October 1, 1920.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



The Economics of Truckportation 



By Richard Hoadiey Tingtcy 



THE ADVENT of the motor truck to the business of transport- 

 ing freight and express matter in competition with such 

 old-time carriers as the railroads and express companies 

 isn't expected to bankrupt the business of either, nor is it ex- 

 pected to embarrass them in any way. The rapid manner in 

 which the country's growth exceeds every system of transporta- 

 tion almost as soon as inaugurated, and the congestion one meets 

 with on all hands where transportation of any kind ligures, clearly 

 indicates that there is a held of service for all — that the motor 

 truck has its own well-defined sphere of usefulness, and that, in- 

 stead of being a competitor to the older-established methods of 

 transportation, it is a feeder to them — an adjunct to their busi- 

 ness. This fact is emphasized by the present predicament of the 

 railroads with a shortage amounting to three-quarters of a 

 million freight cars, and a locomotive efficiency of scarcely more 

 than fifty per cent of normal quota. .Add to this the woeful lack 

 of terminal facilities at all points and it will be evident that the 

 rail carriers should welcome any relief that will enable them to 

 pr.operly function in their field. 



RAIL FREIGHT RATES NEED ADJUSTING FOR 

 COMPARATIVE PURPOSES 



It is the short haul business that puzzles the railroads, par- 

 ticularly when moving in less than car lots. It is generally con- 

 ceded that this class of business is unprofitable to handle. It 

 has been considered by railroad operators for years that there 

 was no money in freight haulage until a distance of forty miles 

 had been covered. Today, the modern generation of operators 

 place the limit at double that distance. 



It will be seen, then, that the motor truck in the handling of 

 freights — "Truckportation," as the new business is called — should 

 not interfere with the business of the rail carriers even though 



proximately fifteen cents. It will be seen therefore that a cost 

 to the shipper of fifty cents is reached, which is exclusive of the 

 line haul charge made by the railway company, and that a 

 truckporlation company that can make money at fifty cents per 

 liundredweight on a fifty-mile haul is in a fair way to get busi- 

 ness. This rate figures out just a cent a hundredweight a mile. 

 .An added advantage to the truck man, also, is that his delivery 

 is made within a few hours, or over night, while it may take 

 freight in less-lhan-car lots days and often weeks to reach its 

 destination. 



In competition with the railway express, some of the same 

 conditions obtain, though the disparity of the comparison is much 

 less marked. Being dependent upon railway service and ui>on 

 railway cars for a portion of its usefulness, delays are sure to 

 creep in to such service that will not be applicable in the case of 

 merchandise hauled all the way by truck. But the express busi- 

 ness of the country is now, practically, in the hands of one 

 organization, the American Railway Express Company, to which 

 I shall refer later. 



It would not be fair to truckportation as a business to com- 

 pare its rates of charge for service with either rail freight or 

 express rales without taking into account many modifying fac- 

 tors. In the first place the freight trucking business is so new 

 that it has not yet found itself. There is little cooperation 

 among the carriers of such freight, although the National Auto- 

 mobile Chamber of Commerce, through the secretary of the 

 Motor Truck Committee, F. W. Fenn, is working hard to bring 

 order and standardization into the ranks. Although occupying 

 the public highways in the conduct of their business, these com- 

 panies have been brought under the supervision of state or mu- 

 nicipal regulation in but a few instances. Nebraska is the only 

 state, so far as 1 am now informed, where the Public Service 



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Western Iowa and Eastern Nebraska, Have Made an Enviable Record in the Haulage of Livestock. Thev Serve 150 Farms, 

 IIaulinc. Their Product to the Stockyards and Bringing Back Goods from the City 



operating in parallel lines, for the average truck line is less than 

 eighty miles, although many now doing a good business operate 

 over much greater distances. 



Let us take the case of a wholesale merchant in a large city 

 shipping goods by freight to a retail merchant in a town, say, 

 fifty miles away. From the best figures I am able to obtain, the 

 terminal charges of such a shipment amount to ten cents per one 

 hundred pounds at each end. These charges include switching 

 and placing the car, loading and unloading, and clerical work. 

 The tw-enly cents does not cover the rail haul. The average 

 charge per hundredweight for truck delivery at each end is ap- 



Commission has taken a hand in the rc.^julatioii of rates of charges 

 for such service. There are other states which, I believe, are 

 soon to follow. Each truckportation company charges a rate it 

 sees fit, always higher on a straight comparative basis than the 

 rail freight between given points, and often somewhat lower 

 than the rail express rate : often higher, too, for, with the 

 prompt delivery guaranteed as against an often uncertain de- 

 livery of the railway express, it is considered that a charge for 

 a "super-service" is reasonable. Motor truck companies claim 

 that shippers want service first and are willing to pay for it, 

 even at a slight advance over something less dependable. 



