John’s Blog

August 24^th, 2009

Dear Friends,

While many carriers continue to hang on by their fingernails there continues to be positive news. Last week I mentioned that the New York manufacturing index was up for the first time in a year and now comes the news from the Philadelphia Fed. Their index went up from minus 7.5 to 4.2 which is the highest number the index has reached since 2007.

It would appear that while positive news, manufacturers are being very cautious about building inventory. At what rate will production output increase? That remains to be seen.

The American Trucking Associations released their June trucking data and it showed that truckload tonnage was down 13.7% year over year and that total truckload mileage was down 23.1% in the same period.

The railroads are saw a slight uptick in volume in August and this industry has actually started hiring again.

At Wagner we continue to gear up for the holiday season. We are currently assembling and stocking thousands of Point of Sale pallet displays and order selection has begun for the holiday customers.

The fulfillment side of our business is growing nicely. Transportation remains flat but we are beginning to see a small bump upwards as opportunities come our way.

Please keep Wagner in your mix of providers as you begin making plans for 2010.

Have a great week!

John