Henderson daily dispatch., 1939-05-20
Gas Trucks
Under 200
On Highways
Daily Dispatch Bureau,
In the Sir Walter Hotel.

Raleigh, May 2O.-Tnerc are less
than 200 petroleum product tank
trucks operating on North Cardinals
highways, despite a widespread i'm
preston among passenger vehicle op-
orators that one of the ''monsters'
turks just around every bend of the
road.
AS matter of fact the total is
probably well below 200, as a recent
extensive and exhaustive survey by
{. S. Schaub, chairman of the
petroleum committee of the North
Carolina Truck Owners association,
showed only 1873 in ALL
Mr.. Schaub mailed queStionnaireS
to all companies known to be oper-
ating the tank trucks used in haul
ing gasoline and other petroleum
products and he estimates that he re-
ceIVeu replIe5 from a big majority of
them.
His survey does indicate, however,
that these 1873 trucks are quite an
important economic factor sin the
State.
A recapitulation of replies receiv-
ed shows, for examples that the 1873
trucks use each month enough gas
Olina to pay into the North Caro-
lima Department of Revenue a GAL
lonage tax of $14,37734; which "a
mounts to a grand total gasoline tax
of $172,528 each year from these
vehicles; which pursuing the ma
thematical process a bit turtner
shows that each one of the trucks
pays an average Of more than ST.
297 in this tax alone.
Added to that is the $64,965 paid
for license tags on the 1873 trucks,
and the total annual tax becomes
$237 ,493 for all, or an average of ST.
786 per truck per year in gasoline
and license taxes.
One operator, in answering Mr..
Schaub's queries, added: "We pay
every other form and type of taxes
under the sum-"
The 1873 trucks reported to Mr..
Schaub are owned and operated by
35 different companies, giving an av-
erage of something less than four
trucks to the concern.
Of the operatings firms, "a have
only one or two trucks, while Is
have only one, the highest total was
NY OI1S COlIlpdIly.
The IS companies employ a grand
total of 247 drivers to whom they
pay total of $28,281.39 per month,
or an average of nearly $117 month
each. Pay is usually on a mileage
basis, with the most general rate two
cents per mile. Those drivers who are
employed on full time, with numer-
GUS trips each week, make an aver
age of from $50 to $35 week.
Mr.. Schaub said there are many
college graduates and men with at
least one or more years of college
on the roster of drivers of the big
trucks.
In addition to the drivers, the 35
concerns reported 107 other employees
whose monthly payroll amounts to
$13,OO8.4O, an average of something
more than $121 per month each.
Combination of these figures show
that the concerns employ a grand
total of 354 people with a total an
nual payroll of more than half mil
lion dollars, the exact figures reach
ing $501 ,957.48.
All of Mr. Schaub's figures are for
units in North Carolina for hire and
owned by independent jObbers. They
do not include trucks owned and op-
Grated by the major oil companies.
These big companies, however, do
very little Of the long distance haul
ing of gasoline, their products being
principally distributed from Whining
ton by contract with the indepen-
dent jobbers. And so the Schaub fig
ures are for vast majority of the
big gas tanks that roll over the high
ways.