Final SACOG Phase 1 Goods Movement Report

Trucking Movement Patterns
Local trucking movements include pickups (gathering or assembly), delivery (distribution),
empty movement (repositioning or stem miles), and an endless variety of combinations. Residential
customers of United Parcel Service, FedEx Express and other parcel carriers tend to view
them as delivery services, while commercial customers see them as both delivery and pickup
services.
In contrast, inter-regional truckload trips typically enter the region to deliver an inbound load at a
local destination, reposition the empty trailer to another shipper to pick up an outbound load, and
then depart the region. The empty repositioning move may originate and terminate in the local
area, but is treated as part of the inter-regional freight movement. A more perplexing case is
when a “long-haul” truckload carier takes a local load in the course of repositioning for a longhaul
assignment.
The “goods” or “freight” being picked up and delivered in local trucking can include waste, returned
goods, recyclables, etc. Examples of such movements include the following:
Garbage and recycling pickups.
Hazardous and biohazard materials pickups for disposal.
Empty pallets, bins, and other shipping containers being returned empty.
Construction debris or excavation spoils.
Used equipment, vehicles and goods of all kinds
Historically, commercial trucking services were divided into those with fixed, repetitive routes
and “iregular route” cariers whose origins and destination varied with the shipment. Deregulation
and other changes have erased the official designations, but there are still only a few basic
trucking patterns (Exhibit 31).
Exhibit 31: Generalized Truck Trip Patterns
(Repeats on itself)
Hub and spoke
Irregular route
Fixed route
090906 Final SACOG Phase 1 Goods Movement Report THE TIOGA GROUP
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