MARKETING ECONOMIES AND THE RESULTS OF TRUCKING DEREGULATION IN THE LESS-THAN-TRUCKLOAD SECTOR

Major changes in the structure of the Less-than-truckload (LTL) motor carrier industry since deregulation are documented and discussed. The concentration of revenue and, even more so of profit are shown to have increased significantly in recent years while a large percentage of firms are loosing money. Industry average statistics can be misleading because of the distortion in the figures caused by the relative handful of the very largest carriers. Data showing the distribvution of profitability by carrier size groups support the argument that marketing economies exist in the LTL business which give the larger carriers an edge in securing traffic in the new deregulated environment.