It has been shown that, in the case of commodity rates, copies of tariffs from the point of shipment are not always sufficient. It is necessary to obtain, from connecting lines reaching the territory in which the trade of the house lies, copies of all special tariffs applying to the commodities shipped. The freight departments of all railroads, through their solicitors, make a practice of supplying copies of all regular and special tariffs to all large shippers on their lines, and to shippers on connecting lines who are in a position to divert traffic to them. Any shipper who has been overlooked, should write to the freight departments of all lines in his territory asking to be placed on the mailing list to receive copies of all tariffs affecting his product. By doing this, he will secure copies of all such tariffs as soon as issued.
The subject of commodity rates is one of the most vexing with which the shipping clerk has to deal, as it is also one of the most important. To compile a complete file of special tariffs, involves close study and much labor. But when once done, it can be kept up-to-date with little difficulty, and the saving resulting will far outweigh the cost.
Filing Tariffs. The manner in which freight tariffs coming into the office are filed is important, for unless properly filed and indexed they are likely to be of little value. The filing system must provide for quickly locating any tariff, and for locating all tariffs that may have a bearing on a particular case.
In the average shipping clerk's office, it is not uncommon to find the tariffs dumped into a drawer, without regard to their order, or hung on a hook on the wall. When a rate is wanted, it is necessary to search through the tariffs until one giving the rate is found. The chances are that the first rate found will be used, regardless of the fact that another tariff shows a special and lower rate.
Fig. 1. Vertical File of Indexed Folders for Railroad Tariffs
A very satisfactory file for freight tariffs is the vertical file, and one drawer will hold all of the tariffs required by the average shipper. If a two-drawer cabinet is provided, the shipping clerk will usually find other uses for the extra drawer.
Each railroad whose tariffs are on file should be assigned a folder, and the folders should be filed alphabetically under the names of the railroads, as shown in Fig. 1. All tariffs from one railroad should be filed in the folder assigned to that road, and arranged according to their numbers. All railroads number their tariffs and, in correspondence, refer to them by number. Reference to the tariffs will be facilitated, therefore, if those of each railroad are kept in numerical sequence.
Loose-leaf binders are sometimes used for filing tariffs, but not all tariffs are in proper shape for punching to fit the binder. Another disadvantage in using a loose-leaf binder is that freight tariffs are not uniform in size, resulting in an awkward, unwieldy book. For these reasons, the vertical file is found more satisfactory.
The Index. Since the tariff folders are filed in alphabetical sequence, no index is required to locate the tariffs of a given road, but a cross-index to locate all tariffs that apply to a given point, is a necessity. This index should be in card form, a card being used for each town to which the house ships, or is likely to ship, its products.