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12 • AUGUST 2022 PERSPECTIVE THETRUCKER.COM Specializing in Truck Driver Taxes for Over 17 Years Free Initial Consultation! FULL SERVICE TAX SOLUTIONS Our Tax Pros are 100% dedicated to protecting the rights of truckers! ✔ Back Tax Preparation! ✔ Bookkeeping – You focus on the road; leave the books to us! ✔ Fixing owed tax debt – Completely! ✔ Preventing or Stopping wage garnishments! ✔ Offer in Compromise and Hardship Programs! We have a dedicated department that focuses on owner-operators. You can count on the experts at PTS to help you get organized, make more money, and pay less in taxes every year. Tax Resolution & Advisory Specialists Matthew.Sturm@practicaltaxsolutions.net https://practicaltaxsolutions.net/irs-tax-help/ 866.995.0002 Play ball! Overcome ‘strikes’ and make a ‘home run’ CHAPLAIN’S CORNER REV. MARILOU COINS How many of you enjoy baseball? I enjoy watching and cheering for my favorite team. But have you ever really WATCHED the game and thought about how it relates to life? I’m going to explain a few things I found in baseball that can be related to our lives with Christ. First, I found the umpire is like God. He’s always watching to see what life throws at us and how we respond by batting it back. Do we hit a home run, a base hit or strike out? If we hit a home run, we score a “win” in our life. If we get a base hit, we still are in the run to get home. Getting home (heaven) is what we all strive for. But if we strike out, do we give up or do we go back to bat and try again? If we give up then Satan wins. We have three strikes before we are out in baseball, but with God we are able to go back to bat and try again, even after the third strike. Aren’t you glad God gives us that chance to go to bat again and again? He doesn’t want us to strike out, so he gives us many chances to get on base and finally get home. He doesn’t care if you try several times, just as long as you try. Don’t feel like a strike out is the end. Just pick yourself up, go back to bat and try again for a base hit or a home run. Life is our baseball field. It is always changing, depending on what is thrown at us, but we need to keep batting at it and score a win. Don’t give up just because you failed a few times. God doesn’t give up on us, but is ready to forgive our strike out and let us keep batting until we get on base and run the field to get our home run (heaven). RHYTHM cont. from Page 9 century, and it would have the same meaning. It doesn’t take long for Skaggs to establish a theme in “Highway 40 Blues.” The second line, “I’ve walked holes in both my shoes,” defines the tune as a road song. Images of 18-wheelers are already in listeners’ minds. The narrator then tells us he’s been away from home a long while — long enough to waste time, money and youth searching for whatever dream he’s been chasing. Regardless, he lets us know the effort wasn’t worth the means, admitting, “In the end I had to lose.” As in most road songs, the narrator in “Highway 40 Blues” hits the road with big dreams. The lure of the highway is too much for a young man to resist. It tells “lies of things to come,” and billboard lights shine on fame and fortune just waiting to be had. And, like so many other singers, Skaggs reveals that those billboards don’t always tell the truth. His “shattered dreams” have led to a numb mind. We spend our life either at bat or running the bases. In baseball, it’s three strikes and you are out. But with God there is no strike out — unless you give up, don’t repent for your “strikes” and wind up at the end of your life unrepentant and striking out. God never gives up on us, but we sometimes give up on him, and throwing in the towel and letting Satan win the game of our life. As long as we get on each base, we are headed for heaven, and we win the game of life. Every time we get on base we are getting closer to home. All we need to do is stay focused and watch what is going to be thrown at us next. Sometimes we are even able to beat the odds and steal a base. That’s when we are really focused on God and not on what is going on around us. We need to keep our focus on the goal of heaven and not be distracted by things we have no control over. Once the ball is thrown, our reaction to it determines what happens. We hit the ball and run the bases, or we strike out and fail, only to come back and try again. God does forgive our strike outs and gives us so many chances. All we have to do is be ready and stay focused on the bases, reach for the end and score. Every day, our score is being renewed. Every day we all play ball and score at the end of the day. Never close your day with a strike out; instead, ask God for the chance to do better the next day. As our “umpire” who is watching us, God gives us that chance daily. However, if we refuse to ask for forgiveness and strike out at the end of our life, God can’t change our score. Repent for your failures daily and watch for the ball that is thrown at you the next day. Life is a baseball game so play ball and win the game. You’re on the field, both at bat and on base. Make it a home run and not a strike out. It’s your game, and you’re a team of one. Only you can play your game. Enjoy your game of life and keep your eye on the ball that brings you a home run. Best of the roads and all gears forward in Jesus. 8 His money is lost. So, he does what many walkers of the highway did for decades: He stuck out his thumb. Like so many others, he’s realized that the only place he belongs is home. But for the narrator of “Highway 40 Blues,” the urge to return home has been slow coming. Over the years, the narrator has “rambled all around, like a rolling stone from town to town.” He’s had more than one relationship with a pretty girl, but none were pretty enough to hold on to him. But he’s not always been down and out. He’s made a few bucks playing music halls and bars and pretended to be something he wasn’t by wearing fancy clothes and driving nice cars. Still, he can’t escape the fact that he’s just a country boy … and country boys don’t need any of the things he thought would satisfy him in life. That’s the theme of “Highway 40 Blues,” or as to quote other Ricky Skaggs’ songs, “Don’t Get Above Your Raising” and “I’m Just a Country Boy at Heart.” Until next time, keep to the left of the white line. You never know what might be lurking along the shoulder. 8
THETRUCKER.COM BUSINESS AUGUST 2022 • 13 In for a rough ride SIGNS POINT TO HIGHER FUEL COSTS, LOWER FREIGHT RATES AND A POSSIBLE RECESSION CLIFF ABBO<strong>TT</strong> | SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT June tonnage reported to the American Trucking Associations (ATA) rose by 2.7% in June, bucking the industry trend as reported by other sources. Much of that increase is due to carriers picking more loads from customers they have contracts with, according to ATA’s Chief Economist Bob Costello. “Essentially, the market is transitioning back to pre-pandemic shares of contract versus spot market,” Costello said in a July 18 press release. “ATA’s tonnage index is dominated by contract freight, so while the spot market has slowed as freight softens, contract carriers are backfilling those losses with loads from shippers reducing spot market exposure.” For much of the past year, the industry has seen spot rates rise to record levels. Contracted rates, following the usual cycle, were slow to catch up. With supply chain constraints and manufacturing slowdowns, many carriers kept their trucks moving by finding loads on the spot market. Now, we’ve entered a later stage of the cycle. Spot rates are trending downward, while carriers who negotiated new contract rates with their customers are seeing those efforts pay off. The 2.7% increase in June follows a 0.3% May increase. ATA’s June index equaled 120.1, putting the month 20.1% ahead of the 2015 baseline used by ATA. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the June result was the 10th straight year-over-year gain. The Cass Freight Index, which measures shipping volumes and expenditures from multiple modes of transportation, declined 2.6% in June from May values. Compared to June 2021, freight volumes fell 2.3%. The Cass release indicates shipments have been down four of the six months reported this year and notes that inventory has shifted from “a major tailwind” to a more neutral posture but could become a headwind later this year. That’s an indication that retailers and manufacturers that previously couldn’t get enough products have reached inventory levels and slowed ordering for new products. Decreased consumer demand, fueled by inflation, has caused reductions in shipping orders. The Cass Freight Index measures freight hauled by rail, truck, ship, barge, pipeline and air. In FTR’s “Mid-Year Lookaround,” release on June 30, Steve Graham, analyst at FTR, said, “We are living in strange times. First, a 100-year pandemic that brought out the best and worst of humanity. Some of the policy responses could be up for debate.” He cautions that we should not ignore the reality of inflation. He also mentioned recession, saying, “The probability of a recession emerging in the next year is about even, or 50/50.” iStock Photo According to DAT, spot rates for van freight declined 0.9% in June from May rates but are still 0.5% higher than they were in June 2021, just a year ago. Flatbed rates in June were 0.1% lower than in May but were still 9.5% higher than June 2021. Refrigerated rates declined a full percentage point from May and were 1.6% lower than in June 2021. Inflationary pressures abound, with higher prices for food and fuel taking a larger chunk of consumers’ paychecks. People have to eat, and they need gas to get to work. They can, however, do without new computers, appliances and other nonessential products. The result is that shipment numbers come down, bringing spot freight rates down too. According to the latest “Trendlines” report from DAT Services, spot loads posted in June on the country’s largest load board declined by 20.2% from May; in June 2021, the decline was 26%. A decline of more than one-fifth of the number of posted loads in only one month is huge. Fewer loads means more competition for the loads that remain — and lower rates too. Spot rates for van freight declined 0.9% in June from May rates but are still 0.5% higher than they were in June 2021, just a year ago. Flatbed rates peaked a little later than van and refrigerated rates on the DAT board. For June, they were 0.1% lower than in May but were still 9.5% higher than June 2021. Refrigerated rates declined a full percentage point from May and were 1.6% lower than in June 2021. Rates are still at a comfortable level compared to 2020, when the market plunged due to COVID before rebounding quickly. There is, however, another issue — fuel. Nationwide average diesel prices reached a peak of $5.72 per gallon on June 20, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). During that same week, diesel prices averaged $6.92 in California, with multiple retailers charging over $7 per gallon. Diesel prices have been falling since then, but are still over the $5 mark at the time of this writing. During the same week of 2021, a gallon of diesel sold for $3.29. A year before that it was $2.42. Carriers large and small have issues coping with higher fuel costs. Combining higher fuel cost with lowered freight rates on the spot market can have devastating results on the smallest carriers. To help keep inflation in check, the Federal Reserve announced an increase in its most favorable interest rate of 0.75%. The group indicated at the time that a second We are living in strange times. ... The probability of a recession emerging in the next year is about even, or 50/50.” — STEVE GRAHAM , ANALYST, FTR increase of the same amount was likely to be imposed at the July meeting toward the end of the month. A poor inflation report in July, however, has them talking about the possibility of a full 1% increase. While such action may slow the economy, the total cost of homes, cars and other items that require financing will rise considerably, as will finance costs for new and used trucks. Trucking enjoyed a strong market with favorable freight rates for almost two years, but the downcycle has begun. Expect a rough ride for the rest of the year. 8
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