Industry Trends

[dsjenn6921]

We are looking for information on industry trends for expediting over the next 5 years. We are thining of buying a new straight truck and not sure if we need a class 8 or 7. Is there still good money to be made with a smaller truck? Or is the trend going the direction of the bigger trucks for Panther Elite/White Glove. Does anyone know the name and phone number/email of any trucking industry consultants that we could field questions to?

DaveJ

 

[highway star]

We'll need to blow the dust off the crystal ball for that. Recently, here on the forum, there has been speculation ranging from the demise of the business to a very rosy future. It's just like when the "experts" predict what the stock market's going to do. If there are 5 of them in the room there will probably be 5 different opinions.

 

[LDB]

>If there are 5 of them in the
>room there will probably be 5 different opinions.

And if they're 5 IRS people there will be 6 different opinions.

Leo Bricker, 73's K5LDB, OOIDA 677319
Owner, Panther trucks 5507, 5508, 5509
Highway Watch Participant, Truckerbuddy
EO Forum Moderator
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Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.

 

[ATeam]

Industry trends are often discussed in the "Management's Discussion" section of the annual and quarterly reports of publicly-held transportation companies. It takes some doing to dig these out but if you are interested in such things, it is well worth the effort.

Another good source about industry trends is American Truck Business Services. Each year at the Mid America Trucking Show, they put on a presentation that provides detailed information about industry trends. They produce this info from their own client base, which is thousands of owner-operators who use ATBS for bookeeping and tax preparation. ATBS data about industry trends is often quoted by the major trucking publications.

The above-mentioned trend info does not apply specifically to expedting. That is one of the reasons I was thrilled to learn that Panther is going public. As a publicly-held company Panther will be required to include a Management Discussion section in its quarterly and annual reports.

FedEx Custom Critical is a tiny component of the larger FedEx family. Thus, its expediting-specific information does not appear in the FedEx annual report. Panther will be a stand-alone, publicly-held company with its information in plain view for interested expediters to study and use.

 

[davekc]

I wouldn't put too much stock in those reports that are self generated. My last quarterly one from Exxon says they are struggling because of the middle east woes. Give me a break. Their profits have been pretty large over the last two years.






Davekc
owner
22 years
PantherII
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