Should the trucking industry be deregulated?

This roundup on truck deregulotion is compiled from materiql provided by the American Trucking Associations, Inc. and does not pretend to be unbiased. It is, rather, a brieJ, comprehensive look at the situation ./rom the viewpoint o.f the truckers. -ed.

the industry has become an obsession with certain people in this country and they are bound and determined to force their obsession on the rest of us. whether it is needed or not."

With those words. Donn McMorris. chairman of the American Trucking Associations, Inc., warned delegates at the 31st annual meeting of the Common Carrier Conference, Irregular Route, in Palm Springs, Ca., that certain economists have become so obsessed with the concept ofderegulation that they have even formulated their own set of "facts" to support their broad, philosophical theory of nrotor carrier deregulation.

Myth #1:Deregulation caused air fares to drop, so it will drive truck freight prices down.

Reality: These are apples and oranges. Demand for personal transportation is flexible and sensitive to price changes. Freight transportation depends entirely on production. More refrigerators will not be shipped because of . lower freight charges.

Myrh #2:Since deregulation caused air .fares to drop, it had a similar lowering effect on air freight rates.

Reality: Quite the opposite occurred. Since deregulation of the airline industry by the CAB, air cargo rates have increased 21 percent to date. Additional increases .. are expected.

Myth #3: Regulation limits competition.

Reality: Only two other industries ranked by the Census Bureau have less concentration of the business than the molor carrier industry.

". . The economists and their followers begin to spew forth 'facts' of their own; but they are 'facts' made of snow and they melt quickly in the sunshine of reasonableness and reality," McMorris said.

"One of the arguments is that regulation stifles competition in the trucking industry. The fact is the trucking industry is a model of compelitive enterprise. It is impossible for anyone with a reasonable mind to accuse an industry of being non-competitive when it boasts 16,500 separate companies

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Sfory ata Glance

Truckers' position on deregulation. competition, safety factors, rates, ship- pers'opinions, service... will deregulation of trucking be the same as deregulation of the airlines?

What

Are

the Deregulation Myths?

Myth #4:Regulation of competition leads to inefJicient service.

Reality: A federal government study of industrial shippers disclosed a 970lo level of satisfaction with the quality and quantity of serv.ice provided by motor carners.

Myth #5:Regulation has led to a rt ifica I ly nfla ted freig ht rates.

Reality: The effect of rate making has been to keep rates minimal. For instance, from a base of 100 in 1967, revenue per ton mile of regulated general freight carriers rose to 181.8 through the third quarter of 1978. During the same period, the Consumer Price Index rose from 100 to 197.8, or 16 points higher than the price of regulated motor carner servlce

Trucking Deregulation ToJeopardtze HighwaySafety

FT EREGULATION OI thc U.S. l/ 11u6king industry would destroy the Interstate Commerce Commission's "economic muscle" to enforce minimum safety standards for trucks and truck drivers, a professor of transportation at Harvard University has concluded after years of research. The end result may be increased danger for motorists on the nation's highways.

According to Dr. D. Daryl Wyckoff, professor at the Harvard University Graduate School of Business, truckers not operating under regulation today are engaged in "cutthroat competition and revert to short-cutting salety for economic survi val. "

Dr. Wyck.rff recently completed a survey of 10,500 truckers as part of more than five years of exhaustive research on intercity truck driVCTS.

"There is in fact a significant (Please turn to page 7I)

Myth #6:Reeulotion crcates "empty backhauls"

Reality: Studies by the lnterstate Commerce Commission and other federal agencies show only 3oA of empty miles are avoidable. Empty miles are the natural result cf regional traffic imbalances and specialized equipment, such as auto carriers. which carry only one type of freisht.

Myth #7:The cistomers of the interstate trucking industry would prefer a deregulated trucking system.

Reality: A significant majority of industrial shippers, interstate trucker's primory cuslomers. favor continued regulation of the trucking industry and believe that deregulation would result in a decline in services and an increase in prices, according to an independent survey.

Fuel related problems were behind a number of conditions now plaguing the U.S. distribution system. . . threatening to cause havoc to the national economy. transportation disruplions have already resulted in availability, shipping and pricing problems along the distribution chain.

The railroads have been cut back to 8006 fuel allocation by the Dept. of Energy, expected to resuft in .fewer, more slowly moving trains.. .lrucker strikes continued after gov. attempls to adjust their grievances over fuel costs failed to pacify the independent carriers. ..

Shipping problems at the mill level caused by declining truck availability has cut deliveries to wholesalers. . , mills are converting to rail shipments where possible, but the effect has been to slowdown distributian at all levels. . 1,

Prapased deregulation by gov. of trains & trucking could cause higher shipping cosls. eliminate certain services and cut safety critics charge...a number of transportation-related stories appear throughout this issue. .

Paced by an increase in multiples. housing slarts were up 5o/o in May Qatest figs.) from April, but lhe 1.827,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate was still l0ol, below a year-earlier. gov. actions were said lo be the cause of the hike in apt. bldg.

Bldg. permits rose 5o/o lo an annual rate of 1,591,000 in the | 6,000 places nationally that issue them; permits for singles were down slightly, with multifamily permits up from April, but still behind the'78 pace.