The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1906-02-15
TEAMING TROUBLES.
HoL1NAy SEASON A HARD ONE
ON WAGON MEN.
Immense Business of New York De-
partment Stores at This Time
of Year Crowds Them
to the Limit.

TO the b1inlt.
When the Christmas holidays come |
around the managers of the stables OF |
all the large department stores in both |
Manhattan and Brooklyn have their
busiest time. They hire every wagon.
cart and moving van which can be |
pressed into service to tide them over |
the holiday rush, says the New York
Sun
| So great is the demand for these |
wagons that their owners demand aud |
get high rates for them by the day |
from the department stores. IL one |
store will not pay the price the owner |
asks he knows that some other store |
will
The owners OF single horse wagons |
generally get from three to rve dollars |
day for their services The owners
OF double teams get about twice that
amount and for the use of a moving
van by the day tho stores are forced
to pay very large price
The stable managers dread this sea-
son. tor their duties are increased
about tnnfold. Besides hiring extra
men, horses and wagons, they must
| shoulder all the blame for non-deliver.
! les. Complaints on this score are sent
to the stable manager every day by
the general manager of the store.
from people both in and out OF town.
| Patrons are never so eXactiug as they
are around Christmas time, when
everybody wants his goods delivered
as soon as possible
If 1t SHOWS before Christmas this
adds to the stable managers burden,
for It makes the going heavy and tires
the horses out much more quickly.
Consequently. the manager is forced
not only to tighten the load, but to
add an extra horse to each wagon. OF
course this means delay in delivering
goods.
1nen the manager never knows
when a load will reach its destination,
for at any moment horse Is liable
to fall on the slippery pavement and
break a leg. In this case the wagon
IS forced to stop where IL is. until the
driver telephones to the stable and an
extra horse is sent up to him. An ac-
cident like this delays delivery
wagon from one to four hours, accord
ing to the distance from the stable.
There is another matter that causes
the stable manager a good deal OF
worry. II is the fact that the extra
drivers hired are not bonded.
Every regular driver hired by de-
partment store is bonded, generally
for five dollars or more, according to
the value Of the goods he Is employed
TO deliver. Therefore II store hires
a man who proves to be dishonest II
can always collect the amount of his
bond to cover the loss. But when the
stores hire extra men for the holidays
they are forced to take them on their
/, word only.
Therefore IL a driver should start out
I'm the morning with load OF goods
and fail to return at night the store
has to bear the loss wholly. Very
4 seldom this happens, but nevertheless
9 the manager is always anxious
Q One night last winter, just before
: Christmas. the manager of the de
Y livery stable of one OF the large Sixtt
&? avenue stores was awakened by thu
Y furious ringing OF the doorbell. Open
= ing the door. he was confronted b!
8 one of the help from the stable whit
Y came to report that a big furniture
i truck with two big black draugh
- horses attached had been stolen iron
D. In front of an apartment house ol
!" upper Seventh avenue while the drive
,r and his helpers were delivering a side
N board upstairs.
Hastily donning his clothes, tn
manager made for the nearest polio
station in the neighborhood fror
L. which the truck had been stoleI
of When he reached the station there stoo
'e the team outside. closely blankete'
u waiting for their owner. A polio
49, man found them wandering dow
D. Seventh avenue and took them to II
Ia station. The horses had become CO.
and walked off,
as These are just a few samples Of Il
20 difficulties which confront a depaI
- ment store stable manager at Chris
- mas time.