New-York tribune., 1919-07-06
Planned Work
Is Essential of
Motor Truck Use
Successful Delivery System
Must Depend Largely on
Regular Scheme of
Using Time and Labor

In calling the roll of essentials to
successful motor truck delivery the
operator should make sure that plan
ming system is present. After select
ing the correct sized and powered
trucks for his particular haulage, estab-
fishing an efficient cost system and in
stalling the most modern loading de-
vices, the truck operator still has a
problem TO solve of prime Importance.
His entire business may prove fiat
failure without an effective plan of as
sembling orders and making them into
loads.
A truck delivery planning system is a
clerical task that should be weighed
carefully. Thousands of dollars are
lost by operators each year by care
less methods. Trucks waiting at a
loading platform for their cargo are
losing money, and nine times out Of
ten the long delays are caused by in
efficient handling inside the warehouse.
A dispatcher, fortified with a route
sheet giving the numbers of all trucks,
their time of arrival, Of leaving and
the destination of each trip, is the
backbone of delivery planning. His
records should enable him to quickly
determine at any time just where each
truck is at any hour of the day, and
TO calculate closely the time of its re-
turn. With accurate data the dispatcher
may direct the efforts of the order de-
partment.
Both the dispatcher and the heads OF
the order department should be almost
as familiar with the streets, the stops
and the customers as the driver of the
truck. A zone system should be estab-
lshed for all orders. Order clerks
should stamp each order and shipping
ticket with the zone number as soon
as they are made out. Thus the order
may be sorted out in relation to the
stops and arranged in reverse order
for the loading foreman. This work
should be done by leaders and not by
the drivers of trucks.
Without interfering with his duties
the dispatcher may keep valuable rec
ords of the time required to load certain
kinds Of merchandise. and the time to
make the return trip. A telephone
message from the driver on his arrival
at a certain point will give the dis
patcher standard records for covering
certain established routes. Complete
time charts may be compiled from the
records collected by the dispatcher
which will give almost to a minute the
time required to make various trips
under normal conditions.
These records may be used in var-
Gus ways, such as replanning deliver
les and testing drivers. Probably the
most valuable use the time record can
be put to by the dispatcher is determin-
ing almost to a minute the arrival Of
a truck after delivering its load. This
information in the hands of the order
clerks will enable them to assemble
loads so that the first truck to return
would find it's load first in order on the
shipping platform. Time schedules
also enable the dispatcher to call in
trucks for emergency loads.
By continually striving to improve
the planning system feet of trucks
may operate under as fixed and de-
pendable schedule as railroad time
table. Delivery planning begins inside
the store and is the first step of sue
cessful motor truck haulage. In a big
proportion of instances trucks spend
more time at the stores than at the
railroad yards Combating the financial
losses caused by idle trucks is a cler-
cal problem that calls for a capable
man, and will probably mean as much
in the ultimate profits of the truck
operator as the work of an efficient
garage foreman.-B. F. Goodrich Rub
Der Company.