THE HAULIERS' INQUIRE WITHIN.
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Some Queries Bearing on Last Week's Tables on Running Costs.
IHAVE selected a couple of inquiries this week which will enable me to show, in some way, how to make use of the tables of operating costs for all types of commercial Motor vehicles which were given in last week's issue.
A north countryman who has been a driver for many years, working all the time for a haulage contractor, is desirous of setting up in business on his own account. His idea is to invest his small capital in a good second-hand three or four-tonner, and to work on the Manchester and Liverpool road. He has been a,ccustomed'to work in the district named, and is in touch with several people from whom he would be able to obtain loads. He asks my opinion of his prospects of success, and wants to know what his costs and charges would be in connection with lorries of the capacities named.
Better Stick to a Safe Job.
Candidly, I am not too enthusiastic about his proposal. He evidently has a good steady job, practically a permanency, for which he will be in receipt of standard wage, say, 23 Os. to 23 10s. a week, phis overtime and allowances. Probably his average is 24 10s. a week. On the other hand, he tells us he is able to make a good start, with prospects of immediate work, so that he should lose nothing in the beginning.
My advice to him is to buy a reconditioned lorry, preferably from the makers or from a recognized firm of reconditioners with a reputation. A three-tonner will cost him, in accordance with the table on page 538 of last week's issue, 5.82d. a mile to run, and
25 12s. 6d. a week. On such work as he has in view, he may be able to put in 400 miles a week, practically all of it on paying work. In such circumstances its total operating cost will be 9.20d. a mile, or 215 6s. a week. If he can get is. 01d. a mile for his jobs, or if he hires out the lorry at 220 6s. a week, his gross profit will be 15 a week, out of which a certain amount will be spent on administration or establishment charges. Even if he cuts to a shilling a mile his gross profit will still be £4 14s. a week. Possibly 14s. would cover overhead charges, in a case of this sort, leaving him -24 net, plus his wages, 23 6s. a week-total 27 6s. a week.
In the case of a four-ton lorry, the corresponding figures, taken from the table, are : running cost, 6.47d. a mile ; standing charges, 25 15s. 10d. At 400 miles a week, the total operating costs amount to 9.95d., say, 10d. a mile, or 216 12s. a week. If is. Ad. a mile can be obtained, or 222 7s. a week for hire,•then the gross profit will be 25 15s, a week, say 25 net, or ,28 6s. with wages.
Profitable Rates Not Necessarily Obtainable.
These figures for profit are, unfortunately, as I explained in referring to the tables, only hypothetical, or theoretical. In London, at any rate, 23 a day is considered a fair hiring rate for a reconditioned war lorry, the contractor being expected to allow any load up to five tons to be lifted on to it. 23 a day is £16 10s. a week,. only reckoning 51 days to the week. On that basis, a four-tonner would not. be paying for its keep at 400 miles a week, and the proper thing to do is to limit the mileage to 40 a day, which would be 220 in all, ' costing about 13.4d, a mile, or 211 4s. a week. That, again, provides a gross profit of 25 6s. a week, say 24 los. net, or 27 16s. with wages.
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If the job be such as to involve more than 40 miles a day, then an extra 8d. or 9d. a mile should be charged for this, giving a further 11d. or 2d. profit for -every mile.
The profits named, varying from £7 6s. a week to 28 6s., according to circumstances, can only be gained if all the travelling is done under a profit-earning load. Suppose, however, a job offers of taking a regular load from Manchester to Liverpool, four times a week, with no prospect of any load the other way. The mileage will be about 450 a week, and the. minimum charge for the week should be for a fourtanner, about .223,8s, which is £4 14s. a load, in round figures. If my correspondent is able to get this price, well and good ; his profit will be in the near neighbourhood of that indicated. The rub will come when, in face of competition, he begins to cut his price. .24 a load would only bring in 220 a week, giving a gross profit. of only 22. Out of that, if 21 goes for incidentals and overhead charges, he is left with but 21 a week to add to his wage, making .24 6s. in all-less than he is now getting as a driver.
He may say : " There will be no. cutting of prices for my work. I will get standard and fair rates or none." That is a most laudable attitude, and I, and very many hard-done hauliers, wish with all our hearts, not that we could believe he meant it-we do that-but that we could believe he would always be able to stick to that principle. What we want to know -is, what will he do when, after several Weeks without work of any kind for his machine, the while he sees others cutting prices to ribbons and taking his jobs from under his very nose, he still Meets with the same offer ? Will he eventually accept, or abandon the job ? For, unfortunately, as things are
now, that is the alternative. It is because these • conditions exist that I recommend this inquirer to stick to his job, and keep his money in the bank, where, if it is making no more, it is; as least, growiiig no less.
The Ton-mile Again.
The other inquiry embodies a preliminary, question as to the meaning of the term ton-mile. With that I dealt, for the second time, a few 'weeks ago, and do not propose to do so again, beyond pointing out to inquirer nquirer that, as his lorry is a one-tonner, its cost per ton-mile, when it is loaded to capacity, is the same as the cost per Unit. That information is given in the tables. .
Displacing Horses Saves Money.
This inquirer has 500 tons a year to haul to a village five miles away. Presumably that is 10 tons a week. Hitherto' he has'been doing the work with horses, and has had to keep two or three horses 'constantly at 'work on the job, doing two journeys a day. With a one-ton Ford, which is what he proposes to buy, he will be able. to do the murk in two days, having the vehicle free for the reSt of the week to help with general haulage, of which his business,. in the main, consists. He will save in cost on the regular job alone, apart from having the services of the vehicle for the best part of the week. Assuming that the mileage, 50 a • day, Is kept up throughout the week, then his cost per mile-which is, as I have stated, the cost per ton-mile alsowill be 61d., and the cost of conveying the 10 tons in the two days will be 22 16s. 3d. Ilia charge should be about 24 3s. 4d. • • THE SKOTCH.