing low mileages each day, whereas this is seldom true, owing to the low rates of travel on the road, and most of all where there
are hills, of a horse driver.
Depreciation and Interest Charges.
A life of ten years can be allotted to all approved types of commercial motors which are not palpably neglected in use of wilfully damaged. Even in the presence of these two undue influences upon the life of a tricycle-carrier or motorvan, the same life may be realized at the cost of extra repairs. That duration of effective life has, however, in the tables of cost which are part of this article, only been reckoned in respect of lightly-used machines. It has, none the less, been allowed for the horse and horse-van, throughout, without demur. To the considerable detriment of the motorvan costs, it has been applied even to the ridiculously-low supposititious cases of only 60 miles a week of service. In these tables, too, interest on capital has been charged on first cost, instead of—after the first year—on that sum less depreciation, and this is slightly excessive.
In respect of motorvans which make any averages in excess of 40 miles per day, it is expedient to treat depreciation
strictly as a charge per mile run, thereby reducing the estimated life in proportion tthe work taken out of the machine, although adequate and careful maintenance provision tends to render this treatment of depreciation of the matter unduly severe. For example, in the 400-mile-per-week figures quoted, the costs include depreciation, over and above the average charge which is necessary for proper maintenance, on the expectation of a life of fewer than six years, and without the crediting of any residual value—say, £60 at the end of that term, or the allowing of any accrued interest on the money set aside. This is clearly excessive, but it has been done to show how large are the margins set down to protect a buyer against contingencies. Such a van would then, in but little snore than 5 years, be in full service, yet written off in the books, which is advantageous from some points of view.
Vans which have averaged more than 350 miles a week for upwards of four years, and which are still in every-day use and likely so to continue for years to come, are not exceptional. Models of more-recent construction will do better still. Also. in London and certain other areas, some of the leading makers and garage proprietors will enter into longperiod maintenance contacts at reasonable agreed rates.
The Motor Tricycle-carrier.
This article, apart from the tabular data in the next, column, does not profess to touch upon large-type vehicles ; it is more-specifically addressed to storekeepers and other tradesmen who have no huge or exceptional resources. For those reasons, it is probable that a few details about the first and working -costs of a self-propelled tricycle-carrier will be not out of place before considering the coats of larger vehicles. A tricar, with a box about 42 in. long by 38 in. wide, and with a -depth of 30 in., is well adapted for high-speed deliveries, and is remarkably economical in working. The first cost ranges from £95 to £110, according to style of body and fittings, and the total running cost varies between 1.75d. and 3.25d. per mile according to class of service and weekly mileage. In the London area, for example, vehicles of this pattern are maintained by contract, after purchase, at a charge of no
more than £88 a year. This sum Covers: petrol; lubri
cants; repairs and renewals; garage and washing ; insurance. The limitation of distance is 360 miles a week, which means that the makers have the necessary confidence in their carrier to be satisfied with less than 1,4-d. per mile to cover all the foregoing items. The owner has to pay the driver's wages, and for tires. There is, at present, one well-proved model of this class on the market : it is known as the " Auto-Carrier." Whilst its handiness and cheapness should cause it to appeal to the small shopkeeper, those qualities resider it equally useful as a component part of any big fleet. Why should a one-ton van be sent out with some urgent but small parcel? It is obviously better to have a smart little carrier for such jobs, and not to send out " an elephant to carry a postage stamp."
Conclusion.
The claims of mAor broughams for travellers fall outside the scope of this article. It may be confirmed, incidentally, that their convenience and ultimate economy is undoubted. Expenditure which aids direct and more-frequent touch with customers is never wasted ; idle time is reduced, and the motor "showroom on wheels" enables a representative both to "get in" more calls per day and to cover a larger area in the working hours of a day than is possible by any alternative.
The commercial motor, to-day, is no experiment. It is a money-earner. It is for each reader of these lines to decide whether or no ho intends to administer his dispatch work so as to obtain the beat results and the fullest economies. 11 he feels that he will not indifferently allow himself to lag behind, now is the time to take action. To the shopkeeper with only a counter trade and no private customers, and who regards any scheme of motor delivery as quite beyond the pale of his concern, it is probable that, pending an improvement in his standing, the course which this article indicates can only appeal as a prospect. For others, hesitancy in the past may not have been blameworthy, but it is now becoming dangerous. Some, even, may be interested in the larger vehicles to which three columns of the final table apply. Over-caution has done harm to many traders before. Once a commercial motor of any approved kind is bought, its owner wonders how he ever managed to do without it. Electric lighting, the telephone and incandescent gas were all dear—not many years ago. So were motors, but they are equally indispensable today.