Have you considered that just 20 years ago, not even 1% of U.S. retail sales were made on the internet and by 2017 that percentage grew to about 10% of all retail sales in the country?
That’s an eye-popping 3,000% hike in demand for ecommerce home deliveries.
It’s happening right under my nose. On any given weekday, I must see as many box trucks, cargo vans, and walk-in trucks maneuvering through my neighborhood as cars, as I sit at the desk of my home-office and look through my street-facing window.
This is driving a huge increase in our new and used box truck financing here at Commercial Fleet Financing.
As one reporter put it, “The urban home-delivery ecosystem of yore evokes images of the icemen making their rounds or kindly white-capped milk men stopping by with a new glass bottle.”
You should take a big whiff of what’s going on right now. Can you smell it? There’s the smell of opportunity in the air!
Indeed, according to FedEx, about 100 million parcels will be delivered in the U.S. every day by 2026, which is about double the current rate.
That’s why supermarket chain executives who have spent their entire careers operating a brick-and-mortar model are scrambling to get out ahead of the exploding digital grocery story trend.
Kurt Swihart, Marketing Director for Kenworth commented that he’s not seen any major trends of truckload customers moving significantly into the less-than-truckload or local pickup and delivery businesses, but changes in the distribution model – where you have an increasing number of distribution centers outside urban areas that use trucks for more for regional haul and final mile applications – has sent some fleets back to the drawing board with truck specs.
Bob Costello, Chief Economist of the American Trucking Association reported in an article on ccjdigital.com, “Since 2000, large big-box retailers had a handful of distribution centers around the country, but today they have dozens. More distribution centers have reduced the average length of haul into and out of those centers.”
To answer the shifting demand of ecommerce, big rigs are being used to haul consumer goods in places that that they simply weren’t built to navigate through – residential neighborhoods. It’s no wonder you see record-breaking incidents of semis bumping tree branches, snagging utility wires, and obliterating mailboxes. Has anybody noticed more roadkill in their neighborhood, or is that just me? That’s the result of driving semi-trucks in and out of cul-de-sacs and condensed residential areas.
Get truck financing on a box truck today.
Truck drivers, used to moving efficiently from one loading dock to another, must now add sizeable, often heavy and more time-consuming home deliveries, to their routes.
One industry insider estimates that residential deliveries eat up 35 to 40 minutes versus 10 to 15 minutes on comparable business deliveries.
This is a day and age where people are ordering items like dental floss and wanting it to be delivered in two hours. Clothing, books, food, and other household goods are being shipped day-in-and-day-out, and demand is rising faster than ever.
With the Right Tool for the Task You Can Claim Your Piece of the Pie!
While residential deliveries give semi-truck drivers the blues, box truck drivers are laughing all the way to the bank.
We’ve seen here that semi-trucks may not be the optimal ‘tool’ for jumping in on the ecommerce shipping ‘gold-rush.’ That’s why more fleets and operators are adding box trucks to their line-up of delivery vehicles.
Box trucks are the ideal tool for cashing in on the final-mile delivery industry – which is why more truckers are dubbing them ‘final-mile’ trucks.
Box truck owners are seeing huge demand for their shipping services and you can make more money without leaving town too!
Interested in learning more about CFFs ultra-fast and easy box truck financing program?
Are truckers the unlikely beneficiaries of the booming ecommerce industry?
The numbers don’t lie. As consumers continue driving demand higher, truckers will keep driving box trucks on residential streets paved with gold.
The only question is, will you get in on the action.
Talk directly with one of our financing pros and get started with a credit approval for new or used box truck financing in as little as 2 hours. CFF’s main phone number is (469) 208-4701.
Take the first step by filling out a Fast App online credit application.
About Commercial Fleet Financing, Inc.:
At Commercial Fleet Financing (CFF), our pros have given smart advice to fleet owners, dealers and owner-operators in the transportation, moving, towing or construction industries for more than two decades. With CFF, finding the right financing solutions is a phone call away and most borrowers secure commercial vehicle financing with ease. To talk directly with one of our finance pros and get started with a credit approval in as little as two hours, CFF’s phone number is (469)-281-2962.
