Manufacturing statistics, inventories, durable goods sales, consumer confidence, housing starts and the like are used by economists to see how the economy is faring. But the New York Times Sunday turned to another source: the trucking industry.

In “As the Drivers of the 18-Wheelers See It, The Economy is on the Road to Recovery,” writer Peter Kilborn talks to truckers and truckstop workers at a Flying J truckstop on I-40 near Oklahoma City. “Judging from the number of 18-wheelers rumbling in and out” of the truckstop, he writes, “the economy has left the recession in the dust.”
From the truckstop end, he reports that the Flying J is now hiring because of increased business. Although sales of trinkets and gifts are down, and waitresses say drivers are still watching their tips, they are buying more fuel. “I don’t think we’re in a rut anymore,” said Danny Hamby, the truckstop’s general manager.
Drivers told Kilborn they aren’t waiting around as much these days for loads. Ron Jones, stopping on his way to pick up a shipment of tires, told the reporter that back around Christmas, it wasn’t unusual to sit for six or seven days waiting for a load. “I don’t sit much at all now,” he said.
The Times quotes American Trucking Associations chief economist Bob Costello about how trucking freight trends are a precursor to the state of the overall economy. Between hitting a peak in December 1999 and July 2000, trucking freight plunged 17 percent. But by February, Costello said, it had climbed about 5 percent.