A SCENE IN ONE OF CHICAGO'S BUSY FREIGHT YARDS, SHOWING AN OUTBOUND FREIGHT HOUSE
THE SHIPPING DEPARTMENT
INTRODUCTION
The average manager of a business has but a rudimentary knowledge of traffic affairs as they relate to the shipment of his goods. He does not know that he is receiving the lowest rates to which he is entitled, or that the most favorable classification is applied to his shipments.
A large percentage—probably a majority—of the concerns which do any considerable amount of shipping, or receive a large quantity of freight, lose annually in overcharges, due to improper classifications, defective packing, and a general lack of knowledge of the subject, a much larger sum than would be required to pay the salary of a competent traffic manager. There are so many intricate details to be considered in the shipping problem, that the subject requires special study, and shippers whose volume of business is even moderate find it profitable to employ a traffic manager.
Not every shipper is doing a business of sufficient volume to warrant the employment of a man to devote his entire time to this question, but, in the organization of every business doing even a small amount of shipping, there should be one man who will make a study of traffic matters. He need not have an intimate knowledge of the entire subject of traffic affairs, but he should be posted on all questions that have a bearing on the shipment of the goods of his house. When no regular traffic manager is employed, the duties of the position fall on the shipping clerk; he is the logical man to make a study of the subject.
Considered from the standpoint of his knowledge of shipping requirements, classifications, manner of packing, and the application of special rates, a man who has had experience in the freight department of a railroad makes the most successful traffic manager. Such a man may not be fitted to organize and handle the work of the shipping department but, in a concern large enough to require the services of a traffic manager, there will be work enough to warrant the employment of an assistant to look after this branch of the work.