Solving the Problems of the Carrier
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Methods of Keeping Track of Tyre Costs which May 6e Adopted by the Small Haulier
IT will be difficult, if not impossible, for the fleet owner who desires to know exactly his tyre costs, in relation to each vehicle, to acquire that knowledge without making use of a scheme such as that described in the previous article. This circumstance is brought about by the fact that any fleet owner, having a number of vehicles using the same size of tyre, must in' evitably prefer to change those tyres about from vehicle to vehicle, as such procedure becomes convenient.
If, for example, one' of his lorries returns home, having had a punctige on the road and using the spare wheel, the appropriate procedure will be to transfer to that vehicle a tyre from stock, selecting either a new one, or one which has been repaired, putting the dainaged tyre into the works for repair during the daytime. After it is repaired, it is put into stock for bansference to the next vehicle requiring a replacement tyre.
That is the obvious course for the fleet owner to pursue. His first objective is to keep his vehicles on the read at minimum expense. His repair department should be organized to carry out its duties, so far as is reasonably possible, during the daytime. To attempt to repair and replace at once a tyre from any individual vehicle will, in the normal course of events, involve that repair being carried out by night after the vehicle has returned.
In view of the fact that the fleet owner is in the habit of changing tyres from vehicle to vehicle, a continuous record is not practicable, and as, on that account, the matter of tyre costing has to be dealt with according to the method already described, it may be as well to point out that that method is more complicated in appearance than in actuality. The entries required are few, for, once the record is established, its maintenance is a matter of no more than a few minutes per week.
Many hauliers, however, are not in a position to deal with their tyres as above described. The majority keeps the same tyres on a vehicle until they are scrapped and replaced, and so on. In such cases it is possible to arrange for the tyre records to be simplified. The information wanted is the tyre cost of a particular vehicle, and not the cost of individual makes of tyre, for purposes of comparison. The latter will, in any event, become evident as time goes on.
On any commercial vehicle, the total number of tyres may be 5, 7, 11, 15 or 17. Of these one is the spare,
which may become, for a time, the substitute for any of the others, that which is replaced becoming, for the corresponding period, the spare. That fact makes
for complication, even when tyres are confined to a particular vehicle. The fact that there is a spare tyre involves the haulier in making provision, from time to time, for checking the mileage of tyres which have been out of use. A method which is recommended in many quarters is that indicated in Tables 1, 2 and 3. In this system, each tyre has its own record. It is, in a way, quite a satisfactory method. The record shows the cost and life of a particular tyre and, after a time, when a set of tyres has been replaced, it is possible, by totalling the life of four of , the tyres, to ascertain the average
• amount per mile to be debited against this item of operating cost of the vehicle concerned.
The tyre to which the records in Table 1 refer was fitted, as shown, on July 3, 1933, on the front off-side wheel. The speedometer reading at the time was 2,312 miles and the tyre was not removed until December 28, 1933, when the speedometer reading was 24,657, the elapsed mileage being 22,345. That tyre was then removed to be retreaded and, on February 2, 1934, was placed on the front near-side wheel, the speedometer reading being 28,265. It ran until May 8, 1934, the speedometer reading being then 40,172 and the elapsed mileage 11,907. That tyre was then Scrapped. The total 'mileage covered is found by' adding the 'figures lathe penultimate column---34,252 miles.
The initial cost of the tyre was £11. It has cost RO Os. in repairs, so that, altogether, the expenditure involved was .C17 6s, and the cost per mile of that particular tyre 0.121d.
The data given in Tables 2 and 3 will be understood from what has been said about Table 1. It is of interest to note that the tyre referred to in Table 2 was one of the originals, as the speedometer reading was at 0 when it was fitted and it was removed with the speedometer reading at 2,312. It is obviously the tyre which was replaced by that one already referred to in Table 1.
Table 3 gives details of a tyre which suffered more vicissitudes than did the others, having been put on and taken off several times before it was finally scrapped after having completed a total of 55,766 miles, (I am aware that, in setting forth these details as regards fitting and removal of tyres, I do not appear to be giving any encouragement to the owner to follow the tyre
makers' recommendations that tyres should, at reasonable frequency, be moved from wheel to wheel. I appreciate the value of these reeommendations, but prefer not to complicate the explanation of this scheme by referring to them.) Under the heading Position, I and 0 refer to inner and outer tyres.
The objection to this scheme is, of course, that it requires as many forms as there are tyres on a vehicle, and, as already stated, that number may be quite considerable. Table 4 shows an alternative method, which does not take into consideration the position of the tyres or their removal. It, therefore, deprives the user of the information as to the tendency of any particular tyre on any particular wheel, to wear more quickly than another. It does, nevertheless, give him essential information as to cost.
I do not think the form requires much explanation. The figures, it will be noted, tally more or less with those given in the other scheme of tyre records. Allowance is made, so soon as the vehicle is put into commission, for the cost of a complete set of tyres. The costs of renewals and repairs are entered up as and when they occur and the cost per mile can be ascertained. In this case I, have taken out the figure for cost on February 2, 1935, deliberately omitting, from the total, the item of Ell for the new cover fitted on that date.
At any time it is open to the operator to takch out this check on the cost per mile of tyres and if some of the tyres on the vehicle be in fairly good condition, he should make an approximate allowance for their value and deduct it from the total shown on the form, before he makes his final calculation of cost per mile.