I don’t know about you, but I’m getting tired of all the trucking gloom-and-doom-related forecasts. Experts say there’s a used truck glut, fuel is up, freight is soft, rates are downright mushy and the trucking industry, like its twin brother, the Dotcom industry, is in the toilet.
However, in the revised words of Mark Twain, the death of trucking has been greatly exaggerated. There are bright spots, and truckers tough enough to ride out the current hard times will still be moving freight across America while economists continue to wring their hands.
“The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised.”
– George Will
In spite of dire predictions for low attendance at the Mid-America Trucking Show held in March in Louisville, Ky., Tim Young, president of Exhibit Management Associates Inc., which produces MATS, said he was pleasantly surprised that attendance was slightly up over last year.
The buoyant gathering of 76,556 attendees under one roof portrayed the exact opposite of what many predicted would be a lackluster turn out. Young said the exhibitors were pleased with the turnout and the quality of serious shoppers.
“Things will probably come out all right, but sometimes it takes strong nerves just to watch.”
