John’s Blog
10-27-08

Dear Friends,

The good news is that this election is almost over and we can turn on our TVs again without the barrage of advertising.

Other good news is that the Leading Economic Indicators increased by 0.3% compared to an expected 0.1% decline.  Existing home sales increased at a higher level than expected as well.

Oil prices continue to fall giving the American public the best possible economic stimulus.  The Dollar gained value against the Euro as the world slides into a recession.

While there is reason for optimism a feeling of gloom and doom exists in our country.  In the trucking industry the LTL companies are all feeling the pain of the recession as less freight flows through their terminals.  Without volume, the fixed costs of the LTL companies’ terminal network make profit hard to come by.

In the truckload industry, many of the larger companies are stabilizing and better performing.  Lower fuel costs are really helping them.

The railroads have taken advantage of their competitive position over the last several years to increase pricing and are performing well despite the decrease in car loadings.

The economy will be difficult and hopefully recover by next spring.  Nobody is sure when things will really turn around but the weak players in the transportation industry will be cast aside by a weak shipping market.

At Wagner we have found that in these times of uncertainty we do best by giving our clients the flexibility they need to flex up and down as their markets require them to.  We also find that from a transportation perspective this flexibility is important as well for our valued customers.

Please keep Wagner in mind as an option in your 2009 planning.

Have a great week!

John Wagner Jr.