10 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 363 



The seasonality of milk loads also reflects seasonality of production in the 

 section on the farms of producer groups serving the various dealers. The charts 

 also indicate the relative importance of the various dealers in the section at 

 different times during the two-year period. The trend indications are due chiefly 

 to a shifting of producers among dealers. 



Efficiency of Transportation 



All units in the industry have an interest in the efficiency of milk transporta- 

 tion. The carrier is concerned with the profitability of the enterprise. The 

 producer is concerned with the cash cost of the service. The dealer is concerned 

 with the relationship between the cost of the service and the cost of his product 

 delivered at the plant. 



The same physical items that tend to assure a profitable milk trucking business 

 provide the basis for a low-cost transportation service. Among these factors are 

 size of load, total mileage traveled, collection miles traveled, and number of 

 stops, which may or may not be identical with the number of producers served. 



Detailed presentation of these items for all but the smallest routes is given in 

 Tables 3 and 4. Since the data were on a monthly basis, it was not possible to 

 determine the day of highest or of lowest loadings. The nearest approach to 

 this was a calculation of the highest average daily loadings and of lowest average 

 daily loadings, which occurred in May and December respectively. The purchase 

 plan and business management probably had as much to do with the variation 

 in size of loads as any single factor. 



Table 3. — Physical F.\ctors Affecting Efficiency of Transportation* 



May and December 1935 



(By cartage routes) 



Load Stops Pounds Total Miles Collection Percentage of 



(Pounds) per Load per Stop Traveled Miles Traveled Collection 



Route Miles to 



Total Miles 



*Average daily basis. 



Flat price plan dealers tend to purchase close to fluid requirements; con- 

 sequently their average daily loads tend to be relatively stable barring losses in 

 sales. Routes G, H, and I in Figure 3 bear this out. The rating plan as used 

 by some dealers encourages fairly even deliveries. Route D (Figure 3) is an indica- 

 tion of this. Seasonal variation in the size of other loads is due mostly to varia- 

 tions in average daily deliveries of producers. 



Data in Table 3, supplemented by the charts in Figure 3, should show emphati- 

 cally that during only brief periods of the year could truck facilities and load 

 carried have been the same. It is not necessary to know the capacity of the 

 trucks to appreciate that either overloading or underloading was general through- 

 out most of the year. Even though producers may be indifferent towards this 

 situation, the carriers cannot be, because the result is reflected in the cost of 

 providing the service. 



