Simple Contro Small! for New System
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ANATION-WIDE parcels service is being developed alongside the existing general haulage business operated by Cusick Transport (Southern), Ltd., from their base at Cranbroolc Road,
Parkstone, Poole, Dorset. Mr. C. J.. 'Parker, general manager, who has had 30 years' experience of srnalls traffic, has introduced a simplified system of documentation which provides the company with all the essential information, keeps within reasonable bounds the amount of clerical work, and enables five years' delivery notes relating to any depot to he filed in a cabinet measuring about 6 ft. by 5 ft. 6 in.
In addition, radial distribution from warehouse is being developed. An 8,000sq.-ft. warehouse is planned at Cranbrook Road, together with a large covered area in which to sort goods in transit. Package handling in the warehouse and transit shed will be on pallets with the aid of fork-lift trucks. The new accommodation and equipment are expected to be ready in June.
Next-day Delivery
The smalls•service is already operating in the Southampton and Bournemouth areas, and to a large number of places in Dorset. Collections are made daily at regular times agreed with the customer and next-day delivery, which is already being offered, will be provided on all transits not exceeding 200 miles.
Parcels facilities and additional warehousing will be provided in Manchester when new premises are available. A depot has been acquired in London and another is likely to be available in Portsmouth early next year. The smalls service will be extended, as soon as practicable, to Glasgow, where the company have a depot. Several other depots are planned.
In the first place, effort is being concentrated in the areas which the company are already serving. Interworking arrangements will probably be made with certain selected carriers in districts which Cusick Transport cannot serve.
Great importance is attached to a virile, well-informed and properly organized sales force. The basis of the commercial organization is what is known as the customer card. It measures 5 in. by 3 in. and displays the name, address, telephone r38 number and trade of every potential customer.
After canvass, the commercial representatives enter on the cards the date of the call and the result. If business is gained, the rate quoted and the amount of credit arranged are written in.
Cards are filed in two separate cabinets, one for those where negotiations are continuing, and the other for those where traffic has been arranged. All customers, potential and actual, receive calls from commercial representatives every two months. All these visits are noted on the customer cards.
Commercial representatives report each week to the branch manager the district worked during the week, the number of calls made, new accounts opened and inquiries received. Reference is also made in their reports to queries or inquiries not settled by the end of the week. Branch managers are responsible for ensuring that all such matters are cleared up quickly.
The basis of the traffic system is a triplicate single-entry consignment note which Mr. Parker has designed.
He described the advantages of the multiple-entry system as slightly reduced clerical work for the customer, simplification of the checker's task when unloading collection vehicles, and convenient invoicing through the totalling of the charges for a number of consignments on one sheet.
"Those," he said, "are the only points that I can make in favour of multiple entry."
Its disadvantages—which, in his view, greatly outweigh the advantages— are the
work involved in preparing detailed waybills and -delivery sheets from package labels at depots,, and the unavoidable risk of split deliveries, with attendant irritation to the customer, and waste of time and money in tracking consignments.
Under Mr. Parker's system, each regular customer is given a pad of serially numbered consignment notes, each sheet containing three perforated slips. The pad is stapled at the bottom'and the card cover bearing inStructions for use is easily detachable, so that it can be posted in a prominent position in the customer's office.
If the pad were stapled at the top and the customer had only one consignment to send he would naturally tend to fill in the top note, tear it out and probably waste the other two. In doing so, he would' also break the sequence of numbers.
If the pad were pinned on the left, the notes wouldhave to he perforated at the side as well as at the bottom, and in extracting them the bottom left corner might well be torn off.
The sender fills in the note in triplicate —one note for each consignment—with his name and address, date, name and address of consignee, and a description of the packages, their number and weight. The top copy of the note is also the delivery sheet, on which the consignee gives a dated receipt for the number of packages received.
It travels with the goods and is availIble throughout transit, thus minimizing the risk of split or delayed consignments. The consignee can also see at a glance whether he has the correct number of packages.
The second copy is the form on which the customer is charged. The third is receipted by the driver who collects the goods and is retained by the sender.
From the consignment notes a multipleentry, triplicate waybill is prepared. On the top copy is recorded the name of
the depot from which delivery is to be made, along with the date, vehicle number and driver's-name.
Waybills are divided vertically into two main sections. The sending depot fills in the left section from the consignment notes with the serial number of each note, the destination town, number of packages and the weight. The depot from which delivery is to be made verifies the receipt of the consignment notes in the first column of the right half of the waybill and records in the next column the return of the notes to the sending depot.
Finally, the originating depot marks in the third column the receipt of the documents. The signed consignment notes are filed at the collecting depot and it is thus possible to settle immediately any query raised by a customer.
The second_ copy of the waybill is the form on which the delivery -depot invoices the collecting depot with its share of the
revenue. This is important, as each branch has to prepare its, own trading return.
Rulings of the left section of the sheet are identical with those on the top copy, but the right-band portion is ruled for charges levied by the delivery depot. It provides for additional charges for export traffic, deliveries outside the company's area (the whole of the costs of which are debited against the sending depot) and for second trunk journeys by transhipped items. Trunk and delivery charges are totalled at the bottom of the sheet.
Revenue Credited to Depots Scales of trunk and delivery rates per ton have been laid down for use within the organization, so that revenue can be allocated fairly to the responsible depots. An extra 5s., credited to the delivery depot, is levied on each consignment for delivery to docks and airports, to take care of additional costs caused by abnormal waiting. Bulky goods are surcharged in relation to the space occupied.
The third copy of the waybill is an unruled flimsy for retention by originating depots for record and to enable statistics to he compiled.
For customers who do not hold pads of consignment notes there is a collection sheet, which is completed by the driver. It bears his name, details of the collection round, number of his vehicle and date. The driver, enters the names and addresses of the senders and consignees and a description of the goods. Consignment notes are then made out at the depot, and their numbers are added to the collection sheet.
The bulk of the traffic, however, comes from regular customers, who hold pads of standard consignment notes.
Invoice Form
The fourth and last document is the invoice form on which consignment-note numbers and carriage charges are listed. Weights are entered only if the customer is charged a flat tonnage rate computed, after experience, from detail accounts.
Each day's work is progressed on a daily work sheet, which gives a quick indication of traffic trends over long and short periods and provides the management with a ready means by which to correct faulty operation.
Each depot keeps a register of the serial numbers of consignment-note pads issued to each customer. Numbers of the first and last notes used each day are recorded and are checked to ensure that the sequence is complete. The accounts copies of the notes are used for this purpose.
Should a consignment note become lost an immediate search is made. If it cannot be traced the customer is telephoned. If he confirms that the goods have been carried, a copy, based on information supplied by him, is made on an unnumberednote in a special auxiliary pad, on which the number of the missing note is entered.
If the original note bad been entered on the waybill, the top copy of the temporary note is held until the signed original is returned by the delivery depot. The accounts copy is used to raise charges. If there was no waybill entry, immediate steps are taken to trace the goods.
Weekly inspection of the auxiliary pad enables the branch manager to ascertain whether there are recurring losses and to take action to stop them.
Use of a colour code for documents greatly facilitates their handling. All are printed on white paper, but Bournemouth documents are printed in black, Manchester in red. London in dark blue and Glasgow in orange. Different colours will be used for further depots when they are opened.
When collecting goods, the carman checks them against the consignment note and receipts the third copy for the customer. He hands the other two copies to the traffic office.
After the goods have been tallied against the consignment notes in the transit ,shed and loaded on a trunk vehicle, the notes are entered on a waybill and the number of the waybill is stamped on the back of each note. The notes are then attached to the waybill.
Each depot has its separate pad of serially numbered waybills, so that the delivery depot knows at once if one is missing.
When goods have to be transhipped en route a waybill is made out directly to the delivery depot and a summarized entry is made at the foot of the waybill covering the goods to be delivered by the transhipment depot. A similar entry appears on waybills from transhipment to delivery depots. At the delivery depot consignment notes are tallied against the waybill and are then sorted into rounds. The numbers of the notes handed to each delivery driver are recorded and when the notes are returned to the office they are checked against the register and scrutinized for queries. Discrepancies are endorsed on the back of the slip and signed by the traffic clerk. They have to be cleared at once.
After checking against the top copy of the waybill, the receipted consignment notes are returned with it to the originating depot, where the documents are once more compared. Notes are received by the collecting depot on the fourth day after the goods were originally lifted.
They are sorted in numerical order and filed in boxes in a cabinet. Two boxes are allocated to each letter of the alphabet. Each customer's notes are kept separately and will be retained for six years.
Search for Business
Collection sheets are examined each week by commercial representatives to discover whether new permanent business can be secured. A personal call is then made.
A carman is expected to deal with at least 1,400 packages a week, and the target is 1,600. At a depot, 60 packages per man-hour—with 80 as the aim—is regarded as the minimum reasonable rate of handling, including documentation, but excluding loading and unloading of their own vehicles by drivers.
In trunk operation the aim is that vehicles should run at not less than 75 per cent, of their weight capacity.
Under the conditions of carriage— which are commendably plain and concise—the company accept liability of up to £1,000 per ton gross weight. Liability for the loss of part 'consignments is computed pro rata. Claims for consignments, worth 410 or less are settled in full irrespective of the weight.: There is no question of carriage at owner's risk, but the company reserve the right to refuse fragile items that are inadequately packed.
Customer is Right
The principle on which the business is being built up is that the Customer must be given complete satisfaction. Any complaint must be dealt with immediately. Commercial representatives must keep in constant touch with users and must never make a promise that cannot be honoured.
.A tight system of control is essential. Mr. Parker, who has brought to his task boundless energy, has prepared complete written instructions for the operation of. the undertaking down to the last detail. They have been supplemented by verbal explanation to all concerned at a series of short meetings at which questions were invited.
There is, consequently, no reason why any employee should fail to understand his duties. With such a system of control, scrupulously applied, Cusick Transport will quickly climb to the top flight of smalls carriers.