I had some personal business I needed to conduct in the next state over. It was a good excuse to get out of the house and see how the world beyond my local area was doing. The trip was 300+ miles, round-trip, mostly all interstates and toll routes. Started out early in the morning and didn't get home until after 10PM. The first thing that struck me? The number of 18-wheelers on the rode.
On the drive to my destination there was a definite lack of passenger vehicles -- nowhere near what you'd normally expect to see. I suspect that's because those who can are still working from home and a lot of people are not travelling on vacation. Most of the traffic I encountered was due to trucks. There are trucks EVERYWHERE. I saw multiple Amazon trucks, Aldi food trucks, a truck loaded with crates of apples, trucks transporting gasoline, even a truck loaded down with a shipment of plywood. There was definitely no lack of trucks on the highways.
I must admit to being surprised, as we're being led to believe that there are shortages of goods, truckers who are losing out because they're not jabbed, not enough truckers available to haul, etc., etc.
As surprising as all of this was, I was even more stunned on the drive home. The highways were teeming with trucks. At night, they're about the only thing on the road -- encountered very few passenger cars. When it got late, the rest stops were packed with truckers laying over for the night. Trucks were parked in every possible parking spot and every available space. Even saw truckers pulled off along the sides of the roads for the night.
I don't know what was in all of these trucks, but there's definitely stuff being transported somewhere. So where is it all going and what are they doing with it? In my area, I'm already having problems finding things in the stores and seeing empty shelves. Things are getting curiouser and curiouser, frens.
I believe this is the truth of the situation.
There is plenty of trucking capacity, but demand exceeds supply.
The things that only make sense to ship when shipping prices are low (which unfortunately includes most consumer products) are being held back to make room for the things that still make sense to ship even when shipping costs are high.
We consumers don't realize but all of our spending together isn't very much. Most of what our economy is doing is building and supplying things that we are barely aware even exists, things that happen in the background and behind the scenes. IE, the corn that humans eat vs. the corn that is used for ethanol and for livestock don't even compare.
I think we are making up for all the lost time due to the COVID nonsense, and in a few years, things will be back to normal, in that there will be plenty of supply and no longer any excess demand.
The best part is China will likely no longer factor into a lot of equations. More domestic manufacturing means more demand for local shipping.