Moreover, the largest firms are oriented toward large flocks and assem- 

 ble poultry in the most-eonimcrcializcd areas. On the other hand, the 

 orientation of small firms is toward small flocks and non-commercial 

 areas. Although influenced hy the nature of local production, emphasis 

 also shifts from fowl to broilers as firm size increases ( Appendix Table 

 VII). This substantially increases the poultry available per stop and 

 per mile. 



In New England in 1957, three-fourths of the assembly firms operat- 

 ing one vehicle utilized trucks of II/2 tons rated capacity or less. In 

 contrast, for firms operating 7 or more vehicles, three-fourths of the 

 trucks were of 21/^ tons rated capacity or larger (Appendix Table V). 



Nevertheless, many firms have trucks of larger capacity than the 

 current volume they handle would require, and there is a wide distribu- 

 tion of ages of trucks registered by poultry handlers (Appendix Table 

 VIII j . This is because: (1) The volume of business of many smaller 

 firms is declining; and (2) secondhand trucks ai*e widely used by 

 smaller firms to help reduce costs. Truck depreciation is not a major 

 item in the total costs of the assembly firm, and obsolescence is a minor 

 consideration. Furthermore, trade-in allowances and secondhand values 

 are not proportionate to truck capacity. Hence, in the present system, 

 decisions on vehicle replacement can be made solely on the basis of 

 repair bills vs. annual depreciation. 



Trailers are owned by many large firms because of their substantial 

 capacity and assumed efficiencies. However, many firms do not use them 

 regularly and are replacing them with large trucks because the trailers 



Figure 4. Relationship Between Percent of Annual Trucking Capacity* Used 

 and Annual Volume, 75 New England Live Poultry Assemblers, 1957 



PERCENT OF CAPACITY- 



40 



30 



20 



10 



LOG Y = .65653+30747 LOG X 



O 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 



ANNUAL VOLUME ASSEMBLED (MILLION POUNDS) 



* Crate capacity of each truck times average weight per full crate of birds times 

 two trips per day for 247 operating days. 



16 



