THE TRAFFIC FIELD PART II ASSOCIATED TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT BRUNNER ROBESON President and General Manager, General and Consulting Traffic Managers PART II ASSOCIATED TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT Term Defined - Organization - Membership - Specialized By the term "associated traffic management" is. meant traffic management by one individual for a number of different industries or principals. This individual may term himself a "claim adjuster," a "traffic commissioner," or a "commercial audit bureau." He acts as the intermediary between the railroads and two or more allied or nonallied industries. Associated traffic management is, however, distinguished from community traffic management as carried out under the direction of boards of trade, chambers of commerce, and commercial clubs. The work of the bureau resembles that undertaken by the industrial traffic department of a single industry. It includes such features as routing, classification surveys, rate compilations, rate quotations, the auditing of freight bills, the presentation and handling of freight claims, arrangements for special service, car supply, and the prosecution of formal and informal complaints before the Interstate Commerce Commission or other public utility bodies. ORGANIZATION Obviously, not all business concerns have shipping enough to justify paying for the full time of a competent traffic man. The shipping of one butcher, baker, or candle-stick maker might be a negligible quantity. The combined shipping of a number of men engaged in similar lines would, however, comprise tonnage sufficient in volume to warrant the employment of competent assistance. This fact has led to the creation of a new field for traffic men since 1910, when the Act to Regulate Commerce was effectively amended. MEMBERSHIP Under this type of organization, a number of small manufacturers, commercial houses, or retail merchants are formed into an association, which employs one man as traffic manager, to analyze the transportation problems of such a clientele. The success of the bureau depends on the number of clients secured, on the amount of claims recovered, and on the basis of compensation. To secure clients enough to insure the success of the organization, an extensive advertising or solicitation campaign must be conducted by letter or interview among the smaller dealers and manufacturers in a city or a district. This campaign must explain the character of the services to be performed, and must emphasize the advantages of the group plan, the qualifications of the organizer, and the cash benefits that will accrue to subscribers at a nominal cost. SPECIALIZED VERSUS GENERAL LINES If the activities of the district are varied and extensive, it is possible to confine the organizing campaign to a particular line of business, for example, grain mills, iron and steel factories, brick kilns, or stone quarries. Usually, however, varied lines of business must be merged into the association, as illustrated in Fig. 59. Preferably the membership should include shippers and receivers of freight in carload lots, since this class of business offers the greatest possibility for recovery of claims in the auditing of transportation charges. Such concerns will, in addition to their carload traffic, have a sufficient volume of less-than-carload traffic to tax the working capacity of the traffic representative to the utmost. COMPENSATION The basis for compensation in an organization of this kind is very difficult to determine, especially at the outset, since there is no way to measure the time allotment necessary to handle the affairs of an individual subscriber. It may be found, for example, that the handling of the account of one firm required threequarters of the counselor's time, another account required only one fourth. Manifestly, it would be unfair to charge both members alike, and the basis of compensation must consequently be fixed on a graduated or sliding scale to result in a fair apportionment of the expense. Existing bureaus have employed various plans in meeting this situation, and the most satisfactory are (1) the percentage plan, (2) the measured service plan, and (3) the membership plan. The Percentage Plan The percentage plan is largely employed by commercial audit bureaus whose functions are confined, for |