BRICKS AN IMPORT, POSTWAR TRAFFIC
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I N an article which appeared in " The Commercial , Motor," dated May 18, I pointed out that there were limits in respect of length of lead, within which it would be unprofitable to employ large vehicles. The example then in my mind was in connection with the haulage of bulky materials which took a long time to load and unload. It appeared, from data given to me, that a 10-tonner would need 6-i hours for the round journey involved in a lead of five miles.
That means that, in reality, the vehicle would be able to make only one journey per day, which made it an uneconomical proposition unless loading could take place in the evening, alter, returning from the first journey, In that case, by working a 10-hour day, the vehicle might complete three round trips in three days, which would
• possibly make its employment worth while. . The . problem is worth considering from that angle, especially as it involves the calculation of costs and rates
by an alternative method to that of direct assessment on a time and mileage basis—the system I usually adopt and the one I used in that article. This alternative is to assess , on the basis of the number of journeys which can be campleted ina working day. I have had a number of inquiries lately on the subject of rates for brick haulage and, as this lends -itself to the -use of the alternative method of assessment, it will be of interest to deal with it in the same way at the same time, taking into consideration this problem of adapting the vehicle to the lead distance, ,thus killing two birds with one stone.
The circumstances which I am going to take as applying are: The operation of a mixed fleet, including 5-6-tonners, 7-8-tonners, I2-ton six-wheelers, and 14-15-ton eight.
wheelers. I will assume that the first two are petrolengined and the others are oil-propelled. The working day, may be up to II hours and six hours on Saturday, so that, in any week, there may, or may not, be overtime involved. •
Cutting Down Terminal Delays
1 'shall take it that two men travel on each lorry so as to facilitate the loading and unloading of the bricks thus cutting down the terminal delays and increasing, as is so essential, the number of journeys which can be covered in one working day or week. I must emphasize that one-way loading only is under discussion.
First, to lay `down our operational data—the time and mileage charges for the various sizes of vehicle—for we need those even although our assessment is eventually to be on the basis of journeys per day.
Taking the 5-6-tonner, " The' Commercial Motor " Tables of Operating Costs give £6 13s. 9d. per week for standing
charges. To that must be added 4s. on account of the recent increase in drivers' wages, and 7s, 3d. to bring the amount for. insurance (C-licence premium given in The Tables) to that which the haulier has to pay., The total iS £7 5s. per week. Then there is the,wage of the mate, at £4 3s, per week, bringing what I might call the net standing charges to £11 8s. per week. Add:establishment costs at £3 5s., and we have £14 I3s. per week as the total of fixed, costs. To that must be added 20 per cent. for profit, making £17 12s. as the weekly charge.
How .Overtime Affects the Charge That amount is for the guaranteed 48-hour week. For each hour of overtime (up to eight hours) the driver will have to be paid 2s. 41d. and the mate 2s. ljd. (say. 2s. 2d.). Each hour's overtime costs the operator 4s. 6icl and, as this, too, should be subject to 20 per cent, profit, the addition to his charge per week, in round figures, should be 5s. 6d.
The cost per mite run, according to The Tables, is 6.52d. In brick haulage, however, the cost per mile is a fraction above the average, because of the arduous nature of the work, and, therefore, 6.65d. is a more reasonable figure. Add 20 per cent, to that tor profit and we get 8d, per mile as the mileage charge..
I will not use' space on each of the other sizes of vehicle to show how the totals are reached. The essential data is given in Table I. and the :eader must accept, as a fact, that the figures in each case have been worked Out-in a manner corresponding to the foregoing.
Now, it is nece6sary to agree upon some times for loadmg and unloading. In this 1 find, authorities differ. There is, in any case, the complication arising from the fact that, on occasions, help in loading is provided at the brick yards, and at otners it is not. Sometimes the load is picked up at a railway goods 'yard, where there is, as a rule, no help in loading. There may be help available tel unload , but this is by no means always the case. I propose to take it that, as there are two men cm each lorry, the conditions are: no help at either end.
In the case of the 5:6-tonner, which, incidentally, is the most popular type for this classof 'work, and with two expert brick loaders, by which is meant a driver and mate, both accustomed to this work, the load of 2,500 bricks can be put on the lo r ry in 40 minutes, That is probably the case in the morning, when the mea are fresh and eager. In the evening, when putting up the last load of the day, it takes much longer. I propose to assume one hour each for loading and unloading. • A full load for a 7-8-tonner is 3,500 bricks, The total time for loading and unloading is three hours. A 12tanner will carry 5,500 bricks andthe loading and unload
ing times—two .rneti only—will be to a hours. For 3 1415-tonner a full load is 6,500, and the corresponding time 4 hours.
Loading and Unloading Times , It may be noticed that the periods allowed for loading and unloading increase in greater proportion, than the number of bricks to be handled. That is in accord with experience, and is only to be expected, as men are progressively more tired and therefore work slower the longer they are at it.
Now. consider a minimum lead of three miles. By the term minimum lead I mean the shortest distance which we
need consider. am of opinion that the. rate for one or two miles should tie not less than that .for three; th, time needed will, in any case, be practically the same. The actual travelling time, including. some little delay in getting in and out of the brickyard or railway goods station at one end of the journey, and the building site at the other, as well as obtaining signatures for documents at each end, will approximate to a quarter of an hour each way—half an hour in all. The total journey time,. therefore, including the two hours for loading .and unloading,.
• is 24 hours. Foul journeys, therefore, can be completed each 10-hour day, and two on Saturday in six hours, allowing for putting the vehicle away, clocking off, etc. That means that 22 journeys will be completed in a week of 56 hours; 55,000 bricks will be carried in that time, or 1,000 bricks, approximately, each hour. The mileage run will be, 132.
• The charge, using the figures in Table I, must be £17 12s, plus eight times 53..0d. (for eight hours' overtime), .plus 132 times 8d, (per mile).. The total is £24 4s., and the rate is thus 8s, 10d. per 1,600, to the nearest penny..
Over a five-mile Icaclit wiI1 be unlikely that four journeys will regularly be completed in the 19-hour day. Pz-obably 104 hours will he 'necessary. That Means an addition to the time charge oi another 21 mars Of overtime, at the higher rate of 6s, 6d. per hour -instead of 5s. 6d. (After the first eight hours. that is, after 56 hours in a week, overtime must be paid forat time and a half instead of time arid a quarter.)
That increases the total time charge for the woik to 218 8s. 3d. The mileage, too, has increased to 220, to
. be charged at £7 6s, 8d, Call the .total £25. 15s. Th number of bricks carried is the same,namely, 55,000, and
the rate must thus be 9sl 41d.,• or, say, 9s. 6d. • • Rate for a 10-mile Lead Taking a 10.1-inile lead, the travelling time, each way, will be dbout half an hour. The total time for a journey will be three hours, which will probably mean three journeys per day, squeezing two in on Saturday. That is 17 journeys in the week of 51, hours, The total of bricks carried is 42,500, and the cost; reckoned as before, is £17 12s, for the main time charge, plus 16s, 6d, overtime and 211 Gs. 8d., total £29 15s. 2d, The rate must thus he 14s. per 1,000.
.If it he possible to load up a vehicle overnight and pick it up, loaded, the next morning, then we can reckon on 34 loads per day for a seven-mile lead, working 56 hours per week, completing 19 journeys, carrying 47,500 bricks and running 266 miles. The cost, reckoned in the same way as before, is £28 13s, 4d., and the rate per 1,000 must, .therefore, .be 129. •
It will still be possible to complete three jOurneys per 101-hour day on a 20-mile lead allowing a total of hours' travelling time, so that a; journey takes 4 hours
altogether, The number of journeys per week of 58 hours will be 16 and 40,000 bricks *ill he carried, The total cost, assessed as before, is £34 'us. 8d., and the rate 17s. 6d, per 1,000.
Let us take a' jump, now to the maximum distance which can be cover6d in a day by a vehicle of this size. It can be taken as 100 miles per 10-hour day. If a full day be worked on Saturday the week will be 60 hours, the number of journeys six, and the total load per week 15,000 bricks, The mileage run per week will be 1,200, the total .cost £61 2s.: and thg rate 81s. 6d. per 1,000. Operators should bear in mind that this is for one-way loading only.
Vehicles of this size are uneconomical for these long leads, as subsequent calculations will show.
Intermediate lead distances have been dealt with: the figures will he shown in Table II, which will appear next week in the second article of the series, . _
Figures for a 7-8-tonner
Taking a 7-8-tonner engaged on similar work; it carries, as has been stated, 3,5,00 bricks, which take a total of three hours to load and unload. Starting again with a three-mile lead, and taking it for granted, as I think we may, that the same time will suffice for travelling this dikance as was allowed for the 5-6-tonner—half an hour— we get 3i hours as being needed for one complete journey. The total will thus be three journeys per 10k-hour day, or 16 in a week of 58 hours. The total of bricks carried will be 56,000 per week and the mileage 96.
The charge must be worked out anew from the data given in Table I. First we, have the net charge for the
week, which is £21 16s, Add to that £2 4s. for eight hours' overtime at 5s. 6d., two hours' overtime at 6s. 6d., and, finally, for 96 miles at 11th per mile, which is £4 8s. The total is R29 Is. and the rate 10s. 6d. per 1,000.
Over three miles, 2i journeys per day will be all that we can count upon, except for an occasional spurt. What we want to find now is the limit of lead mileage for 21 journeys per day.
First, there is the loading time of 7k hours (three loadings and two unloadings, of lk hours each). That leaves a maximum of, say, three hours of a 10k,hour day for travelling time in which two out-and-home journeys are to be completed, which is 45 minutes for a one-way trip. If the speed limit be not exceeded we can reckon on a lead distance of at least 12 miles.
A complete round journey will 'thus take 4i hours, so that two will be completed in nine hours, leaving 1i hours for reloading the vehicle in the brickyard or railway goods yard at night, ready for an immediate start the next morning. The number of journeys per week will be 13, the mileage 312, and the number of bricks carried 45,500. The total cost can be shown to he £39, to the nearest shilling, so' that the rate per 1,000 must be 17s. 2d.
The awkward lead mileages are those which come just beyond those which can be worked into an integral number of journeys, or an integral number and a half journeys
• per. day. I have shown, for example, that, with this 7-8-tonner, three journeys can just he completed in 'a 10k-hour day if the lead mileage be three.
When the Lead Mileage Is Greater
Suppose the lead mileage be five, what then? If it be practicable to work an 11-hour day, then, probably, the number of round trips per day will still be three. The total per week will be 16, the mileage 160, and the hours worked 60. The total of bricks carried will be 56,000, as in the case of the three-mile lead, but the 6ost will be £32 2s. 8d., so that the rate must be 11 s.6d. per 1,000.
Possibly, three journeys per day might, at a pinch, b6 worked in on a six-mile lead, but seven miles is definitely beyond the limit, at least, under the conditions I have specified. A seven-mile lead is the low limit of the 2/ journeys per day. One trip will take approximately 3* hours, two, 7i hours; loading takes 11 hours, making a total of nine hours—a day's work.
In a week, therefore, we may count on 14 round trips. The bricks carried will number 49,000, the weekly mileage
196, and the hours 50. The cost will he £31 6s, 8d., and the rate must thus be 12s. 9d. per 1,000,
'o take the limiting lead mileage per 10-hour day. I make it 70 miles. Working on that basis the weekly totals will he: miles, 840; bricks; 21,000; hours, 60; cost, £63 16s., -or rather more than £3 per 1,000, and that, as in the case of the rate for the maximum lead with the 5-6-tonner, is impracticable. Once again, I must remind operators that, in these articles, I am considering one-way, and, therefpre,
uneconomic, loading. S.T.R.