SHIPPER EDI, CARRIER REDUCTION, AND CONTRACTING STRATEGIES -- IMPACTS ON THE MOTOR CARRIER INDUSTRY

The primary purpose of this article is to report the results from a study of the potential impacts on the motor carrier industry of three logistics strategies that have produced fundamental changes in shipper acquisition and management of motor carrier service. The three strategies are: (1) a reduction in the number of motor carriers utilized by individual shippers (the carrier reduction strategy), (2) the use of electronic data interchange (EDI) between shipper and carrier (the EDI strategy), and (3) the use of long-term contracting for motor carrier service (the contracting strategy).