Firms in the truck transportation and warehousing industry provide a link between manufacturers and consumers. Businesses, and occasionally individuals, contract with trucking and warehousing companies to pick up, transport, store, and deliver a variety of goods. This industry includes three segments: general freight trucking; specialized freight trucking; and warehousing and storage.

General freight trucking provides over-the-road transportation of general commodities using motor vehicles, such as trucks and tractor trailers. This industry segment is further subdivided based on distance traveled and type of goods delivered. Local trucking establishments primarily carry goods within a single metropolitan area and its adjacent nonurban areas. Long-distance trucking establishments carry goods between distant areas.

Local trucking comprised 28,000 trucking establishments in 2002. The work of local trucking firms varies depending on the products transported. Produce truckers usually pick up loaded trucks early in the morning and spend the rest of the day delivering produce to many different grocery stores. Lumber truck drivers, on the other hand, make several trips from the lumber yard to one or more construction sites. Some local truck transportation firms also take on sales and customer relations responsibilities, in addition to delivering the firm’s products. Some local trucking firms specialize in garbage collection and trash removal or hauling dirt and debris.

Long-distance trucking comprises establishments primarily engaged in providing long-distance trucking between distant areas and sometimes between the United States and Canada and Mexico. Numbering 41,000 establishments, these firms handle a wide variety of commodities.

Specialized freight trucking provides over-the-road transportation of freight, which, because of size, weight, shape, or other inherent characteristics, requires specialized equipment, such as flatbeds, tankers, or refrigerated trailers. This industry sector also includes the moving industry-that is, the transportation of used household, institutional, and commercial furniture. Like general freight trucking, specialized freight trucking is subdivided into local and long-distance subcomponents. The specialized freight trucking sector contained 45,000 establishments in 2002.

Some goods are carried across country using intermodal transportation to save time and money. Intermodal transportation encompasses any combination of truck, train, plane, or ship. Typically, trucks perform at least one leg in the intermodal transportation of goods. For example, a shipment of cars from an assembly plant begins its journey when they are loaded onto rail cars. Next, trains haul the cars across country to a depot where the shipments are broken into smaller lots, loaded onto tractor-trailers, and sent off on the final leg of their journey to dealerships. Each of these steps is carefully orchestrated and timed so that the cars arrive just in time to be shipped on their next leg of their journey. Goods can be transported at lower cost this way, but they cannot be highly perishable-such as fresh produce-nor have strict delivery time schedules. Trucking still dominates the transportation of perishable and time-sensitive goods.

Warehousing and storage facilities comprised 13,000 establishments in 2002. These firms are primarily engaged in operating warehousing and storage facilities for general merchandise and refrigerated goods. They provide facilities to store goods; self-storage mini-warehouses that rent to the general public are also included in this segment of the industry.

Deregulation of interstate trucking in 1980 encouraged many firms to add a wide range of customer-oriented services to complement trucking and warehousing services and led to innovations in the distribution process. Increasingly, trucking and warehousing firms provide businesses full-service logistical services encompassing the entire transportation process, including inventory management, materials handling, and warehousing. Firms that offer these services are often referred to as third-party logistics providers. Logistical services manage all aspects of the movement of goods between producers and consumers, such as sorting bulk goods into customized lots, packaging and repackaging goods, inventory control and management, order entry and fulfillment, labeling, light assembly, and price marking. Logistical services such as computerized inventory information on the location, age, and quantity of goods available have improved the efficiency of relationships between manufacturers and customers. Many firms are increasingly relying on computer technology to expedite the distribution of good. Just-in-time shipping-where trucking companies deliver goods from suppliers just in time for their use-allows recipients to reduce costly inventories but requires constant communication and accurate inventory information. Packaging, labeling, and small assembly of manufacturers’ products are other services that warehousing establishments use to attract potential customers. Some full-service companies even perform warranty repair work and serve as local parts distributors for manufacturers.