20 BULLETIN NO. 770, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
fair rate, motor operators have added ordinary freight and express 
rates together and divided the sum by two. This is decidedly an 
unsound and unscientific method for the determination of such rates 
but represents an earnest effort to place the motor truck on a rate 
basis comparable with that of the chief competing carriers. Practi- 
cally no rates have been established on the basis of cost plus a reason- 
-Fic. 4.—The farmers of Harford County, Maryland, operate a motor truck route for 
themselves with entire success. This is one of their roadside loading platforms, to 
which the farmer brings his milk by a short haul, and the truck takes it to Baltimore. 
able profit. This is easy to understand because cost of operation is 
not well understood by most operators, and very few have any authori- 
tative information in this connection. 
The satisfactory rate must be one which is low enough to attract 
business and high enough to offer a reasonable profit to the operator. 
Where conditions do not permit the establishment of such a rate, care 
should be exercised in starting a route. As the rural motor business 
becomes more firmly established in various districts, the practical 
experience of operators will serve to indicate fair rate bases. In the 
meantime, it will be necessary for each operator to solve his own 
problems on the basis of local conditions in his district, paying par- 
ticular attention to the features indicated in this bulletin. 
COLLECTION AND DELIVERY ARRANGEMENTS. 
It must be remembered that that two of the principal advantages 
of the motor truck, namely, lessened handling of goods in transit, and 
speedier transfer, are lost if satisfactory collection and delivery ar- 
