Shipping logistics saves the day as sole food supplier for the majority of American Communities: Blue Eagle Logistics recognizes the importance of the trucking industry as the only means of providing food and medical supplies to most of the country.
What New York, New Jersey, and California have in common may surprise you: They are all chief offenders as potential food deserts.
Traditionally, food deserts are defined as living a mile or more away from access to fresh food. But what would surprise most Americans is that 75% of the country is in that exact boat… that is, without truckers the vast majority of the nation would be facing food scarcity.
In Pennsylvania, the percentage who rely on trucking to supply their food is even higher – 88% of communities sole source of supplies is by truck!
With truckers supplying the majority of all food, three quarters of the population does not have access to fresh food without drivers supporting supply chains.
According to Fast Forward Transportation, “About three out of four American communities depend solely on trucking for the delivery of their goods and services.”
Major metropolises, famed concrete jungles, with their distance from rural farming communities, pave the way for food deserts. Ironically, New York City in particular, which is touted as the food capital of the United States, would be among the communities that would struggle the most without the transportation industry. The only food the Big Apple gets, comes to it via truck.
Happily, as sobering as food access is for American communities, the really astonishing data is on how well logistics works to meet our daily needs!
Specifically, the distance driven and phenomenal logistics involved in providing items from strawberries to street lights is staggering. In a single year, America’s truckers will drive about 200 billion miles: That means that they drive the equivalent of 1,000 round trips to the sun.
And the logistics themselves make up a huge portion of the U.S. economy: the logistics sector represents a full eight percent of the total U.S. GDP.
And American businesses spend big dollars every year to ship their products: Companies spend approximately $1.5 trillion on logistical expenses.
Incredible.
What’s even more incredible is that despite the intensely complex coordination, distance driven, and the many, many logistical details involved, according to the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, it costs U.S. companies about 37 cents to deliver a box of breakfast cereal to a consumer’s breakfast table.
Thirty-seven cents. From farm to table. That figure is a moving testament to the efficiency, the prowess of the American transportation system.
It is that high level of coordination that means the country stays well fed– no matter where its citizens live.
At Blue Eagle we are proud to be part of keeping America running through the best, most progressive tools in logistics coordination. We recognize the supreme importance of keeping the country supplied, and we are committed to making sure that our clients’ and the country’s needs are met, whatever the challenges.