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Consumer spending trends

Consumer Spending Forecast: Expect Trends to Continue Until 2024

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With 2023 around the corner, business owners are all asking the same question: As inflation continues, what does it mean for us? Consumer trend predictions through the end of 2022 and beyond suggest that consumer spending will remain high for some time. It’s good news, giving us time to prepare for the less predictable years ahead. 

Let’s look at the current consumer spending stats

While complete data isn’t yet available for Q4, monthly consumer spending is trackable. Retail sales through October were elevated 8.3% year-over-year. That figure includes gas and food, but even with those out of the picture, retail alone was up 7.5%. Of course, inflation changes those figures significantly. Adjusted for inflation, however, retail sales were still 0.5% higher than they were this time last year. Spending continues to hover at an almost unprecedented high. Read more

Drive safely

How to Drive Safely Around Trucks (Or in One)

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We all think we drive safely, but do we really? August 16, 2022 started out like any other day. 71-year-old Larry Lee Atham, President of a West Virginia-based trucking company, got behind the wheel for a routine day of driving. At mile marker 132 on the I-79, everything changed. He lost control of the truck, hitting a guardrail, skidding across traffic, hitting the guardrail again, and catching fire. That was his last drive. Just a day later on a winding mountain highway in Buffalo, Wyoming, another driver, Texas-based Javier Cardoso-Reyes, couldn’t slow down, rolled over a guardrail and down an embankment, and never made it home. He was only 47. 

29 truck drivers lined up their vehicles to pay their respects after Atham’s memorial service, rolling slowly past the funeral home to say goodbye. As touching as their gesture was, the loss of Atham, and just a day later, Cardoso-Reyes, in single-vehicle trucking accidents, raises serious concerns. Just one driver lost is one too many. Are we doing enough to prevent casualties?  Read more

Truck trying to save gas

10 Ways to Save Gas Until the Prices Drop

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As of July 2022, the average gas price in the U.S. is about $4.50/gallon. In some states, the numbers are shocking. In LA County, it’s not unusual to see prices over $6, and some gas stations have even passed the $7 mark. Before you start powerwalking to work on the side of the 405, try these tips to save gas and lower your monthly transportation expenses. 

Never Leave the Engine Idling

Leaving the car in the driveway with the AC on while you finish getting ready for work or running back inside for a few minutes is a huge waste of gas. In addition to literally burning money, leaving your car running for more than a minute or two while not in use produces unnecessary greenhouse gasses. 

Don’t Be a Lead Foot

Accelerating quickly is another gas-wasting habit. The harder you hit the gas, the more fuel you waste. Speed up gradually to optimize fuel efficiency and save gas. It’s less fun but much more practical.  Read more

Rising insurance costs

Rising Insurance Costs and What It Means for Trucking

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The past few years haven’t been easy for the trucking industry. In addition to the supply chain crisis that was made drastically worse by the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, we’ve also faced a persistent driver shortage, rising gas prices, an automation evolution and shifting client expectations. While fleet owners have been scrambling to find solutions to all of that, insurance costs have crept up in the background. Rising insurance costs has now become so substantial that ignoring it is no longer an option.

Over the past decade, insurance premiums have risen by 47%

The latest report by ATRI, the American Transportation Research Institute, found that insurance premium costs per mile increased by nearly half over the course of a decade, rising from 5.9 cents to 8.7 cents. Insurance rates also fluctuate substantially. Fleet owners hop on an unpleasant roller coaster ride when it’s time to renew coverage each year.

The last four years have been especially challenging. Between 2018 to 2020, virtually all motor carriers saw substantial rises in insurance costs. Despite efforts to improve safety and lower risk, insurance premiums continue to creep up. Read more

reputable shipping company

Shopping Around: Is it Worth It

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Before you read any further, we’ll give you an honest answer: No. Of course, that’s exactly what you’d expect a trucking company to say. Who would encourage customers to shop elsewhere? That being said, even if you’re trying to choose a trucking company in a different area (or even chose one of our competitors!), our recommendation stands. Choose a reputable shipping company and stick with it.

Why not shop around for a lower quote, you ask? Let’s get into it.

If you spend some time on Google, the odds are good that you’ll find someone who will ship your goods for less than BYX will. Most likely, those offering lower prices are owner operators. As you probably guessed by the name, owner operators buy a truck and haul loads themselves. They often work with freight brokers who coordinate with customers and take a cut of the profit.

We already covered why freight brokers are unnecessary and a huge waste of money here, but there’s more to it than that. Even the best owner operator has significant limitations in comparison to a reputable shipping company like BYX. Read more

truck driver vaccine

Truck Drivers Need Vaccines. Here’s Where They Stand

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When Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson rolled out the first COVID-19 vaccines in December, most of us breathed a sigh of relief. We knew that vaccines would be offered in stages, and we expected senior citizens, high-risk individuals, and essential workers to be given first priority. (As they should!) What we didn’t expect was that truck drivers would come almost last. 

The CDC has broken vaccine recommendations into three phases. Phase 1A includes health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities. Phase 1B includes people over 75 and frontline essential workers. The last phase, Phase 1C includes people between 65-75, people under 65 with elevated risk, and other essential workers. For now, truck drivers are considered other essential workers, falling into the last phase of early vaccine rollouts.  Read more

Trucking and the Environment: How We’re Helping

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If recent events have made one thing clear, it’s that the trucking industry isn’t disappearing anytime soon. About 70% of our consumer goods are shipped via truck, and the impact of trucking on our daily lives is astoundingly beneficial. The impact of trucking on the environment is another story.

Trucking produces a substantial quantity of greenhouse gasses

As of 2016, medium and heavy-duty trucks contribute to about 24% of the greenhouse gasses emitted in the transportation sector. Compared to passenger vehicles at 42%, that’s not bad at all. Still, with around 15.5 million commercial vehicles on the road, the environmental impact has been substantial. Read more

Truck driver getting in his truck

Being a Truck Driver: What It’s Really Like

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Being a truck driver is awesome. No joke. Truck drivers are essential workers. They help keep this country running in every way. They deliver products that other businesses wouldn’t be able to function without. Truck drivers are a little like screws; most of the time, we don’t notice they’re there. But if they weren’t, everything would fall to pieces. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to work behind the scenes, now’s your chance. 

To start, most truck drivers love what they do. 

There are a lot of pluses to being a truck driver. Every day is different, which keeps work from getting boring. Traveling and meeting new people is part of the job! Truck driving often comes with good benefits, but the biggest one is knowing that people rely on you on a daily basis. Knowing your work matters makes your job so much more rewarding.  Read more

delayed LTL shipping

What Causes TL and LTL Shipping Delays?

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Late shipments are never fun. Few of us have the time to hang around waiting for a delivery all day, so it’s understandably frustrating when the delivery window comes and goes with no shipment in sight. So what’s the holdup? In Southern California, we’re lucky to have safe driving conditions all year round, but rainy days are far from the only factor contributing to delays. The following are a few of the main reasons shipments might run late this holiday season. (Plus, a few tips for helping theTL and LTL shipping system run smoothly!) Read more

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What’s Really Happening When Shipments Get Damaged

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There are few things more frustrating than shipping out an order and receiving a customer complaint that the item arrived broken. It’s a headache for everyone involved, but the occasional damaged shipment is inevitable. Does it mean that the carriers were rough with your shipment? Absolutely not! Damaged packages happen within even the best trucking companies in the country. Here’s why.

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