The Only Way.
Page 1
Page 2
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Its an ill wind that blows nobody any good" runs a proverbial saying, and the force of this view has again been demonstrated. The strikes of railway and other transport workers are for the time being suspended, and there are optimists who believe that the men will shortly be satisfied as the result of certain negotiations into the details of which we have not space to enter in this journal. Be that as it may, the alarm has been sounded in many haulage and transport departments, and one outcome of recent disaffection and dislocation is, as we have before pointed out, the creation of a situation which is all to the advantage of the commercial-motor industry. The manner in which commercial motors came to the rescue of stranded traders and travellers has been the subject of general comment, and naturally of favourable comment. Reliance has of necessity been placed upon vehicles of all shapes and sizes, and in degrees previously unparalleled : the response has been wholly satisfactory. We do not overlook the facts of a few roadside incidents and mishaps ; occasional accidents are inseparable from the use of the highway, and most of all a.lien unrehearsed services are rendered at high pressure. On the whole, as all competent writers agree, the commercial motor has scored another success during the past fortnight, and that success will be continued in many quarters theretofore uninvaded by the mechanical vehicle. It was found that " The only way " lay in the use of the road-motor and the roadway. Week-end motoring parties were, from Saturday to Monday last, quite unable to get away from utility vehicles and tractors. No matter how far afield one drove, commercial motors were to be seen in unusual numbers: it was clear that they were engaged upon transport duties for which no alternatives were available. The loads varied from foodstuffs to bullion, and the underlying cause of employment clearly was the necessity for prompt conveyance at a time of traffic distress in other quarters. One . of the long-distance yet regular services, and possibly one which will constitute a record for some time to come, was the daily dispatch of a fully-laden van from London to Glasgow ; each van, of course, was allowed considerably more than one day to get through. We cannot particularize at length, but we have before us a variety of information which shows that, apart from new uses and new users, considerable extensions were made along existing lines by old users. For example, many newspaper proprietors and distributors of newspapers added extra motorvans to their fleets, and hundreds of hirers of taxicabs took them as the only means of conveyance between city and holiday resort, or home. The commercial motor, whether for passenger or goods conveyance, in each and every case, offered "The only way" by which to get about.
There is nothing new, to us, or to supporters of the commercial-motor movement, in the factors which allowed this latest success to be achieved. The only new factor, for which the series of strikes up and down the country has been responsible, has been the belated spontaneity of the now-aroused commercial and trading interest in well-settled performances and qualities. This searchlight of commercial investigation is welcomed. It may be turned in any direction—either upon the steam or the petrol section of the industry—without leading to the discovery of bad points or weaknesses. It is an old story for this journal, but the present circumstances justify the recapitulation by us of some of the chief reasons for the unique distinction of unimpaired accomplishment in the face of widespread difficulties for which commercial. motors of all types have afresh shown their capacity. They include : (1) unrivalled endurance and range of action ; (2) virtual dependence only upon the loyalty of their owners employees ; (3) independence of central power stations or diverse links of transport workers, and independence of other like units on the road ; (I) cheapness of running cost in relation to work done and point-to-point speed ; (5) certainty of control of load, from point of dispatch to point of delivery, and consequent absence of damage, delay or risk of miscarriage.
Given fuel in stock, the lack of which essential will in future be regarded as evidence of inexcusable neglect, the commercial motor is almost invincible. Only the lightest and smallest of vehicles can be carried by assault when mob violence is rampant, if we concern ourselves with times of industrial discord; at such times, as has been proved beyond possibility of dispute, the value of the majority of such machines can scarcely be expressed in terms. It is, however, to their intrinsic value in normal times that we would more particularly ask the attention of the many new readers of this journal who have for the first time felt themselves commercially bound to take a hand in the furtherance of motor transport. These intending buyers, who have been obliged to pay enormous hiring rates during the past week or two, and who are now finding it worth their while to continue hiring at abnormal rates, will probably be surprised when they find how far ahead are the dates upon which delivery of new machines can be promised. In that fact alone, they must recognize additional testimony to the strength of the case for the commercial motor, and they will be well advised if they safeguard themselves against any recurrence of risks by placing contemplated orders forthwith. That course may fairly be regarded as also providing an instance of " The only way."
Public Bodies as Customers.
Our readers will remember that a few weeks ago we published an article, by an American specialist, which dealt with the need for carefully-arranged inter-dependence between the maker's salesmen and the officials of his constructive departments, especially in the ease of the commercial-vehicle maker. This is admittedly the concern primarily of the producer ; the vehicle user, however, must perforce be interested in the manner in which his orders are secured. He is the man who must inevitably remark the varying methods in which the case for the utility vehicle is presented to him. He is the man upon whose banking account these considered tactics of the specialist salesman are designed to make. a raid. Consecutively, therefore, it may not be uninteresting briefly to direct attention to the eccentricity of some customers, and especially of those who are public bodies. Such considerations may perchance enlighten the culprits themselves.
Apart altogether from such questions as resulting prestige and financial stability, it cannot be denied that the securing of an order for an ambulance, for a fire-engine, or for a municipal wagon is, on the whole, a less-satisfactory performance than the obtaining of delivery instructions from sonic big potential user of motorvans. It frequently requires more-intensive application on the part of the sales department finally to secure an order from a. municipality for a solitary tower-wagon, or other publicservice vehicle, than it does for one for a whole fleet of vans from an average up-to-date commercial house. There is, in the former case, always such a lot of people who want a " finger in the pie." We do not, of course, suggest that the methods of some worldly municipalities are in any way common in this best of all countries ; we rather submit that the average town councillor in his collective capacity makes such a had customer, primarily because of his own sense of self-importance, and secondly because
of his overweening anxiety to disguise the fact that he often knows so little of the goods is is purchasing. Of course, when public money s being spent, ' we should be the last to suggest that scrupulous case should not be exercised, but the best purchaser is not necessarily a haggler. When an ordinary man goes to buy a garden roller or a parrot cage, he does not find it necessary to visit the works where the cage was made or the roller was cast.. When the buyer from some large firm wants a couple of sewing machines, he does not, as a rule, draw on the office cash for a journey to Aberdeen or Keninare to see how they like their sewing machines there. As a yule, the buyer and the man in the street knows what he is buying, according to his needs, or, m default of such knowledge, a few informal inquiries soon bring the desired information to him. We presume that, in order to avoid attempts at illicit trading on the part of officials, some form of tender and inspection is necessary, but it should be of the simplest kind. Unless it be vitally necessary, there should be no issuing of lengthy detailed specifications, which, in order to " save someone's face," have been laboriously compiled with the help of a maker's catalogue and other available data. We cannot bring ourselves to understand why, because a town council is going to buy a fire-engine, or an ambulance, it should be necessary for a select deputation, the said deputation admittedly being in need of private instruction, to " visit the maker's
works." To sell one municipal motor wagon, it may be necessary to be nice to the whole town council for months. If it were as much bother to sell machines to prospective users who want vehicles for business purposes, it would hardly be worth the trouble to be in the motor trade at all. Does the municipal councillor of Splashton-cum-Fosdick find it necessary to visit the gasworks whence the municipal coke comes? A gasworks, perhaps, is an unseemly illustration. The purchase of a municipal vehicle should not necessitate preliminary joy rides.