Machine operating charges. — The wage overhead charges for 

 the family-type operations used on units I and III were differ- 

 ent from the labor overhead for units II and IV. In a family- 

 type operation many overhead charges are omitted. Usual over- 

 head charges, as a percent of direct wages, are: 



Overhead charge 



Holidays 



Health and welfare 



Industrial compensation 



Unemployment compensation 



Social security 



Pension 



Vacation 



Total 



Percent 



4.5 

 4.0 

 22.0 

 6.5 

 7.0 

 5.0 

 4.0 



53.0 



In addition, travel time and transportation, not included in 

 this list, may add 20 to 30 percent more cost. 



The farm tractors used in skidding and material transport at 

 the landing on units I and III have low capital requirements 



and a relatively long economic Ufe under normal fanning con- 

 ditions (table 7). Normal life expectancy exceeds 20 years; a 

 useful life of 15 years was used in the cost determination. (The 

 AC 180 tractor was 18 years old and had been used 11 years 

 for seasonal logging.) Additional years of logging would prob- 

 ably shorten a machine's useful life. 



Comparison of the system productivities was based on the 

 assumption that logging was continuous, although some 

 machines and personnel were used only part-time. Because of 

 differences between units, a standard unit was used to rate the 

 study systems. 



The standard unit had: 



Logged volume/acre 



Volume/tree 

 Trees/acre 

 Board ft/ft' ratio 



2,430 ft^ 

 (10.8 M bd.ft.) 

 18.1 ft^ 

 134 

 4.45 



Table 7.— Computation of hourly operating costs for the various study machines 



Machine 





John 



Farm- 



Allis 





Powersaw 





Deere 



hand 



Chalmers 



Melroe 







Item 



540C 



FIG 



180 



1075 



Woods 



Landing 



Initial cost ($) 



48,000 



10,000 



21,000 



46,000 



'1,000 



1,000 



Salvage ($) 



6,000 



600 



5,000 



10,000 











Life 















Hours 



10,500 



20,000 



20,000 



12,000 



1,500 



1,500 



Years 



7 



15 



15 



10 



1 



1 



Average Annual 















Investment ($)' 



9,000 



913 



5,533 



11,800 



500 



500 







FIXED COST PER HOUR 









Depreciation 



4.00 



0.47 



0.80 - 



3.00 



0.67 



0.67 



Interest @ 15% 



.90 



.09 



.55 



1.18 



.05 



.05 



Taxes @ 3% 



.18 



.02 



.11 



.24 



.01 



.01 



Insurance @ 1.5% 



.09 



.01 



.06 



.12 



.01 



.01 



Total fixed 



5.17 



.059 



1.52 



4.54 



0.74 



0.74 





VARIABLE COST PER HOUR 









Repair and 















maintenance^ 



3.60 



0.42 



0.72 



2.70 



0.60 



0.60 



Fuel" 



2.10 



.93 



1.00 



1.20 



.30 



.30 



Lube= 



1.05 



.46 



.50 



.60 



.15 



.15 



Tires 



1.00 



.70 



1.00 



.60 







Subtotal 



7.75 



2.51 



3.22 



5.10 



1.05 



1.05 



Wages - direct 



7.83 



6.00 



8.00 



8.00 



12.50 



9.00 



indirect 



4.07 



3.12 



4.16 



4.16 



6.50 



4.68 



Total 















variable 



19.65 



11.63 



15.38 



17.26 



20.05 



14.73 



Total/hour 



24.82 



12.22 



16.90 



21.80 



20.79 



15.47 



includes spare saw. 



initial cost - salvage value 



^Average annual investment = i- ;^ : : — — - + residual value. 



2 X number of operating hours 



^Repair and maintenance = 90 percent of depreciation. 

 "Fuel is based on $1 per gallon. 

 ^Lube = 50 percent of fuel. 



6 



