As overall consumer demand slows, truckers are expecting a slower holiday season this year.
Key Details
- The months leading up to the winter holidays are typically the busiest for truck drivers, but that might change this year.
- Truckers are expecting a slower holiday season as inflation increases and retailers are overstocked and not needing as many shipments.
- Many big trucking operators are reporting demand for shipping trucks slow down in what is usually the peak season.
Why it’s news
The few months leading up to Christmas is usually the peak season for truckers—but many big corporations are seeing a demand decline.
“We are expecting a muted peak season this year,” chief financial officer at Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. Adam Miller.
The trucking industry is another company added to the list of the ones affected by rising inflation. As prices for everyday items rise many people are cutting back on unnecessary purchases causing the demand for truckers to decline.
Another reason for the decline is many retailers are overstocked. Due to the many months of supply-chain issues felt around the world, businesses ordered plenty of items to make sure to stay stocked in case supply chain issues came back.
Between places building excessive inventory and inflation causing customers to slow spending it has left many businesses with a crazy amount of product and no need to order more adding another decline to the trucking business.
“Things are definitely softening,” says vice president at freight research firm FTR Transportation Intelligence, Avery Vise. “A large part of that is that we’ve seen inventory builds earlier in the year than we traditionally have seen because of all the supply-chain disruptions and the desire of a lot of retailers to get ahead of that.”
Many trucking companies feel comfortable that the demand will increase once again after companies can get rid of the excess inventory, but that might not come until the new year and not in time for the holiday season.