There is nothing like the anticipation of the Fourth of July weekend and the unifying patriotic feeling it brings to the people of this nation, to enhance our summers’ enjoyment and make industry worries take a break, or at least a backseat, for a few days.
Even as some seemingly major changes grip or shadow well-established industry norms (McCormick Place & Chicago Unions, Freeman – already an industry giant – buying a solid clump of mature companies) we should not fear change as we have a lot to be thankful for.
Companies worth buying and getting bought shows signs of industry vitality with the possibility of newly emerging prosperity. Hopefully for everyone. One thing we do not have is stagnation.
Will the “Drayage Centric” business model ever go away or give way to other options? If so, what will replace it? What are those other options? If there were an easy answer, change would have already happened. Market forces, like Mother Nature, must surely be able to do the trick? What affect will politics and politicians have on final, or as we have seen, not so final outcomes?
Is there hope for a more balanced approach to how change affects jobs in our industry? Who will create and propose the plan that shores up our face-to-face industry foundation and infrastructure for the next phase of growth? What are the chances that if a solution is agreed upon by key industry institutions, that other stakeholders will agree and welcome the result?
Closing Note: Participate and support the many key industry associations that have mid-year meeting this time of year. We strive to enhance communication between these valuable groups, their members and the workforce that runs our industry on a daily basis. It is only when we fail as an industry that government takes the opportunity to enter and enact change through legislation.
Enjoy your families and remember those, past and present, that have served our country!
Don Svehla
Group Publisher
