TRANSPORT TIPS FOR TRADESMEN.
Page 23
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Particularly Addressed to Those Who are Replacing Horsed Vehicles by Motors, or Contemplating So Doing.
Roadside Quays and Parcels Offices.
By THE management of read transport companies operating on fixed routes and running to time• table consideration has, before now, been given to the question of developing roadside platforms or quays in order to facilitate the loading and unloading of their vehicles.
Everyone is familiar with the somewhat ramshackle erections built at the roadside to serve as platforms for milk churns, and thought is now being given to the best means for improving upon this arrangement. The expense of the additional.persiamel that would be necessary if the idea of quays were developed is a consideration that is at present holding back enterprise in this direction, for it is pointed out that, whilst it is more or less safe to leave milk churns out on the roadside to take care of themselves, the same would not necessarily apply in the case of less bulky and more valuable and more easily negotiable material, such as would be contained in smaller parcels left on the quayside to be picked up.
A method which might be tried out, and which, if successful, would overcome both difficulties, -waufd be to develop the letter-box idea as applied to parcels ; in other words'. to design a locker or seriesof lockers into which the pamel could be pushed or dropped, but from which an unauthorized person could not remove it. This is no easy problem, and almost seems to involve thief-pitoof .safes, but it should be capable of being solved. Against., the same idea, it is said that the diversity of the types of parcel that would be posted would ruin the scheme, an extreme instance being the ease of a package containing eggs being posted on the top of another containing a lady's hat. This kind of objection must, obviously, be guarded against, and oould be overcome by designing the lockers in such a way that .packages had to be pushed or slid in sideways rather than dropped in from above, after the fashion of ordinary letters.
Effect of Vehicle Weight Reductions.'
In view of the fact that commercial motor vehicles must, from a legal standpoint, be divided intoclasses, each class having its own legal limit of weight and its own corresponding legal limit of speed, it is apparent that. weight reduction. may have a considerable influence on the amount of useful work that can be done in a day. If a manufacturer, by cleverness and by the use of exceptionally good material, so reduced the weight of a chassis as to bring the vehicle into a lighter class, heamay enable the user to carry just an big loads as he carried before and to do so at an appreciably higher speed without infringing the Jaw., Reduction 61'c:ham-is weight is' of course, also important, inasmuch as it ificreases the pereentatse Of useful lead to total weight and, therefore, tends to reduce cost of fuel, tyre maintenance, and so on, per useful ton mile of work done..
Closely connected to chassi weight reduction 7 is the improvement of chassis 'design and material, with the consequenee that, though weight iii not decreased, a larger useful load can be. aafeIy. carried upon the vehicle. The effect, of I:, eduerion of body weight is not quite the sit/Tie. The body forms part of the Toad upon the 'chaser's. Supposing that the chassis .vrill take four tons without being overloaded and thebody weighs one ton, then the margin for Useful load is three tons. . If the body weighs 80 owt,,the margin for useful load is only 2i "tons. Thus, every decrease
effected in body weight means a positive equal increase in the weight of, the useful load that can be transported._ From these remarks it will be apparent that it may be well worth the while of the user to pay extra for a chassis that is very light in relation to its strength, and also to pay more for a high-class body in which weight is cut to a minimum consistent 'witla strength and capacity.' In either case, his initial expenditure will be increased, but against this either his total operating costs or his operating costs per ton mile carried will be decreaSed, with the result that, after_ a year or so's work, the probability is that his total expenditure, including both' first cost and operating charges, will have been no greater than if he had bought a clumsier chassis and fitted a heavier and cheaper body. At the end of that time he will have. the advantage of owning a more efficient machine, and his pocket will benefit from then onwards.
• Cost of Standing Idle..
To indulge in a little more pessimism, I should like • to renew yet another warning. A few days age, I again heard it stated that the advantage of the motor as against the horse in a certain sphere of work, inteianittent in character, was-that " the motor costs nothing$for keep when not actually at work." If the statement had been that "the motor does not eat or consume fuel when idle," it would have been nearer the mark, but even this is not always strictly accurate. For instance, in deliveryawork, the motor may be standing+ outside the doors of various houses for half of its working period. The chances are that the engine is left running the whole time and a very fair amount of, fuel is thus consumed. In general, however,, we may fairly admit the motor's advantage on this score, but it should be observed that We are not justified, merely because fuel is not being consumed, in saying that no costa are being incurred. If a man had 21,000 and merely buried it in a hole
in his garden after the manner of the gentleman in the parable, we should all agree that he was losing money because he was getting no interest owing to his capital lying idle. A 'motor vehicle represents capital, and, if it lies idle, this may well mean the loss of £50 or .C60 interest per annumawhich could otherwise have been obtained. The loss is just as positive a one as if we were to spend a pound a week on feeding a horse that never did any work. Again, the motor vehicle, like the horse, fneeds some care and attention and requires housing, even if it is not working. Further, if its work is intermittent, a man must be employed, to drive' it and must be paid, even if he is wasting a good deal of .his time.
As to the extent of the loss incurred in idle time,
I have before me at the moment a table in which the standing charges for various classes of vehicle are estimated. Those for a one-ton van are put down at 23s. 9d., but of this amount 8s. is attributed to depreciation, which is not really a standing charge except that the vehicle, if kept and not used, gets out of date Making an allowancefor this last point,' we may reduce the figure to about.17s: .For a 10 cwt. van, the loss in standing charges might be about 15s. a day. For a-30 cwt. van, about R1, and so on. Every day, that the vehicle doea no work, these outof-pocket expenses are continuing at about the scale mentioned and we are getting nothing whatever in return. This disposes sufficiently or the legend that "The motor coats nothing for keep when not actually at work."