Monthly Archives for January 2014

Annual Review & Outlook 2014: Teamsters Economic growth in the U.S. over the past few years has centered on Wall Street instead of Main Street. While the wealthy have reaped the rewards, average workers continue to suffer from the loss of middle-class jobs. And that will likely not change in 2014 until lawmakers decide to […]

Economic growth in the U.S. over the past few years has centered on Wall Street instead of Main Street. While the wealthy have reaped the rewards, average workers continue to suffer from the loss of middle-class jobs. And that will likely not change in 2014 until lawmakers decide to invest… Source: New feed

For the past four years, investors have anticipated that next year would be the year when the Svengalic curse is removed from the U.S. economy. As 2013 concluded, we noted that same hopeful exuberance regarding prospects for 2014. Thankfully, it is this type of eternal optimism that has made the… Source: New feed

The U.S. supply chain is at a crossroads, with service providers torn between balancing the cost of greater service differentiators with bottom line expectations. With the entire U.S. supply chain under pressure to improve performance expectations, a reshaping of LTL’s role will further emerge over the next year. Truckload will continue… Source: New feed

As evidenced by both the recent stock market performance and the hopeful housing indicators, it is fair to say that the Great Recession is behind us. But there remains residual scarring. For starters, consumers are wary: Both unemployment and household debt remain high, suggesting that consumer spending will not grow… Source: New feed

2013 is the year when brokers saw what could be a permanent change to their business model. The largest broker is seeking growth from global freight forwarding, and XPO Logistics, seeking to be a large truckload broker, changed its course with acquisition of 3PD Inc. For investors, 2013 was a… Source: New feed

The pace of change within the retail industry is remarkable. Advances in technology, changes in consumer patterns and endless external factors pose challenges and opportunities for today’s retail executives. As we look ahead to 2014, supply chain leaders will be tasked with overcoming many challenges, but two stand above the… Source: New feed

I do not expect the trends in 2014 to be significantly different than they have been for the last three years, what I called the new normal in mid-2103. GDP will improve slightly, but still remain in the three percent range. Insufficient new jobs creation and unemployment will continue to… Source: New feed

The biggest threat to our ability to compete on a global level in 2014 (and the most likely driver of higher logistics costs for shippers) is the lack of public sector big picture vision — and ability to execute. The logistics industry provides chronic, painful reminders of this on a… Source: New feed

A member in our industry can concentrate in one primary area of interest, such as customs brokerage or, more than likely, perform import and export duties for our clients. Thus, most members face challenges and changes in several different areas. Automation continues to have a profound change on the industry. Customs has… Source: New feed