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Business Wire
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
DAT: Truckload volumes held steady in July as summer seasonality peaks
BEAVERTON, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Truckload freight volumes held steady in July as summer seasonality took hold, driven by produce and retail goods moving ahead of the Independence Day holiday, said DAT Freight & Analytics, which operates the DAT One freight marketplace and DAT iQ data analytics service. Volumes softened gradually through the rest of the month. The DAT Truckload Volume Index (TVI), which measures monthly loads moved, was flat compared to June and up modestly year over year: Van TVI: 249, down 0.4% from June, up 3% from July 2024 Refrigerated (reefer) TVI: 202, up 2% month over month, up 11% year over year Flatbed TVI: 314, down 3% month over month, up 8% year over year. 'The truckload market remains soft with no meaningful shifts in demand or capacity, aside from seasonal bumps and tactics by shippers managing tariffs,' said Ken Adamo, DAT Chief of Analytics. Rates showed mixed movement National average spot van and reefer rates inched higher as carriers sought to offset rising fuel costs: Spot van: $2.05 per mile, up 3 cents from June Spot reefer: $2.42 per mile, up 5 cents Spot flatbed: $2.55 per mile, down 2 cents Linehaul rates, which exclude an amount equal to an average fuel surcharge, were mostly stable. The van linehaul rate averaged $1.63 per mile, unchanged month over month. The reefer rate increased 2 cents to $1.96, and the flatbed rate slipped 6 cents to $2.04. The monthly average fuel surcharge increased by 3 cents in July to 42 cents for vans, 46 cents for reefers, and 51 cents for flatbeds — the highest this year. Prolonged soft market persists Contract rates mirrored the uptick in fuel surcharges: Contract van: $2.44 per mile, up 4 cents month over month Contract reefer: $2.78 per mile, up 4 cents Contract flatbed: $3.08 per mile, up 3 cents 'There are carriers with low cost structures and steady customers that are negotiating better contracts,' said Adamo, 'but in general, there's a feeling that volumes and rates are stuck. Barring some major event, there's nothing to suggest that's going to change any time soon.' About the Truckload Volume Index The DAT Truckload Volume Index reflects the change in the number of loads with a pickup date during that month. A baseline of 100 equals the number of loads moved in January 2015, as recorded in DAT RateView, a database tracking rates paid on an average of 3 million loads per month. DAT benchmark spot rates are derived from invoice data for hauls of 250 miles or more with a pickup date during the month reported. About DAT Freight & Analytics DAT Freight & Analytics operates the DAT One truckload freight marketplace; Convoy Platform, an automated freight-matching technology; DAT iQ analytics service; Trucker Tools load-visibility platform; and Outgo factoring and financial services for truckers. Shippers, transportation brokers, carriers, news organizations, and industry analysts rely on DAT for market trends and data insights, informed by nearly 700,000 daily load posts and a database exceeding $1 trillion in freight market transactions. Founded in 1978, DAT is a business unit of Roper Technologies (Nasdaq: ROP), a constituent of the Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, and Fortune 1000. Headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, DAT continues to set the standard for innovation in the trucking and logistics industry. Visit for more information.
The Age
07-07-2025
- Business
- The Age
More Australian retailers axe free returns after ‘reckoning' of costs
Since then, businesses have found that free returns are financially unsustainable. In June 2023, high-profile online fashion retailer ASOS ended its years-long free returns policy in Australia. In the UK last week, ASOS started banning customers who repeatedly return large portions of their orders. But McClelland, whose videos on TikTok have gained popularity for promoting more sustainable consumption habits, said businesses could do more to mitigate the problem. 'I do think there needs to be a deterrent for those customers who are 'repeat purchase and return' customers … However, I do think as well that there should be some investment on the retail side into making sure that the product they're selling is a product that customers actually want to keep,' she said. More retailers could, for example, photograph clothes on models in a range of sizes. 'So consumers could then see, 'OK, this is what it looks like on someone my size', and then they can make a more informed decision about whether the product will look good on them.' Loading Other Australian brands try to incentivise shoppers to cover the costs of returns: Byron Bay-based sustainable clothing store Afends provides free returns when customers choose store credit instead of a refund. Others offer free returns for online purchases if the goods are dropped off at a physical store. However, competition from Australian fashion retail giants The Iconic, David Jones and Myer, which offer free returns on all purchases, puts significant pressure on other retailers. Australia Post e-commerce reports indicate that, overall, 65 per cent of shoppers value 'friction-free' returns, with this figure rising to 72 per cent for Gen Z and Millennial customers. Ben Wapling, the head of marketing for sporting goods retailer Intersport, said the company was constantly trying to strike the right balance between costs and customer experience: 'We want to reduce as many barriers as possible.' He said the costs of returning products ranged between $7 and $11 an order. 'You've got to weigh that up, but you also weigh up the potential of the customer saying 'oh look, it's all a bit too hard, I'm not going to make a purchase',' he said. While Intersport manages to integrate all their stock back into inventories to be sold again, unless items have been damaged, some companies that offer free returns send brand-new goods to landfills because it's cheaper. A report published by charity Good360 last month found that 30 per cent of clothing bought online and returned in 2024 was sent to landfills instead of being resold. Melbourne-based small business owner Imara Seneviratne said her passion for sustainability as a consumer bled into her business practices. Seneviratne runs Adamo, which sells sustainably sourced tote bags. Adamo does require customers to cover the cost of returns if they've changed their mind, but not if the item is damaged. 'As both a consumer and a business owner, I'm just trying to find a balance, like making the experience fair and flexible but also encouraging people to buy less and choose better,' she said.
Sydney Morning Herald
07-07-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
More Australian retailers axe free returns after ‘reckoning' of costs
Since then, businesses have found that free returns are financially unsustainable. In June 2023, high-profile online fashion retailer ASOS ended its years-long free returns policy in Australia. In the UK last week, ASOS started banning customers who repeatedly return large portions of their orders. But McClelland, whose videos on TikTok have gained popularity for promoting more sustainable consumption habits, said businesses could do more to mitigate the problem. 'I do think there needs to be a deterrent for those customers who are 'repeat purchase and return' customers … However, I do think as well that there should be some investment on the retail side into making sure that the product they're selling is a product that customers actually want to keep,' she said. More retailers could, for example, photograph clothes on models in a range of sizes. 'So consumers could then see, 'OK, this is what it looks like on someone my size', and then they can make a more informed decision about whether the product will look good on them.' Loading Other Australian brands try to incentivise shoppers to cover the costs of returns: Byron Bay-based sustainable clothing store Afends provides free returns when customers choose store credit instead of a refund. Others offer free returns for online purchases if the goods are dropped off at a physical store. However, competition from Australian fashion retail giants The Iconic, David Jones and Myer, which offer free returns on all purchases, puts significant pressure on other retailers. Australia Post e-commerce reports indicate that, overall, 65 per cent of shoppers value 'friction-free' returns, with this figure rising to 72 per cent for Gen Z and Millennial customers. Ben Wapling, the head of marketing for sporting goods retailer Intersport, said the company was constantly trying to strike the right balance between costs and customer experience: 'We want to reduce as many barriers as possible.' He said the costs of returning products ranged between $7 and $11 an order. 'You've got to weigh that up, but you also weigh up the potential of the customer saying 'oh look, it's all a bit too hard, I'm not going to make a purchase',' he said. While Intersport manages to integrate all their stock back into inventories to be sold again, unless items have been damaged, some companies that offer free returns send brand-new goods to landfills because it's cheaper. A report published by charity Good360 last month found that 30 per cent of clothing bought online and returned in 2024 was sent to landfills instead of being resold. Melbourne-based small business owner Imara Seneviratne said her passion for sustainability as a consumer bled into her business practices. Seneviratne runs Adamo, which sells sustainably sourced tote bags. Adamo does require customers to cover the cost of returns if they've changed their mind, but not if the item is damaged. 'As both a consumer and a business owner, I'm just trying to find a balance, like making the experience fair and flexible but also encouraging people to buy less and choose better,' she said.
Irish Times
21-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Despite being obsessed with money, Donald Trump does not understand how it works
In Dante's Inferno, the poet reserved one of his most ghastly punishments for the crime of forgery. Canto 30 of the Inferno describes the counterfeiter 'Adamo' condemned to the eighth circle of hell, just one above Lucifer in the ninth. In this Canto, Dante and Virgil, his guide through the underworld, meet two falsifiers, one of whom is Maestro Adamo/Master Adam, a counterfeiter who in Dante's youth had tried to debase the Florentine florin. Adamo has studied in Brescia, an Italian city in competition with Florence. He was persuaded by prosperous counts from Romena to debase the florin by replacing three carats of the usually pure gold coin with copper. The coin weighed almost the same, but it was a fake. Dante compares Adam to another liar, Sinon the Greek, the man who tricked the Trojans into believing the Trojan horse was an innocent gift. This betrayal led to the destruction of an entire civilisation. READ MORE Why would Dante equate Adam, an everyday opportunistic counterfeiter, with Sinon, the man who betrayed Troy? It seems disproportionate, but only if we fail to appreciate the central role of the florin in underpinning the might of Florence. In Dante's tale, the man who was undermining the reserve currency was a two-bit fraudster, Adam, whereas today the man undermining the world's reserve currency, the US dollar, is the president of the United States, Donald Trump . Traditionally, when the world is at war, financial markets experience a flight to quality, meaning to dollars. The opposite is happening and, for the first time in 100 years, the world is starting to doubt America's commercial credibility. In the Florentine Republic one florin was worth about €125 in today's money, and to give you a sense of what that meant at the time, a slave girl or a mule could be bought for 50 florins – about €6,000. As the Florentines expanded commercially throughout Europe, the florin became the trademark of the strength of the city as much as a medium of exchange. Pure gold, weighing 3.53 grammes, it became the reserve currency of mercantile Europe, giving it the pre-eminent role in international finance, like the US dollar today. Across the Continent, goods were exchanged in florins, debts were settled in florins, loans were extended in florins and wealth was measured and stored in florins. In the 14th century, the florin became the hardest currency in Europe, accepted widely as the unit of account from London and Bruges in the north, to Alexandria and Tyre in the south. When the world accepts your currency readily, it gives the currency that most elusive of qualities: liquidity. A simple definition of liquidity is the ease and time it takes to settle a trade in a currency. The more liquidity, the easier it is to trade. If, in the case of a coin, there is significant demand for the products underpinning the coin, the number of coins supplied will go up and, while their value will stay the same, their intrinsic usability and therefore practical value increases. Given its liquidity, everyone wanted to settle their account with the florin. The state that mints the money that everyone wants has soft power. Soft power is the power of persuasion. In today's context, consider the power the US dollar gives the United States. Oil, copper, steel, uranium, rare earths, timber, cotton, silk, diamonds – all these commodities are priced internationally in dollars, and to buy them the purchaser must first buy dollars, which the US generates for free. This gives the US a big advantage in global financial affairs. Given such high stakes, why would any president mess with America's most potent weapon? Because, despite being obsessed by money, he doesn't really understand money, how it works and what maintains its mystique. It's about trust (that most ephemeral of characteristics), financial stability and the long-term robustness of entire economic system. [ US borrowing costs top 5% after Moody's downgrade Opens in new window ] Reputations are very hard to establish but easy to squander. Donald Trump is squandering America's reputation as a serious country. The US's economic mix is now a unpredictable mess of unfocused tax cuts, broadening but incoherent tax loopholes, incremental attacks on the rule of law and, of course, chaotic trade wars and tariffs. While these may generate headlines, they do not promote financial stability. In the meantime, in plain sight, the Trump family are enriching themselves in cryptocurrencies. Congress is blessing this heist, while the US president habitually insults the Federal Reserve chairman, stating this week that he'd do a far better job himself, if only he could appoint himself . Is it any surprise that rational people are avoiding the dollar? The real dilemma is that Trump is behaving like a medieval king burning through the kingdom's treasury, which is already overspending. The US federal debt-to-GDP ratio is at its highest level in postwar history and climbing. At 97 per cent to 99 per cent of GDP, the debt is up from 35 per cent of GDP in the 1980s and about 60 per cent before the 2008 financial crisis. This level is comparable to the debt burden just after the second World War (when it peaked around 106 per cent of GDP in 1946). In the past 12 months, the US government spent in excess of $1.8 trillion more than it took in, marking the fifth year in a row with a deficit above $1 trillion. One of the most immediate consequences of high debt is the surging cost of interest. As debt has grown, and the Federal Reserve's rate hikes in 2022–2023 filtered through to government borrowing costs, interest costs have skyrocketed. Last year, the US Treasury paid about $882 billion in interest on the federal debt, roughly 3.1 per cent of GDP. [ Donald Trump pressures Republicans to back his 'big, beautiful' tax Bill Opens in new window ] To put that in perspective, America now spends more just to service its debt than it spends on national defence or Medicare. On top of this already-fraught situation, the One Big Beautiful Act with its tax cuts for the wealthy, will add more debt to the existing $36.7 trillion pile. Official estimates suggest the Trump tax cuts will add another $2.4 trillion to the debt. So who is going to buy all this new debt? Foreigners who historically buy a large share of US Treasuries bought only about 59 per cent of a recent 30-year Treasury auction, the lowest foreign participation since 2019. If foreign investors are to be coaxed to buy more US IOUs then they will have to be offered a higher rate of interest, which could push the US into recession, or a lower dollar which means that the US debt is made cheaper for foreigners. Once this occurs, the dollar and the Donald become intertwined. As US economic credibility is shredded, so too the mystique of the reserve currency. It's early days but a world where the US dollar is not the only reserve currency could be upon us. The Florentine florin was the world's reserve currency for close to 250 years, from the time of Dante to the discovery of the Americas. Wars, poor decision-making and over-spending at home in Florence, as well as the emergence of other commercial powers abroad, chipped away at its elevated status. Could something similar be happening to the US dollar now? Of course it could.
Sky News AU
17-06-2025
- Health
- Sky News AU
‘Disastrous consequences': Toxic death cap mushrooms found littered throughout NSW prompt grim health warning from authorities
Authorities have pleaded with members of the public not to forage or consume wild mushrooms after the notorious death cap variety was identified in numerous regions throughout New South Wales. The highly poisonous fungi, Amanita phalloides, more commonly known as death cap mushrooms, have been detected by health officials in numerous densely populated areas of the state including Sydney, the Southern Highlands and Southern NSW. NSW Health in a statement warned residents of the extreme dangers posed by the fungi, and that as little as one mushroom could prove fatal if ingested. NSW Poisons Information Centre's Senior Specialist Genevieve Adamo said that symptoms from the fungi are initially difficult to detect, and that early intervention is crucial. 'Symptoms of mushroom poisoning can sometimes be delayed, but early treatment is vital to health outcomes," Ms Adamo said. 'These include vomiting and diarrhoea, and in severe cases, liver and kidney damage or death.' Chief Scientist at the Botanic Gardens of Sydney, Professor Brett Summerell, stressed that identifying the difference between an edible wild mushroom and the death cap were almost impossible. 'There is no easy or reliable way to identify if a wild mushroom is edible or poisonous, so we advise people against foraging for, and eating, wild mushrooms,' Professor Summerell said. 'Cooking poisonous mushrooms does not make them safe to eat. "You should only eat mushrooms you buy from a reputable grocery store, supermarket or produce market,' Professor Summerell reiterated. The alert follows a drastic rise in mushroom poisonings throughout the state, with 23 people hospitalised in 2024 due to toxic mushroom ingestion, including two children under five. The NSW Poisons Information Centre revealed they had received 363 calls about wild mushroom consumption incidents in NSW and the ACT, a 26 per cent increase on 2023 statistics. There have already been 190 calls to the centre reporting poisonous mushroom sightings as of May 31. Ms Adamo said young people were particularly susceptible to the effects of the deadly mushroom and advised parents to closely supervise their children. 'As young children have a tendency to put things in their mouths, they can be at risk,' said Ms Adamo. 'Watch your children when they are playing outside, especially around large trees in parks or your garden at home where mushrooms may grow. 'With the identification of highly poisonous death cap mushrooms in NSW it is a warning that there can be disastrous consequences from eating wild mushrooms' the NSW Health statement read. NSW Health and local council authorities have been conducted regular surveillance operations for death cap mushrooms after the variety was first identified in the state two years ago in Southern NSW.
