OPINIONS and QUERIES Th e Editor invites correspondence on all subjects
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connected with the use Of COMmercial motors. Letters should be written on only one side of the paper. The right of abbreviation is reserved and no responsibility for views expressed is accepted. Queries must be accompanied by a stamped, addressed envelope.
Hauliers Should Not Antagonize Ancillary Operators
A CORRESPONDENT, "Pessimistic," in your issue
of December 26, challenges Mr. Richardson with " flirting" with " causes." However, the latter appears to be embarking upon a project which is the only policy that will save the haulage industry as we know it to-day. .
The present policy of its " leaders " will not preserve its future, as, judging from the observations these leaders make from time to time, one wonders if much of the present be visible ti them. It is surely logical to assume that if there be no ability to appreciate where the present policy of the leaders is -heading what prospects are there of even contemplating the future?
These ()Pinions are, perhaps, somewhat harsh, but nothing has happened up to the moment to make the haulage contractor feel secure in his future ramifications, but something is happening to his possible detri• ment and founded upon a lan_sis which has never helped any business to make a success.
It is generally recognized by successful businesses that it is advisable to allow the customer to believe he is always right. Yet the leaders at the moment are heading their followers into a mass attack upon their customers—the C licensees—which, surely, is a reversal of pre-war and post-war commercial practice.
• It was only recently that, at a certain association luncheon, an official was applauded for the following observation: – Privately owned transport would become an expensive luxury." The leaders seem to fail to appreciate that the fifth columnists of road transport have ably encouraged them to make this attack upon their own customers.
To see to where such a foolish strategy must inevitably lead, let us consider what must arise from the formation of an organization exclusive to Aand B-licence holders. For such an association to be safe for the A-licence holder he would have tO ascertain of each B-licence member what portion of his licence represented A-licence work, and what proportion was C-licence work, and it is reasonable to surmise that statistics might prove that all B, licences in the country would be represented in the following proportions:-75 per cent. C-licence work and 25 per cent. A-licence work.
Such an association could never succeed, because that attack upon the C licensee of to-day would be carried to the B licensee in the futuse, resulting in another association split. The A-licence holder would then have arrayed against him the following forces:—The railway companies, the majority of B licensees, and the C licensees, because the last are forced into that position, whether they desire it or not, by the present policy of the leaders, who, even at the moment, are referred to as "lambs lying down with the lions."
The object of the " flirt " and the " cause " is the only sensible development to counter the demise of the present haulier. It would bring all road interests around the table, and, most probably, one thing would emanate from these discussions in their earliest stages—. that there are many other users of road transport in the British Isles who know a little more of road transport than perhaps the sellers of transport are inclined to give them credit for.
Finally, if the " flirt " and the " cause " are successful in the .stupendous task they are undertaking, they may be spared the title of leaders and will be referred to in road history as "saviours," for they will at least create for the road-transport industry a vast ally—at present hardly neutral. ROAD STUDENT. Biddenham.