快扣 (FAST) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Hello and welcome to the Fastenal 2023 Q3 Earnings Results Conference Call and Webcast. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

您好，歡迎參加 Fastenal 2023 年第三季財報電話會議及網路直播。 （操作說明）提醒您，本次會議正在錄音。

It's now my pleasure to turn the call over to Taylor Ranta of the Fastenal Company. Please go ahead, Taylor.

現在我很高興將電話轉交給Fastenal公司的泰勒·蘭塔。請開始吧，泰勒。

Welcome to the Fastenal Company 2023 Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. This call will be hosted by Dan Florness, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Holden Lewis, our Chief Financial Officer. The call will last for up to 1 hour and will start with a general overview of our quarterly results and operations, with the remainder of the time being open for questions and answers.

歡迎參加 Fastenal 公司 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。本次會議將由公司總裁兼執行長 Dan Florness 和財務長 Holden Lewis 主持。會議時長約為 1 小時，首先將概述公司季度業績和營運情況，剩餘時間將用於問答環節。

Today's conference call is a proprietary Fastenal presentation and is being recorded by Fastenal. No recording, reproduction, transmission or distribution of today's call is permitted without Fastenal's consent. This call is being audio simulcast on the Internet via the Fastenal Investor Relations homepage, investor.fastenal.com. A replay of the webcast will be available on the website until December 1, 2023, at midnight Central Time.

今天的電話會議內容為Fastenal專有訊息，並由Fastenal進行錄音。未經Fastenal同意，禁止本次電話會議進行任何錄音、複製、傳輸或散佈。本次電話會議將透過Fastenal投資者關係網站investor.fastenal.com進行網路直播。網路直播回放將在網站上保留至美國中部時間2023年12月1日午夜。

As a reminder, today's conference call may include statements regarding the company's future plans and prospects. These statements are based on our current expectations, and we undertake no duty to update them. It is important to note that the company's actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from anticipated results are contained in the company's latest earnings release and periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and we encourage you to review those factors carefully.

再次提醒，今天的電話會議可能包含有關公司未來計劃和前景的聲明。這些聲明是基於我們目前的預期，我們不承擔更新這些聲明的義務。需要注意的是，公司的實際業績可能與預期業績有重大差異。可能導致實際業績與預期業績有差異的因素已列於本公司最新的獲利報告和定期向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中，我們建議您仔細閱讀這些因素。

I would now call over to Mr. Dan Florness.

我現在要請丹‧弗洛內斯先生過來。

Thank you, Taylor. Good morning, everybody, and thank you for joining our Third Quarter Call.

謝謝你，泰勒。大家早安，感謝各位參加我們的第三季電話會議。

I'll start on the -- reference the flipbook on Page 3. Conditions remained challenging in the third quarter of '23, reflected in a daily sales growth rate of 4%. Still, regardless of the year, we celebrate milestones when they occur. I remember just over 10 years ago, when we hit $10 million in daily sales for the first time, we recognized that on this call as well as internally to celebrate that milestone. Some years later, we hit $20 million. Here in the month of September, we broke $30 million in sales per day for the first time in our history, and my congratulations to the Fastenal organization for hitting that milestone.

我先從第3頁的翻頁手冊開始。 2023年第三季的情勢仍充滿挑戰，日銷售額成長率僅4%。儘管如此，無論年份如何，我們都會慶祝每一個里程碑。我記得十多年前，我們首次實現日銷售額1000萬美元時，我們在這次電話會議上以及公司內部都慶祝了這一里程碑。幾年後，我們達到了2000萬美元。而今年9月，我們史上首次突破了日銷售額3000萬美元大關，我在此祝賀Fastenal團隊取得這項里程碑式的成就。

Our earnings -- our sales growth in the quarter translated into EPS growth -- EPS of $0.52, 4.1% growth over the same period last year. Our results reflect the unique profile, product profile, of our business.

本季我們的獲利－即銷售額成長轉化為每股收益成長－每股收益為0.52美元，較去年同期成長4.1%。我們的業績反映了我們業務的獨特性和產品特色。

Fasteners still constitute about 1/3 of our sales, and within that subcategory, about 63% is an OEM-oriented fastener. And that business can be very cyclical because of the production needs of each of the customers we're serving. If you look at the rest of the business, it tends to be much more MRO-oriented. Our fastener daily sales, as you've seen in our monthly sales release, have decelerated at a faster rate than our non-fastener business as we've gone through the calendar year.

緊固件仍然占我們銷售額的三分之一左右，而在這個子類別中，約 63% 是 OEM 導向的緊固件。由於我們服務的每位客戶的生產需求各不相同，這項業務的週期性波動很大。如果您看一下我們其他的業務，您會發現它們更專注於 MRO（維護、維修和營運）。正如您在我們每月發布的銷售報告中所看到的，在過去一年中，我們的緊固件日銷售額下降速度比非緊固件業務的下降速度更快。

The third quarter margin hit was 21%, which matched last year despite the one less selling day. And so earlier, I spoke about the $30 million we do in a day. The quarter had one less day. Many of our -- some of our expenses are tethered, most are not, and so I'm pleased that the team was able to match the operating margin of 21% from last year.

第三季利潤率為21%，與去年同期持平，儘管銷售日減少了一天。正如我之前提到的，我們每天的銷售額為3000萬美元。本季少了一天。我們的一些費用是固定的，但大部分是固定的，所以我很高興團隊能夠維持與去年相同的21%的營業利潤率。

But I believe that understates the reality of the performance. If you looked at it on a same-day basis, we believe we would have increased the operating margin because we would have had roughly $10 million more, about 1/3 of that $30 million, in operating income because a good chunk of that flows through because of the change in the nature of the expense.

但我認為這低估了實際情況。如果以當日數據來看，我們相信營業利潤率會提高，因為我們的營業收入會增加約1000萬美元，約佔3000萬美元的三分之一，其中很大一部分是由於費用性質的變化而產生的。

The Blue Team. If I think about the last several years, we had a unique opportunity to serve the marketplace because of our pristine balance sheet. When COVID hit the globe back in 2020, we were able to step forward and secure and purchased and fund with cash a meaningful increase in inventory primarily centered on safety supplies, because our customers and society in general needed something to get through that period, and we were proud to be part of the solution. We were able to do that because of our balance sheet.

藍隊。回顧過去幾年，我們憑藉著穩健的資產負債表，擁有服務市場的獨特機會。 2020年新冠疫情席捲全球時，我們挺身而出，用現金購入並大幅增加了庫存，主要集中在安全防護用品上。因為我們的客戶和整個社會都需要這些物資來度過難關，我們很榮幸能成為解決方案的一部分。這一切都得益於我們穩健的資產負債表。

As the global economy reemerged from the pandemic, we saw firsthand, and you saw it in daily news clippings, about the congestion that was going on in supply chains around the planet. Again, as supply chains became more rocky and you couldn't rely on how many days it would take to get product, there's a solution to that: It's stock more products. And we beefed up our balance sheet and our cash flow suffered as a result, but I believe our standing with our customers and in the marketplace never performed better because the market could rely on the covenant that Fastenal provided to them in being a great supply chain partner.

隨著全球經濟從疫情中復甦，我們親眼目睹了（你們也從每日新聞報道中看到了），全球供應鏈擁擠的局面。隨著供應鏈變得更加不穩定，產品到貨時間難以預測，解決方案只有一個：增加庫存。我們因此增強了資產負債表，現金流也因此受到影響，但我相信，我們在客戶和市場上的地位從未如此之高，因為市場可以信賴Fastenal作為優秀供​​應鏈合作夥伴所提供的可靠保障。

As we move deeper into 2022 and now in 2023, we've been able to unwind a piece of that. And as a result, on a year-in basis, we have converted 121% of our net earnings into operating cash flow. That's our highest performance in a decade that's averaged just shy of 100%, about 95%.

隨著我們進入2022年，並進入2023年，我們已經能夠逐步消除部分影響。因此，以年計算，我們已將121%的淨利轉化為經營現金流。這是我們近十年來最高的業績，而過去十年的平均值略低於100%，約為95%。

If I look at it from the standpoint of relative to a year ago, in the quarter, operating cash grew about 51%. Year-to-date, our operating cash has grown 69%. Again, part of that is a reflection of the investments we made to serve our marketplace and our ability to unwind that in the current environment and translate it into cash flow for the organization to serve our shareholders and to serve the business as we move into the future.

如果從與去年同期相比的角度來看，本季經營現金成長了約 51%。年初至今，我們的經營現金成長了 69%。這部分反映了我們為服務市場所做的投資，以及我們在當前環境下將這些投資轉化為現金流的能力，使公司能夠更好地服務股東，並為未來的業務發展奠定基礎。

Our Onsite and FMI installed bases and our digital footprint continue to expand. And earlier this year, we did some restructuring, and we announced the elevation of Jeff Watts, the Chief Sales Officer in the organization. We did some restructuring of the sales side of our organization because we wanted to double down on the challenge we had put in place in front of everybody going back to the 2015 time frame, and that was really stepping into what we saw as an untapped opportunity to grow our business faster, and that was to expand our Onsite presence.

我們的現場安裝和FMI安裝基礎以及數位化業務版圖持續擴張。今年早些時候，我們進行了一些重組，並宣布傑夫沃茨(Jeff Watts)晉升為首席銷售官。我們之所以對銷售部門進行重組，是因為我們希望加倍投入到2015年提出的挑戰中，那就是抓住我們認為尚未開發的機遇，以更快地發展業務，那就是擴大我們的現場安裝業務。

It was earlier this year that, for the first time, the number of Onsites in the organization outnumbered the number of branches in the organization, and that delta continues to expand. And we believe that each of our district managers has the potential in their market to land 2 Onsites per year. And it's our job, and part of the purpose of the restructuring of the sales team, was to really decide, hey, we believe it, but we haven't done it. Let's do this thing.

今年年初，公司內部的現場服務人員數量首次超過了分公司的數量，而且這一差距還在不斷擴大。我們相信，每位區域經理都有潛力在其市場每年爭取到兩個現場服務人員。我們的工作，也是這次銷售團隊重組的部分目的，就是要真正下定決心：我們相信這一點，但我們還沒做到。讓我們行動起來！

We expanded. Not too many years ago, we were signing 80 Onsites a year and we laid out the plan to get to 400 a year. We expect -- as you see on the next page, we'll do about 350 this year. But we haven't hit that number and we've been kind of stuck. Now COVID threw some challenges our way. It's never an easy time to move in with somebody when they're trying to isolate from the rest of the world. And that challenged our ability to grow coming out of COVID. But looking at the opportunity that's out there, I believe we can do that. We need to turn that belief into reality.

我們擴張了。幾年前，我們每年簽約80個現場服務項目，並設定了每年400個的目標。正如您在下一頁看到的，我們預計今年將完成約350個專案。但我們尚未達到這個目標，發展也因此停滯不前。新冠疫情為我們帶來了一些挑戰。在人們試圖與世隔絕的時候，與人同住絕非易事。這確實影響了我們疫情後的發展能力。但著眼於未來的機遇，我相信我們能夠克服困難。我們需要將這種信念轉化為現實。

Flipping to Page 4. Speaking of Onsites, we did sign 93 in the quarter. So our active sites are 1,778, 13.5% greater than they were at the end of third quarter of 2022. In our daily sales in those Onsites, excluding transferred business when you open an Onsite, is in the low double-digit rates. So we're seeing good growth there, we're just not signing enough. And as I said, we still anticipate signing roughly 350 this year.

翻到第4頁。說到線上商城，我們本季簽約了93家。因此，我們目前的活躍商城數量為1,778家，比2022年第三季末成長了13.5%。這些線上商城的每日銷售額（不包括新店開張時轉移過來的業務）維持在兩位數的低成長率。所以我們看到這方面成長良好，只是簽約數量不夠。正如我所說，我們仍然預計今年將簽約約350家。

FMI technology. There, we set lofty goals as well. We said, can we do 100 a day? Not 100 quarter, but 100 a day of our weighted device count. We did 5,969 during the quarter, 95 per day versus 81 a year ago. The team's performing really well here. We're not at the 100. The 100 is a goal, and we will push and push and push until we get there. But I'm really proud of what the team is doing, and you see that shine through.

FMI 技術。我們在這方面也設定了遠大的目標。我們當時想，我們能做到每天 100 台嗎？不是季度 100 台，而是以加權設備數量計算的每天 100 台。我們本季完成了 5969 台，平均每天 95 台，而去年同期則是 81 台。團隊在這方面表現非常出色。我們還沒有達到 100 台的目標。 100 台只是一個目標，我們會不斷努力，直到實現它。但我為團隊的成就感到非常自豪，這一點顯而易見。

When you look at our sales by product line in our monthly and quarterly releases, one thing you do see is our safety business grew almost 10% in the month of September. And a lot of that could be attributed to the success we're seeing in FMI. And it's our anticipation we'll sign between 23,000 and 25,000 MAUs this year. And that's a combination of FASTBin and FASTVend.

從我們每月和每季發布的銷售報告中，您可以看到，我們的安全業務在9月份成長了近10%。這很大程度上歸功於FMI業務的成功。我們預計今年新增月活躍用戶數將達到23,000至25,000。這包括FASTBin和FASTVend兩大業務。

E-commerce. We can -- it's still, in the scheme of things, a relatively small piece of our business. It's just under 25%, but it's up from single digits not too many years ago. And it currently grows -- it grew about 41% during the quarter. And that's really a case of the marketplace saying to us, we'd prefer to purchase from you this way, and our team in the field and our team and technology building an ever-better mousetrap to serve into that market. As I've shared on prior calls, we still have a ways to go on this piece of our business because a chunk of e-commerce is that unplanned spend, and our goal is to keep making that easier for our team to do in the field.

電子商務。就我們整體業務而言，它仍然只佔很小一部分，不到25%，但比幾年前的個位數成長了很多。而且目前還在成長——本季成長了約41%。這實際上是市場告訴我們，他們更傾向於透過這種方式購買商品，而我們的第一線團隊、技術團隊和銷售團隊正在不斷改進產品和服務，以滿足市場需求。正如我在之前的電話會議上提到的，我們在這個業務領域還有很長的路要走，因為電子商務中有相當一部分是計劃外支出，而我們的目標是讓一線團隊能夠更輕鬆地完成這些支出。

Finally, if you roll up FMI and e-commerce, we talk about our digital footprint. How much of our revenue is touching some digital aspect of engagement? We were at 57% in the quarter versus 49.5% a year ago. Our challenge to the team is targeting 60% some time before we exit this year. And our long-term expectation is still at that 85% we've talked about in the past that we believe will be part of our digital footprint as we move into the future.

最後，如果我們把FMI和電子商務結合起來，就不得不談到我們的數位化足跡。我們有多少收入來自數位互動？本季這一比例為57%，而去年同期為49.5%。我們給團隊的目標是在今年底前將此比例提升至60%。而我們的長期預期仍然是先前提到的85%，我們相信隨著我們邁向未來，這一比例將成為我們數位化足跡的重要組成部分。

In addition to our earnings release, there's several 8-Ks that have gone out around the earnings time, and I thought I'd share just some insight on the 3.

除了我們的收益報告之外，在收益報告發布前後還有幾份 8-K 表格發布，我想分享我對其中 3 份表格的一些看法。

The first one, and I believe it went out yesterday evening after market close, we announced as we do typically on a quarterly basis, a dividend. We bounced to $0.35 dividend, which is consistent with the dividend we paid in each of the first 3 quarters of the year.

第一份公告，我記得是昨晚收盤後發布的，我們像往常一樣按季度宣布了分紅。分紅金額為每股0.35美元，與我們今年前三個季度的分紅水準一致。

We also announced a few leadership changes. One is a press release we put out. One of the individuals that's been very influential in our ability to beef up our inventory during COVID and ramp it back down and overseeing the distribution and transportation teams as well, is Tony Broersma. Tony has been with the organization roughly 20 years, and he's demonstrated through a career, and we identified that. We lay out his career in the press release the different roles he's had. But he's demonstrated excellence.

我們也宣布了一些領導層變動。其中一項是我們發布的新聞稿。東尼布魯爾斯馬（Tony Broersma）在疫情期間幫助我們大幅提升庫存，並在疫情結束後逐步減少庫存，以及負責監督配送和運輸團隊方面發揮了至關重要的作用。托尼在公司工作近20年，他的職業生涯證明了這一點，我們也對此表示認可。我們在新聞稿中詳細介紹了他的職業生涯以及他擔任過的不同職位。他始終展現出卓越的才能。

And yesterday, I asked the Board of Directors to elevate him to Executive Vice President over operations. So essentially elevating his role in that his responsibility will be largely unchanged from what we had previously, but it's recognizing his performance and what we see in the future of Tony within the organization.

昨天，我向董事會提議將他提升為負責營運的執行副總裁。這實際上只是提升了他的職位，他的職責範圍與之前基本相同，但這反映了我們對他工作表現的認可，以及我們對托尼未來在公司發展前景的展望。

A second filing went out. It's a required filing related to one of our officers who has decided to move on to a new chapter in his career. And it's Terry Owen, our Chief Operations Officer. I've known Terry for many years. He's been with the organization -- I believe, all told, he's been with the organization about 28 years. The official documents say it's 24.5 because he was, in the earlier years, part time with the organization, but then came full time and had a break in service there.

第二份文件已發出。這是一份與我們的一位高階主管相關的必要文件，他決定開啟職涯的新篇章。這位高階主管是我們的營運長特里·歐文。我認識特里很多年了。他一直在我們公司工作——我相信，總共算起來，他已經為我們公司工作了大約28年。官方文件上寫的是24.5年，因為他早年是兼職，後來轉為全職，期間有一段時間沒有工作。

But Terry has demonstrated a career of exemplary service to the organization. We've had some conversations in recent months about some aspirations he had in the -- he's looking at the number of years he has left in his career and what he wants to do as he moves into his next chapter of life. He had discovered an opportunity that he thought was quite compelling that would serve his desire for the future as well as his family. Terry had relocated to the East Coast of the U.S. several years ago for family reasons.

但特里一直以來都為機構做出了卓越的貢獻。近幾個月來，我們曾就他的一些職業抱負進行過幾次交流——他正在考慮自己職業生涯的剩餘年限，以及在人生下一個階段想要做些什麼。他發現了一個他認為非常有吸引力的機會，既能滿足他對未來的期望，也能兼顧家庭。幾年前，特里因家庭因素搬到了美國東海岸。

And all I can say to Terry is, you're a good friend. I wish you best of luck in your next endeavor. And thank you for the team that you developed, Tony being one of them, but thank you for the team you developed.

我只想對特里說，你是一位好朋友。祝你在未來的工作中一切順利。感謝你組建的團隊，托尼是其中之一，但我真的要感謝你組建的整個團隊。

The organization has always prided itself on our ability to build leaders and promote from within. And every time we see a person decide to take a new chapter in life, whether that's after retirement or going into a family business or whatever the case might be, we always see another layer of talent right behind that person ready to step in and discover their future and their opportunity.

本組織一直以培養領導者和內部晉升能力而自豪。每當我們看到有人決定開啟人生新篇章，無論是退休、加入家族企業或其他任何情況，我們總能看到他們身後有一批優秀的人才蓄勢待發，準備接過接力棒，發掘自己的未來和機遇。

With that, I'll turn it over to Holden.

這樣，我就把麥克風交給霍爾頓了。

Thank you, Dan. Good morning, everyone. I'm going to start on the slide deck on Slide 5.

謝謝你，丹。大家早安。我將從幻燈片的第五張開始講解。

Total sales in the third quarter of 2023 were up 2.4%. Adjusting for the fact that we had one fewer selling day in the quarter, our daily sales were up 4%. Frankly, the dynamics of the quarter varied very little from the second quarter of 2023. Macro data points and feedback from the regional leadership continue to point to sluggish demand and a cautious outlook for spending and production. We are certainly encouraged by the improvement in our September daily sales rate to up 5%. However, it seems to have more to do with easing comparisons in certain parts of our business than a clear signal of firming customer demand or brightening outlooks.

2023年第三季總銷售額成長2.4%。考慮到該季度銷售日比第二季少一天，日均銷售額成長4%。坦白說，本季的市場動態與2023年第二季相比變化不大。宏觀經濟數據和區域領導層的回饋仍然表明需求疲軟，支出和生產前景謹慎。我們當然對9月日均銷售額成長5%感到鼓舞。然而，這似乎更多是由於部分業務的同比基數較低所致，而非客戶需求走強或前景好轉的明確信號。

Dynamics around our products, customers and end markets have also trended similarly over the past 3 and 6 months. Manufacturing grew 6.4% despite soft demand, benefiting from further growth in the Onsite installed base and initiatives in national accounts in the field to target key account planned spend, which is disproportionately manufacturing-oriented. Non-manufacturing was down 1.3%, though the rate of decline moderated as we began to hit easier comparisons in nonresidential construction, reseller and warehousing customers.

過去3個月和6個月，我們產品、客戶和終端市場的動態變化趨勢也大致相同。儘管需求疲軟，製造業仍成長了6.4%，這得益於現場安裝基礎的進一步擴大，以及全國性客戶在現場開展的針對重點客戶計劃支出（這些支出主要集中在製造業領域）的舉措。非製造業下降了1.3%，但隨著非住宅建築、經銷商和倉儲客戶的基數降低，降幅放緩。

From a product standpoint, fasteners are relatively weak at down 2% due to their more cyclical profile and rapid pricing moderation. In contrast, nonfastener products remained healthy due to further growth in our vending installed base and improved comparisons. As it relates to pricing, it remains positive but has come back to a range of 0% to 2% that we consider to be typical under normal economic conditions. We did experience very modest deflation within our fastener product line.

從產品角度來看，緊固件產品表現相對較弱，下降了2%，這主要是由於其週期性波動較大且價格回落速度較快。相較之下，非緊固件產品表現良好，這得益於自動販賣機裝機量的進一步增長和同比基數的改善。價格方面，整體仍維持正面態勢，但已回落至0%至2%的區間，我們認為這在正常的經濟環境下屬於典型水準。我們的緊固件產品線確實出現了非常輕微的通貨緊縮。

Now to Slide 6. Operating margin in the third quarter of 2023 was 21%, equaling our margin from the third quarter of 2022. We typically believe that given mid-single-digit daily sales growth, we should be able to defend our margin. However, that we were able to do so despite the headwinds related to the one fewer sales day that Dan described in his prepared remarks, points to what we believe was more effective cost management by the Blue Team relative to the second quarter of 2023.

現在來看第六張幻燈片。 2023年第三季的營業利潤率為21%，與2022年第三季持平。我們通常認為，在每日銷售額維持個位數成長的情況下，我們應該能夠維持利潤率。然而，儘管丹在事先準備好的發言稿中提到銷售日減少一天帶來的不利影響，我們仍然能夠做到這一點，這表明我們認為藍隊在成本管理方面比2023年第二季度更加有效。

Gross margin was 45.9%, flat in the period from the prior year. Freight remained favorable, reflecting modest leverage of our captive fleet expenses, reduced use of external freight providers, lower fuel and reduced shipping costs. We also benefited from the absence of last year's $3.4 million glove write-down and slightly positive price/cost. These favorable variables matched the margin drag related to product and customer mix.

毛利率為45.9%，與去年同期持平。貨運成本保持良好，這得益於我們對自有車隊費用的適度槓桿化、外部貨運供應商使用量的減少、燃油成本和運輸成本的降低。此外，我們也受惠於去年340萬美元手套減損損失的取消以及略微上漲的價格成本比。這些有利因素抵銷了產品和客戶組合帶來的毛利率下滑。

The impact of mix was slightly less negative and the impact of price/cost was slightly more positive than anticipated at the second quarter call. We did not take any incremental pricing actions in the period, and the favorable price/cost in the current period largely regains the negative price/cost we discussed in the third quarter of 2022. We expect price/cost to trend neutral in coming quarters.

組合調整的影響略低於預期，而價格/成本調整的影響則略高於預期，這與第二季財報電話會議時的預期相符。本季我們未採取任何新的定價措施，目前有利的價格/成本基本上彌補了我們在2022年第三季討論的不利價格/成本。我們預計未來幾季價格/成本將保持中性趨勢。

SG&A was 25% of sales, up from 24.8% of sales, mostly due to the one fewer sales day. We experienced modest payroll leverage with lower incentive pay, reflecting slower growth in the third quarter of 2023 versus the third quarter of 2022. This was more than offset by rising information technology spend, an increase in general insurance costs, increased expenses to maintain our selling-related truck fleet and higher bad debt. Relative to the second quarter of 2023, the organization tightened its management of discretionary expenses with spending on travel, meals and supplies being down 0.6% year-to-year and continued moderation of growth in our FTE count.

銷售、一般及行政費用佔銷售額的25%，高於上一季的24.8%，主要原因是銷售日減少了一天。由於激勵性薪酬降低，我們的薪資槓桿作用略有下降，反映出2023年第三季的成長速度較2022年第三季放緩。但資訊技術支出增加、一般保險成本上升、銷售相關卡車車隊維護費用增加以及壞帳增加，抵消了上述影響。與2023年第二季相比，公司收緊了可自由支配支出的管理，差旅、餐飲和用品支出年減0.6%，全職員工人數的成長也持續放緩。

Putting everything together, we reported third quarter 2023 EPS of $0.52, up 4.1% from $0.50 in the third quarter of 2022.

綜合所有因素，我們公佈 2023 年第三季每股收益為 0.52 美元，比 2022 年第三季的 0.50 美元增長 4.1%。

Turning to Slide 7. We generated $388 million in operating cash in the third quarter of 2023 or 131% of net income in the period. Cash generation is traditionally strong in third quarters, though conversion in the current quarter was stronger than is historically typical. This reflects reduced need for working capital as demand slows down and improvements in inventory. The resulting strong cash flow means our balance sheet remains conservatively capitalized at the end of the third quarter of 2023, with debt ending at 7% of total capital versus 9.4% in the second quarter of 2023 and 14.9% in the third quarter of 2022.

請看投影片7.2023年第三季度，我們產生了3.88億美元的營運現金流，佔當期淨利的131%。現金流在第三季通常較為強勁，但本季的現金轉換率高於歷史平均。這反映出隨著需求放緩，營運資金需求減少，以及庫存狀況改善。由此產生的強勁現金流意味著，截至2023年第三季末，我們的資產負債表資本充足率依然穩健，債務佔總資本的比例為7%，而2023年第二季為9.4%，2022年第三季為14.9%。

Year-over-year, accounts receivable were up 5.4%, which is a combination of sales growth and the impact of mix due to faster growth of larger customers, which tend to have longer terms. Inventories fell 9.8%. Slower customer demand reduced working capital needs. We are unwinding inventory layers built in late 2021 and early 2022 to manage supply chain constraints. And our field and hub operations have sustainably streamlined inventory processes.

應收帳款年增 5.4%，這主要得益於銷售成長以及大客戶（其付款週期通常較長）成長速度加快帶來的產品組合變化。庫存下降 9.8%。客戶需求放緩降低了營運資金需求。我們正在逐步減少 2021 年末和 2022 年初為應對供應鏈瓶頸而建立的庫存層級。此外，我們的現場和樞紐營運部門已持續優化庫存流程。

Our days on hand fell again to 134.6 days, the lowest since 2002, which reflects improved velocity of inventories through our internal network, a reduction of retail stock in branches and improvements in stocking processes. We reduced our net capital spending range to $180 million to $190 million, down from $210 million to $230 million. This largely reflects timing and deferrals related to hub automation and expansion projects that we do expect to be included in next year's capital spending plans.

我們的庫存週轉天數再次降至134.6天，為2002年以來的最低水平，這反映出我們內部網路的庫存週轉速度加快、分支機構零售庫存減少以及庫存管理流程的改進。我們將淨資本支出範圍從2.1億美元至2.3億美元下調至1.8億美元至1.9億美元。這主要反映了與樞紐自動化和擴建項目相關的進度安排和延期，我們預計將把這些項目納入明年的資本支出計畫。

The third quarter of 2023 profiled very similarly to the second quarter of 2023. We continue to experience stagnant demand, a cyclical shift favoring non-fasteners and a secular shift favoring larger manufacturing-oriented customers. Growth driver performance is not quite where we would like it to be, but it's at levels that continue to support good growth in our installed base, success in providing differentiated value to our customers and further cost and asset efficiency.

2023年第三季的業績與第二季非常相似。我們持續面臨需求停滯、週期性轉向非緊固件產品以及長期轉向大型製造型客戶的需求成長。成長驅動因素的表現尚未達到預期，但目前的水平足以支撐我們現有客戶群的良好成長，幫助我們成功地為客戶提供差異化價值，並進一步提高成本和資產效率。

Operating margin performance remained stable despite the slow growth, and our capacity to generate cash to reinvest in the business remained strong. We did begin to experience easier comparisons in certain markets, and our management of discretionary expenses improved over the preceding quarter. We continue to believe we are positioned to meaningfully accelerate sales growth when underlying demand improves while sustaining strong profitability and returns.

儘管成長緩慢，但營業利潤率表現保持穩定，我們創造現金流用於業務再投資的能力仍然強勁。部分市場的年比數據下降，且我們對可自由支配支出的管理較上一季有所改善。我們仍然相信，一旦潛在需求改善，我們有能力在維持強勁獲利能力和回報的同時，大幅加快銷售成長。

With that, operator, we'll turn it over to begin the Q&A.

好了，操作員，我們現在開始問答環節。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question is coming from Nigel Coe from Wolfe Research.

（操作說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Wolfe Research 的 Nigel Coe。

So the price/cost definitely coming a bit better than what we expected. Is this as simple as thinking about the ocean freight rate normalization, and we're starting to see that now coming through from inventory? So I'm just wondering if -- when we obviously talk about the freight benefits, just wondering if that's more ocean-bound freight as opposed to domestic.

所以價格/成本確實比我們預期的要好一些。這是否只是因為海運費率趨於正常化，而我們現在開始從庫存中看到這種趨勢？所以我只是想知道——當我們談到運費方面的優勢時，這更多是指海運費，而不是國內運費。

I think, Nigel, there's a little bit of that, that's flowing through. But we've definitely seen lower costs related specifically to our fastener line. And I think that's largely what you're seeing. So yes, when we think about what caused a lot of the inflation in our business, there was an element of it that was raw material, but there was a fairly significant element that was related to transportation. And so yes, I think you're just seeing some of that gradual impact play through.

奈傑爾，我覺得確實有一些這方面的影響。但我們確實看到緊固件生產線的成本下降。我想這基本上就是你現在看到的情況。所以，是的，當我們思考導致我們業務通膨的原因時，原材料成本上漲是其中一部分，但運輸成本也佔了相當大的比例。因此，我認為你現在看到的只是這種漸進式影響的體現。

But I want to also give a lot of credit to the organization, particularly sort of the field and the national accounts teams and the folks that manage pricing. I mean, I believe 5 years ago that we wouldn't as effectively have been able to align our pricing and cost in the way we have. The variance that we've had against what's going on in the market has been fairly tame.

但我也想對公司整體給予高度評價，特別是各個銷售團隊、全國客戶團隊以及定價管理人員。我的意思是，我相信五年前我們不可能像現在這樣有效地將價格和成本控制在合理範圍內。我們與市場整體趨勢的偏差也相對較小。

If you remember, this quarter last year, we were talking about a 20 basis point deficit, and we felt that, that was going to -- we felt at the time that we hadn't quite caught up with where costing went with fasteners. I think our guidance at the time was we kind of expect that costing to catch up. It has caught up and probably came in a little bit. But I think over coming quarters, you're going to see the benefit that we saw this quarter, which largely recaptures the deficit we saw a year ago, I think you're going to see that begin to moderate.

如果你還記得，去年這個季度，我們當時談到了20個基點的虧損，我們當時覺得，緊固件的成本控制還沒有完全跟上。我記得我們當時的預期是，我們預期成本控制會追上來。現在成本控制已經趕上來了，而且可能已經有所改善。但我認為，在接下來的幾個季度裡，你會看到我們本季的成果（這在很大程度上彌補了我們去年同期的虧損），而且虧損情況會開始趨於緩和。

So it wasn't what we expected either. As you know, we target neutral. We continue to target neutral. But I don't think that it's a sustained trend either. I think as we go through the next couple of quarters, it's going to trend back to neutral.

所以這和我們預期的也不一樣。如您所知，我們的目標是中性，我們也會繼續保持中性目標。但我認為這也不是一個可以持續的趨勢。我認為在接下來的幾個季度裡，它會回歸中性。

Okay. And then on the CapEx, the pushouts of the projects, was that an elected push out? Just want to see if that was maybe just, I don't know, supply chain challenges or delays from a supply side. Or was that elective?

好的。關於資本支出，也就是專案延期，那是主動延期嗎？我只是想確認一下，是不是因為供應鏈方面的挑戰或延誤之類的原因造成的。還是說那是主動延期？

The majority of it was not elective. We had a -- there's a piece of property in there, the signing of which just got pushed out from fourth quarter to first quarter. That's just a calendar timing issue. We did have some automation projects where it's just a matter of when the product is going to come in. We always knew it would be later in the year, and it's just going to sort of cross the calendar line.

大部分項目並非自願參與。我們有一處房產，簽約日期從第四季推遲到了第一季。這只是時間安排上的問題。我們還有一些自動化項目，問題在於產品何時上線。我們一直都知道會在年底，只是時間上會稍微晚一點而已。

So the majority of it relates to projects that we remain committed and excited about and will fall into the 2024 and it was more a function of timing. Now I will say that, earlier in the year, we did say, "Look, take a look at your budgets. It's not a great year in terms of demand and tighten some stuff up." So I think there's some elements in there of what you're talking about, and that's just about enforcing discipline across the organization. But I think the larger portion of it relates to projects that will be coming back into the business in 2024.

所以，大部分都與我們仍然致力於並充滿熱情、將在2024年啟動的專案有關，這更多是時間安排的問題。不過，我要說的是，今年早些時候，我們確實說過：「看看你們的預算。今年需求不高，需要收緊一些開支。」所以，我認為這其中確實包含了一些你所說的因素，那就是在整個組織內加強紀律。但我認為，更大部分都與2024年將重新啟動的計畫有關。

Your next question is coming from Chris Snyder from UBS.

下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的克里斯·史奈德。

I wanted to follow up on some of the price/cost commentary. I understand that price/cost was positive from a year-on-year perspective. But I think you said the deficit was largely caught up, which would kind of maybe imply that you're still a bit price/cost negative at the moment. So when we think about that trajectory back to neutral, is that like incremental price/cost positive to get there? Or is that incremental price/cost giveback to get there?

我想就價格/成本方面的一些評論做個後續討論。我理解從年比來看，價格/成本是正成長的。但您提到先前的虧損已基本彌補，這似乎意味著目前價格/成本仍然略微偏負。那麼，當我們考慮價格/成本回歸中性時，這是否意味著價格/成本會逐步回落？還是會逐漸下降？

I mean, I guess I'm viewing the next couple of quarters as being the inverse of the last few. Again, if you remember, in Q3, we talked about fasteners, we had a little bit of a deficit in price/cost. And the guidance at the time was that, over the next few quarters, you would see that deficit begin to decline.

我的意思是，我預計接下來的幾季會和過去幾季截然相反。大家可能還記得，第三季我們討論過緊固件，當時我們的價格/成本比略有不足。當時的預期是，在接下來的幾個季度裡，這個差距會開始縮小。

Was there a faster deficit in Q4? Yes, there was. Is it possible that we get that fastener deficit from Q4 back in Q4 of this upcoming quarter? Yes, I think that that's possible. But the deficit Q4 last year was not as wide as the deficit in Q3, and I'm not expecting the benefit in Q4 this year to be at the same level as the benefit we saw in Q3.

第四季的缺口是否擴大了？是的。我們能否在本季第四季彌補第四季的緊固件缺口？我認為有可能。但去年第四季的缺口沒有第三季那麼大，我預計今年第四季的收益不會達到第三季的水平。

Really, again, this feels very much like the inverse of what occurred last year. And at the end of the day, yes, we'll probably wind up, over the course of multi years, kind of being neutral from a price/cost standpoint. But within that overall trend, there's been a little bit of swingy-ness.

確實，這感覺和去年的情況正好相反。最終，從價格/成本的角度來看，幾年下來我們可能最終會趨於中性。但在這種整體趨勢下，也出現了一些波動。

I appreciate that. And then maybe could you just talk a little bit about pricing on the non-fastener side? I think -- I understand that the fastener is seeing some price pressure, whether it's the metal or the freight. But can you talk about the non-fastener side of the business?

非常感謝。那麼，您能否再談談非緊固件產品的定價情況？我知道緊固件的價格目前面臨一些壓力，無論是金屬成本還是運費。但您能否談談非緊固件產品方面的業務狀況？

Yes. We don't talk about it a lot because it's behaving largely like we would expect it to. Pricing in the non-fastener areas has moderated just like our overall pricing has. But much like our overall pricing levels at this point, it's kind of back in the range that we would normally expect it to be in. It's still positive. It's lower than it was a year ago. But frankly, that area is performing largely as we expected.

是的。我們很少談及此事，因為它的表現基本上符合預期。非緊固件領域的定價與我們整體定價一樣，都已趨於平穩。但與我們目前的整體定價水準類似，它已經回到了我們通常預期的範圍內。它仍然保持正成長，雖然低於一年前的水平，但坦白說，該領域的表現基本上符合我們的預期。

Historically, we have not traditionally seen negative pricing in non-fastener products. And I don't expect that, that's going to happen in this cycle either. So we view that conditions for pricing in those products to be pretty stable here.

從歷史上看，非緊固件產品很少出現負價格。我預計本輪週期也不會出現這種情況。因此，我們認為這些產品的價格狀況目前相當穩定。

Your next question is coming from David Manthey from Baird.

下一個問題來自 Baird 公司的 David Manthey。

Dan, Holden, first question, could you talk about the feedback and early returns after you reopened the front doors of your stores last month?

丹、霍爾頓，第一個問題，你們能否談談上個月重新開放門市後收到的回饋和初步成果？

I don't -- there hasn't been a lot of feedback. One thing I do every day, and I've done this -- quite frankly, I've done this for the last 8 years, is I end each day in every web feedback that comes in from customers, I try to read. I'm not going to say I read 100%, but I've tried to. And that tells you it's a small-enough number that I'm able to even try to when you consider the hundreds of thousands of customers we have.

我沒有——目前回饋並不多。我每天都會做一件事，坦白說，過去八年我一直堅持這樣做，那就是每天結束時，我會盡量閱讀所有來自客戶的網路回饋。我不敢說我能讀完所有回饋，但我一直在努力。考慮到我們有幾十萬客戶，這表示回饋數量不多，所以我完全可以抽出時間來閱讀。

And over time, you pick up different themes. And obviously, you could -- if I go back to the COVID era, boy, were there themes jumping out. The themes were a society really frustrated, not with us, just with some -- just frustrated, scared about what's going on. Most of our business is in the U.S., and so scared about what was going on and things that were going on and chaos around them.

隨著時間的推移，你會發現不同的主題。很顯然，如果我回顧新冠疫情時期，你會發現很多主題都躍然紙上。這些主題是整個社會都感到非常沮喪，不是對我們，而是對某些人——就是沮喪，對正在發生的事情感到恐懼。我們的業務大多在美國，他們對當時的情況、周圍的混亂局面感到非常恐懼。

And oftentimes, I would call -- I would -- once a week, maybe twice a week, call somebody up. Kind of throws them a little off-kilter when they get a call from me right after they've put something, but you learn a lot that way.

而且我常常會打電話——我一周會打一兩次——打電話給別人。他們剛提交完東西就接到我的電話，可能會有點不適應，但這樣能學到很多。

It's largely almost too quick to see, but my predecessor had a phrase he used sometimes, and he used to keep it on his computer screen. So if you want to grow your business, make it easy to buy. And sometimes, if you confuse the market -- it's kind of like in today's world -- you've got to eat. It's a rare time that I go out to eat that I don't check on my phone to see if the place is even open. Mondays and Tuesdays especially, you can't necessarily count on it, especially in a town of 25,000 people. Economics don't work for that business to be open certain nights.

這往往來得太快，幾乎難以察覺，但我的前任經常會說一句話，而且他總是把這句話放在電腦螢幕上。這句話的意思是：如果你想發展業務，就讓顧客更容易購買。有時候，如果你把市場搞糊塗了──就像現在這樣──你就得吃飯。我很少出去吃飯而不查看手機，看看餐廳是否有營業。尤其是在周一和周二，你不能完全指望它開門，尤其是在一個只有兩萬五千人口的小鎮上。在某些晚上營業，對商家來說並不划算。

And so the biggest thing we needed to do is be really, really consistent with what we're doing. And the market reacts to that by saying, "Okay, this makes sense." And -- but if you get there and the door is closed, and you were expecting it to be opened. So I don't have a lot of insight for you, Dave, other than to say, there's probably fewer comments about, I stopped there at 8 in the morning or 10 in the morning and your door was closed. What's going on?

所以，我們最需要做的就是始終如一地堅持我們所做的事情。市場會對此做出反應，說：「好吧，這說得通。」 但如果你到了那裡，發現門關著，而你原本期望它開門，那就另當別論了。所以，戴夫，除了說「我早上八點或十點去你那兒，結果門關著，這是怎麼回事？」這種評論可能比較少見之外，我沒什麼其他建議了。

And on the flip side, it's also empathy is a 2-way street. And it's really looking at it and saying -- it's finding that spot where the business can meet the roads -- the wheel can meet the roads, or the rubber meets the road, whatever that expression is. But it's good for both parties. And good is that we can provide a high level of service and it's economically good business for, again, both parties. I believe we can find it.

另一方面，同理心也是雙向的。關鍵在於找到企業與道路的契合點——讓車輪與道路相通，或者說讓橡膠與道路相通，無論用什麼方式表達。這對雙方都有好處。好處在於我們可以提供高水準的服務，而且從經濟角度來看，這對雙方都有好處。我相信我們能找到這個契合點。

A lot of that business is -- has migrated, and we've seen it in our own internal statistics, really since COVID started, the amount of that business that's migrated to the Internet. And it's really -- in some ways, the market making that transition of, boy, it's a lot easier if I pop an order online and then go pick it up. It's easier for the customer. And so I think that's part of it.

很多業務已經——或者說已經——遷移了，我們從內部統計數據中也看到了這一點，尤其是在新冠疫情爆發以來，大量業務已經轉移到了互聯網上。在某種程度上，市場正在經歷這種轉變，消費者意識到，如果我在網上下訂單然後去取貨，那確實方便多了。這對顧客來說也更方便。所以我認為這是部分原因。

And it's also reminding our teams locally that our goal in everything we do is always trying to figure out how to make the market opportunity bigger and find good, productive use of our time to serve the marketplace and serve our customer. I like it from the standpoint, I think it's a better message for our team, go out and grow the (expletive) business and don't -- and stop spending time about what you're not going to do.

這也提醒我們本地團隊，我們一切工作的目標始終是努力尋找擴大市場機會的方法，並有效率地利用時間服務市場和客戶。從這個角度來看，我喜歡這種做法，我認為這對我們的團隊來說是一個更好的訊息：努力發展業務，別再浪費時間在那些你做不到的事情上了。

And just probably the one piece of perspective I might add, David, is for a long time or for several years, we had a lot of different models occurring within the branch, right? There were some branches that did in fact close their doors. There were some branches that had very specific local hours. There were some branches that stayed open. There are branches that flipped their counters, branches that didn't.

大衛，我可能還要補充一點，在很長一段時間裡，或者說好幾年裡，我們分行內部存在著許多不同的營運模式，對吧？有些分行確實關門了。有些分行實行了非常特定的本地營業時間。有些分行則一直營業。有些分行調整了櫃檯佈局，有些則沒有。

And I think what you're really seeing and picking up on is, after several years of experimentation, which is really what Fastenal does. It came time to say, let's settle on and align around kind of an agreed approach to it. And so what you picked up is essentially us having looked at the various experimentations that were run throughout the organization for a number of years and saying, "Hey, here's the path forward that we're going to take."

我認為你真正看到和領悟到的是，經過幾年的試驗（這正是 Fastenal 的慣用伎倆），我們最終決定確定並圍繞一個雙方都認可的方法展開工作。所以你看到的，本質上是我們回顧了公司多年來開展的各種試驗，然後說：“嘿，這就是我們未來要走的路。”

Our next question is coming from Jacob Levinson from Melius Research.

我們的下一個問題來自 Melius Research 公司的 Jacob Levinson。

I know you guys sell into lots of different end markets. And maybe it's not always easy to tell exactly where the product is going at the end of the day. But maybe you can just walk us through what you're hearing from the field in terms of some of the positive and negative outliers on a vertical basis.

我知道你們的產品銷往很多不同的終端市場。也許最終很難準確預測產品的去向。但能否請你們介紹一下，從各個垂直領域來看，你們從市場回饋中了解到的一些正面和負面的異常情況？

Yes. Unfortunately, we don't have great granular insight market by market. The example I often give is there's a lot of manufacturers out there that are considered manufacturers in our business, but they might have enormous oil and gas exposure, but we don't see that oil and gas exposure. So I wish I could give you more detail end market by end market, we just don't have it. The data doesn't break out that way.

是的。很遺憾，我們目前沒有針對各市場的細緻洞察。我常舉的例子是，許多製造商在我們看來都屬於製造商，但他們可能在石油和天然氣領域擁有巨大的業務敞口，而我們卻看不到這些業務敞口。所以我很希望能夠提供更詳細的終端市場分析，但我們目前還沒有這樣的數據。數據沒有依終端市場細分。

The feedback from the field continues to be fairly uniform. I think aerospace is doing fairly well. I'm not getting a lot of feedback that anything else is really inflecting more favorably. I'm getting the feedback that everything else remains fairly tepid. And that generally speaking, managers across our business are fairly cautious on where the market is today.

來自一線的回饋基本上一致。我認為航空航太領域表現相當不錯。其他領域並沒有出現明顯的改善跡象，回饋普遍認為其他領域依然疲軟。總的來說，我們公司各部門的管理階層對目前的市場狀況都持謹慎態度。

But I wish we could give you more granularity end market by end market, we just don't have the means to measure it that way.

但我希望我們能夠按最終市場提供更細緻的信息，可惜我們目前還沒有辦法以這種方式進行衡量。

The only thing I'll add to it, and my ask of everybody hearing this, don't read too much into it because it's a relatively small piece of our business. But when I'm going through the numbers, the individual that pulls the stuff together, I often wear him out a little bit with questions and just to understand it myself.

我唯一想補充的是，也希望所有聽到這番話的人不要過度解讀，因為這只是我們業務中相對較小的一部分。但當我查看數據時，負責匯總數據的人經常會問我很多問題，讓我自己也弄清楚，所以我常常問得有點煩。

And the other end markets, which is about 11% of our business, it's a bunch of stuff in there, hence the term other. And it peaked up. And in one of the components of that is our business. And our government business has been gaining strength as we've gone through the year, but it didn't gain strength sequentially in September, and sometimes that's just a function of comp.

而其他終端市場，約占我們業務的11%，涵蓋範圍很廣，所以才用了「其他」這個字。這部分業務達到了高峰。我們自己的業務就是其中的一部分。我們的政府業務在今年以來一直在成長，但9月環比成長並不明顯，有時這只是比較基準效應造成的。

But generally speaking, it's been gaining because we've been really successful in Onsite and in government locations that we have in the business. And so I was asking him, I said, "I know government didn't tick up. Why did that tick up?" And a big chunk of that other is transportation. And it's not -- automotive transportation is not in there. It's transportation that we sell into, and that saw a real uptick.

但總的來說，之所以成長，是因為我們在現場服務和政府機構業務方面取得了巨大成功。所以我問他：「我知道政府業務沒有成長，為什麼成長了？」 另一個成長的主要來源是交通運輸。這裡所說的交通運輸不包括汽車運輸，而是我們銷售產品的交通運輸業，而這個產業的成長確實非常顯著。

I'm not sure what that means. So maybe I created more questions with that answer than an answer with that answer. But that was the one thing that jumped out at me. I was -- I'm still scratching my head on it, but at least I know that's what drove the other end markets to grow 12.5%.

我不太確定這意味著什麼。所以，也許我的回答反而引發了更多問題，而不是給了答案。但這確實是我當時最先註意到的一點。我——我至今仍在為此苦思冥想，但至少我知道正是這一點推動了其他終端市場成長了12.5%。

Okay. That's helpful color. Maybe just switching gears quickly on -- I think, maybe in past cycles, FAST would have maybe had trouble holding the margin line and revenue growth at these lower levels. And I guess the question is, structurally, what's really changed in the business today versus prior cycles, and gives you that confidence in maybe it being able to have higher incremental margins going forward, even if the growth rates aren't necessarily, in this macro backdrop at least, higher?

好的。這個分析很有幫助。或許我們可以快速轉換主題——我認為，在過去的周期中，FAST或許難以在如此低的水平上維持利潤率和營收成長。我想，問題在於，從結構上看，如今的業務與以往週期相比究竟發生了哪些變化，讓你有信心在未來實現更高的增量利潤率，即便至少在當前的宏觀經濟背景下，增長率未必更高？

Yes. I think there's a few things in there. One is, when we came through the tariff period, that was brutal from the standpoint of our pricing tools, being so decentralized, communicating what was changing almost on a week-by-week basis was incredibly difficult.

是的。我認為這裡麵包含幾個因素。其中之一是，當我們經歷關稅時期時，從定價工具的角度來看，那段時間非常艱難，因為定價工具非常分散，幾乎每週都要溝通價格變化，這極其困難。

And there was one quarter I sat down with our IT -- John Soderberg, our leader of IT, and I said, "John, I'm going to ask you something that I never -- that I told you I'd never ask you to do. We're going to shut down all IT development for whatever time it takes. And we're going to focus 100% on of our energy on a better pricing tool for our organization to use because this is a disaster we're going through right now, and we can't handle these fluctuations because our system isn't built for that."

有一次，我和我們的IT主管約翰·索德伯格坐下來談，我說：「約翰，我要問你一件我從未——我曾告訴過你我永遠不會問你的事情。我們將暫停所有IT開發工作，無論需要多久。我們將全力以赴，為我們公司開發一個更好的定價工具，因為我們現在正經歷一場災難，我們無法應對這些災難，我們無法應對這些波動系統。

And we shut down IT and we focused on building what we call our price review tool. And then we had other folks in the organization that took that, our district managers. We have a key person here in Winona, Kevin Fitzgerald, who took that and created a great tool. And our ability to price -- and pricing isn't -- is much about not being too high as it is about not being too low. Because sometimes, if your price isn't precise and you're too high, you might actually hurt your margin because you don't sell enough of that. Or if you were 3 points lower, you would sell more of it, and it'd help your margin.

我們關閉了IT部門，轉而專注於開發我們稱為「價格審核工具」的系統。之後，公司其他部門的同事，像是區域經理，也接手了這個系統。我們在威諾納的負責人凱文·費茲傑拉就是關鍵人物，他開發了這款非常棒的工具。我們的定價能力——其實定價並非易事——很大程度上取決於價格是否過高，而不是過低。因為有時候，如果價格不夠精準，過高反而會損害利潤，導致銷售下降。反之，如果價格降低3個百分點，銷售量就會增加，利潤也會跟著提高。

So on the gross margin side, we've gotten better at our ability to price. And in the recent years, our transportation team has gotten really agile at managing the expense side. So that's on the gross margin piece. And there's a bunch of other things, but I don't want to give you a 15-minute answer.

所以在毛利率方面，我們的定價能力有所提升。近年來，我們的運輸團隊在費用控制方面也變得非常靈活。以上就是毛利率方面的狀況。還有很多其他因素，但我不想花15分鐘來回答這個問題。

On the operating expense side, we focused a lot of energy on people development, on leadership development. Earlier, when I was talking about the transition with Terry, one of the things that always makes me feel good about transition within Fastenal is the incredible bench of talent we have that exists throughout the organization. It's from a promote-within culture.

在營運成本方面，我們投入了大量精力用於人才發展和領導力培養。之前我和Terry談到過渡期時，Fastenal內部人才儲備充足，這點總是讓我對過渡期充滿信心。這得歸功於我們內部晉升的文化。

Because of all that investment, our leadership team, whether it be in a support area, at the district level, at the regional level, our leadership team has never been better. And one thing I'll credit, especially to Casey Miller, who leads our U.S. business; and Jeff Watts, who leads our global business. They both have done an incredible job over the last 5, 6 years of challenging their leaders to be better at managing the expense side. Because in a decentralized organization, there's nothing more difficult than that. You have to be out ahead of stuff. And they've just done a wonderful job on that.

正因為有了這些投入，我們的領導團隊，無論是在支援部門、區域或區域層面，都達到了前所未有的高度。我特別要感謝領導美國業務的凱西·米勒和領導全球業務的傑夫·沃茨。在過去的五、六年裡，他們出色地督促各自的領導者更好地控製成本。因為在一個分散的組織中，沒有什麼比這更難的了。你必須走在前面，未雨綢繆。而他們在這方面做得非常出色。

And then the other piece, not to slight anybody, our distribution team and their ability to manage expenses through the cycle is second to none. Sometimes, I look at the information I see, and I click my heels and I'm like, "I can't believe how good this team is." And I think we're just better at it. And that's not about one person, that's about an organization that's gotten better over time.

還有一點，並非有意貶低任何人，但我們的分銷團隊在整個週期內有效控製成本的能力絕對是首屈一指的。有時候，我看著那些數據，忍不住拍拍腳跟，心想：「這團隊真是太棒了！」我覺得我們在這方面做得更好。這並非某一個人的功勞，而是整個組織隨著時間推移而不斷進步的結果。

Our next question is coming from Patrick Baumann from JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的派崔克·鮑曼。

Maybe one for Holden first. Just wanted to follow up on the near-term gross margin expectations. It sounds like the price/cost will be favorable year-over-year in the fourth quarter. And then you also have an easy comp, I think you had called out like weaker product margins last year. Maybe that's the nonfastener business. I guess just given that and your third quarter performance, are you thinking the gross margin in the fourth quarter is going to be up year-over-year? And then can it also be up maybe from the third quarter as well?

或許先說說霍頓的情況。我只是想跟進一下近期的毛利率預期。聽起來第四季的價格/成本比會比去年同期有利。而且，你們還有一個比較基數較低的業務，我記得你們之前提到過去年的產品利潤率較低。也許指的是非緊固件業務。考慮到這一點以及你們第三季的業績，你們認為第四季的毛利率會比去年同期成長嗎？而且，它是否也會比第三季有所成長？

No, not up from the third quarter. The -- first off, I think you have a number of things from Q3 to Q4. The first is there is seasonality in play. And I think it's typically, give or take, 30 basis points of seasonality between third quarter and fourth quarter. That's just proven true over time. It relates to the mix of our business in the fourth quarter, et cetera.

不，沒有比第三季成長。首先，我認為第三季到第四季之間有很多因素。首先是季節性因素。我認為通常情況下，第三季到第四季之間會有大約30個基點的季節性波動。這一點已經隨著時間的推移得到了驗證。這與我們第四季的業務組合等因素有關。

And the delevering of our trucking network.

以及我們卡車運輸網的去槓桿化。

And the delevering of our trucking network. So I think, first off, you have that sequential headwind.

還有我們卡車運輸網的去槓桿化。所以我認為，首先，你們面臨著這種接踵而至的不利因素。

Now in the past, I've argued that it might be slightly more muted into Q4, but that was also based on a lot of freight advantage. And I will tell you, in the third quarter, we've begun to see cyclically, sometimes when things get challenging, you can see some of your freight revenue piece begin to soften a little bit. And we saw some of that during the third quarter. And the leverage that you get when you grow the freight revenues reverses when you don't.

過去我曾認為第四季的情況可能會略有緩和，但這主要是基於貨運業務的強勁成長。而我要指出的是，在第三季度，我們開始看到週期性的變化，有時當情況變得嚴峻時，貨運收入就會出現一定程度的下滑。我們在第三季就看到了這種情況。貨運收入成長帶來的槓桿效應，在成長放緩時也會隨之消失。

And that was a bit of a challenge at the end of the third quarter that, if that carries into the fourth quarter because demand is still weak, I think that, that goes from something that was doing fantastically for us in Q2 and becomes perhaps a little bit weaker. So I think that plays out perhaps a little bit softer as well. And then I guess I do believe that there'll be some moderation in price/cost.

第三季末我們遇到了一些挑戰，如果這種情況延續到第四季度，因為需求仍然疲軟，那麼第二季表現非常出色的產品可能會略有下滑。所以我認為，最終的業績可能會略微放緩。而且，我認為價格/成本也會有所回落。

So I think relative to the third quarter level, I think you're likely to see the fourth quarter come down, a little bit greater-than-normal seasonality in this case.

所以我認為，相對於第三季的水平，第四季可能會有所下降，這種情況的季節性波動可能會比正常情況略大一些。

Great. Helpful color. I really appreciate that. And then I got one more in terms of the branch size now. It looks like it's close to that target you laid out in the fourth quarter -- around the fourth quarter conference call, that you said 1,450 for U.S. plus Canada.

太好了。這個顏色很有幫助，我非常感謝。現在我又了解了一點關於分支機構規模的資訊。看起來它已經接近您在第四季度——大概是在第四季度財報電話會議上——提出的目標，您當時說美國和加拿大加起來是1450家。

So maybe if you could update us on, is that over now? And then a couple of things in context of that, like how should we think about that sales momentum in the nonresin reseller accounts, which I think has been hurt by some of this consolidation. And then also the occupancy expense account, where I think you've been benefiting from some of that in terms of costs coming out of the business. Thanks for any color on that, I appreciate it.

所以，能否更新一下情況？這件事現在結束了嗎？另外，還有一些相關的問題，例如我們應該如何看待非樹脂經銷商的銷售動能？我認為這些銷售動能受到了產業整合的影響。還有，關於佔用費用帳戶，我認為您在成本削減方面已經從中受益。感謝您提供的任何信息，非常感謝。

That may be 4 questions.

這可能是四個問題。

Yes. I'll try to unpack that in reverse order. And if I missed something, help me out. But first off, branch count, 1,450 is our target number. That's not a, we're at this number, and an edict comes out that says, "Thou shalt not close," or "Thou shalt not open."

是的。我會嘗試倒序解釋。如果我漏掉了什麼，請指正。首先，關於分行數量，1450是我們的目標數字。這並不是說我們已經達到了這個數字，然後突然頒布法令說「不得關閉」或「不得開設」。

That number could -- perhaps we should talk in ranges instead of exact points because 1,450 was what our internal team identified as a target number, looking at demographics. And I believe it -- I don't have the stat in front of me, so if I'm wrong, I apologize. It would have been in the flipbook from the first -- from January. But I believe at 1,450, we were within 30 minutes of 93% of the U.S. manufacturing base. And so it's a theoretical number.

這個數字或許——或許我們應該用範圍而不是具體數字來討論，因為1450是我們內部團隊根據人口統計數據確定的目標數字。我相信這個數字——我手頭上沒有具體數據，所以如果我錯了，請見諒。這個數字應該在1月的宣傳冊裡。但我相信，如果達到1450，我們就能在30分鐘內覆蓋美國93%的製造業基地。所以這只是一個理論數字。

Could I see it go down to 1,400? Yes. Could I see it go to 1,500? Yes. The closure piece will become ever-quieter. And as we move into 2024, I know just yesterday, I was chatting with Casey and Jeff about some of that and what they're seeing because there's still a few closures on the horizon. Part of it is reminding folks that the openings are okay, too.

我能預見到病例數會降到1400例嗎？能。我能預見到會降到1500例嗎？能。停業的跡象會越來越少。到了2024年，我知道就在昨天，我還和Casey和Jeff聊到了這些，以及他們觀察到的情況，因為未來仍然會有一些停業。其中一部分工作是提醒大家，重新開業也是可以的。

And so I think we'll be in that 1,400, 1,500 range, so don't read anything into it moving up or down 20.

所以我認為我們會在 1400 到 1500 的範圍內波動，所以上下波動 20 點並不代表什麼。

And then since it wraps into the concept, what you will see is, as the rate of closings moderate versus the last several years, you're going to have a little bit less of an incremental sort of take out of costs than we've had over the last several years. We still believe occupancy is ultimately leverageable, but you had inflation at the same time that you've had closures, and those things have tended to offset one another. And that's going to moderate as you go into 2024 and beyond to some degree.

而且，由於這與整體概念密切相關，你會發現，隨著房屋關閉速度較過去幾年有所放緩，成本削減的幅度也會比過去幾年略小。我們仍然相信入住率最終是可以提高的，但同時，通貨膨脹也導致了房屋關閉，這兩者相互抵消。這種情況在2024年及以後會在一定程度上有所緩解。

So if I look at occupancy in the third quarter, we actually didn't leverage it. And part of the reason for that is, within occupancy, we have 2 components. We have our branch and Onsite network. We have, obviously, our distribution centers. But we also have our FMI, our vending and FASTBin.

所以，如果我看一下第三季的倉儲空間利用率，就會發現我們其實並沒有充分利用它。部分原因是，倉儲空間本身包含兩個部分。我們有分公司和現場服務網路。當然，我們還有配送中心。此外，我們還有食品管理資訊系統（FMI）、自動販賣機和快速自助倉儲系統（FASTBin）。

And the reason we classify that as occupancy. When we started vending 15-plus years ago, looked at it and said, a vending machine is basically a shelf. We've taken a shelf out of the branch, we've wrapped it in a metal box, and we put that shelf in a customer's facility. But it's a shelf.

我們之所以將其歸類為佔用率，是因為15多年前我們剛開始做自動販賣機的時候，我們觀察了一下，發現自動販賣機本質上就是一個貨架。我們把貨架從門市搬出來，用金屬箱包好，然後放到客戶的店裡。但它本質上仍然是一個貨架。

And we really challenged our district leaders to think about that as occupancy. In our internal P&L, we classify it as occupancy because if a branch grows from $100,000 to $150,000, and for simple purposes, let's just say that, that $50,000 of growth is all vending. I shouldn't need a bigger building, and my occupancy grows because I have the depreciation and expense associated with my vending platform. And it was a way of more holistically thinking about it.

我們確實要求各區域領導者從佔用率的角度來思考這個問題。在我們的內部損益表中，我們將其歸類為佔用率，因為如果一個分店的營業額從 10 萬美元增長到 15 萬美元，為了方便起見，我們假設這 5 萬美元的增長全部來自自動售貨機業務。我不需要更大的辦公大樓，我的佔用率增長是因為我的自動販賣機平台產生了折舊和相關費用。這是一種更全面的思考方式。

Our FMI numbers, as you know, we're signing 95 devices a day. Our FMI grew 6%, our expenses within occupancy. And that was about 55%. So our occupancy grew just under 4%, and about 55% of that related to vending. But even though we closed some branches and closed some locations, our rent has not gotten cheaper in the last 12 months, and we will continue to be challenged with that.

如您所知，我們的FMI（設備市場指數）數據顯示，我們每天簽署95台設備。我們的FMI成長了6%，而我們的營運成本也成長了約55%。因此，我們的營運成本成長了近4%，其中約55%與自動販賣機相關。儘管我們關閉了一些分店和門市，但過去12個月我們的租金並沒有下降，我們將繼續面臨這項挑戰。

One of the things we've talked about on prior calls is the thing we call lift. And lift is about efficiency of where we're picking the product to replenish FMI vending today with FMI more broadly. But it also means -- if I have 50 vending machines out of -- that are serviced out of a branch, and I don't need to stock all of that inventory in the local branch because I'm picking it in an automated distribution center in a highly efficient, way. Now that distribution center isn't free, but I also don't need to expand the footprint of my branch because I freed up 40 feet of shelving that was dedicated to Fast -- to vending in the past.

我們在之前的電話會議中討論過一個叫做「提升效率」的概念。 「提升效率」指的是我們揀貨補貨的效率，以便為FMI自動販賣機以及更廣泛的FMI業務補充庫存。它也意味著——如果我有一個分店，負責50台自動販賣機的維護，我不需要把所有庫存都堆放在本地分店，因為我可以在自動化配送中心以高效的方式揀貨。當然，這個配送中心並非免費，但我也不需要擴大分店的面積，因為我騰出了過去專門用於Fast自動販賣機的40英尺長的貨架空間。

But it's given us some challenges on the fact that occupancy has grown. And as you can imagine, the further you get from the middle of the country, the more expensive the space gets. And when you get into some of our businesses in Europe, it's more expensive than it is in Winona, Minnesota. But I feel good about our ability over time to continue to manage that and lever it. As I said with our FMI, that business is growing quite handsomely, and we grew our expenses 6%, so we levered that nicely.

但入住率成長也為我們帶來了一些挑戰。正如您所想，離美國中部越遠，租金就越貴。我們在歐洲的一些業務，租金甚至比明尼蘇達州威諾納的還要高。但我相信我們有能力長期應對並有效利用這些成本。正如我之前提到的FMI業務，它發展勢頭強勁，而我們的支出增長了6%，所以我們很好地利用了這一點。

Next question is coming from Tommy Moll from Stephens.

下一個問題來自史蒂芬斯大學的湯米·莫爾。

I wanted to start on fasteners and ask whether it's possible to parse the down 2% DSR into an MRO versus OEM component. And it's really the OEM side that's the crux of the question. But any context you could give there. And then I'll have one follow-up on OEM.

我想先從緊固件入手，問問能否將下降的 2% DSR 分解為 MRO 組件與 OEM 組件的差異。問題的關鍵在於 OEM 部分。您能否提供一些相關背景資訊？之後我也會就 OEM 部分提出一個後續問題。

Yes. So what we're seeing in the quarter is you continue to have MRO fasteners down, and we actually had OEM fasteners that were still rising. The perspective you need to have, though, is we continue to see our OEM fasteners grow as a proportion of the mix because they tend to benefit from the growth in our Onsite. So today, a lot of our growth is coming through Onsites, and therefore, a lot of those innings, those new implementations also bring in OEM fasteners.

是的。所以本季我們看到的情況是，MRO緊固件的銷售量持續下降，而OEM緊固件的銷售量實際上仍在上升。不過，您需要理解的是，OEM緊固件在產品組合中的佔比持續成長，因為它們往往受益於我們現場服務業務的成長。因此，目前我們的大部分成長都來自現場服務，所以，許多新專案也需要使用OEM緊固件。

And so in the past, we've talked about OEM, and I think people have been surprised that OEM hasn't gotten negative given sort of the behavior. But if you go back to like mid last year, OEM fasteners were growing mid-20s. If you come to current period, it's growing low single digits. And so you've seen significant moderation in OEM fasteners as the production environment has softened over the past 12 months, but it's still growing because of the success we continue to have signing and implementing Onsites.

所以，過去我們討論過OEM市場，我認為大家對OEM市場沒有負成長感到驚訝，畢竟市場行為已經改變了。但如果你回顧去年年中，OEM緊固件的成長率還在20%左右。而到了現在，成長率已經降到了個位數。因此，隨著過去12個月生產環境的趨緩，OEM緊固件的成長速度明顯放緩，但由於我們在現場施工方面持續取得成功，它仍然保持成長。

That's helpful. I guess to keep going with the same theme. Some of the commentary you've offered today on the OEM side has sounded similar to recent quarters. And recently, you talked about the destocking dynamic at customer locations, particularly for the OEM business. Is there anything you can do to parse real underlying demand there versus shorter product delivery cycles, and maybe customers are just ordering later in their production cycle?

這很有幫助。我想繼續探討這個主題。您今天對OEM方面的一些評論與最近幾季的觀點類似。而且，您最近談到了客戶現場的去庫存動態，特別是針對OEM業務的去庫存動態。您能否分析一下，這其中究竟是真正的潛在需求，還是僅僅因為產品交付週期縮短，或者客戶只是在生產週期後期才下單？

Yes. If you think about what we do in a perfect world, where we're supplying OEM fasteners, the customer isn't ordering it per se. We're supplying it when they need it. And that shouldn't change depending on the cycle. The question is, if you peer downstream from the manufacturing activity to the -- to our customer or their supply chain to the end market, how much inventory is there? Because if -- there shouldn't be a different stage of where you're ordering OEM fasteners.

是的。想想在理想情況下，當我們供應OEM緊固件時，客戶本身並不需要下單。我們只是在他們需要的時候才供貨。而且這一點不應該因為週期變化而改變。問題在於，如果我們從生產環節向下游追溯，一直到我們的客戶或他們的供應鏈，再到最終市場，庫存量是多少？因為如果－在OEM緊固件的訂購環節上，不應該有任何差異。

The pull-through is what the pull-through is. Now some of the changes from what Holden talked about a year ago, there was elements of inflation in there. But there was also elements of folks had such an unstable supply chain for everything else. Fortunately, they were partnered with Fastenal, and their supply chain for fasteners was great. And I'm having a little fun with you there.

拉動效應就是拉動效應。現在，與霍爾頓一年前談到的情況相比，有些變化確實存在，其中既有通貨膨脹的因素，也有其他方面供應鏈不穩定的因素。幸運的是，他們與Fastenal公司合作，而Fastenal的緊固件供應鏈非常穩定。我剛才是在跟你開個玩笑。

But they might have had other stuff, or their end markets, possession is 9/10 of the law, and so they just ordered it because they were worried about getting it. And so I think you do have cases of, downstream from our manufacturer customers, there's some stuff that piled up. But I think that's worked through. I think the pull right now is the pull.

但他們可能還有其他東西要處理，或者他們的終端市場——持有即擁有十分之九的法律——所以他們只是因為擔心收不到貨才下單。因此，我認為確實存在這種情況，從我們的製造商客戶下游來看，有些貨物積壓了。但我認為這種情況已經解決了。我認為目前的市場需求就是市場需求。

I was talking with our leader in Continental Europe the other day, and his business had ticked up, and I was just asked them some components about it. And he was talking about some of these transportation customers that had picked up. He said their businesses is pulling through what they're selling, but they're being very, very cautious about not getting ahead of anything. So I think there, it's just true demand coming through.

前幾天我和我們歐洲大陸的負責人聊了聊，他那邊的業務有所成長，我就問了他一些相關問題。他提到了一些運輸業的客戶，他們的業務量增加。他說他們的銷售業績不錯，但他們非常謹慎，避免任何超前的情況。所以我認為這裡，真正的需求正在成長。

Yes. Maybe another anecdote as well. At the end of any given year, particularly years where demand is poor, oftentimes, we get suppliers that approach us to say, "Hey, we sold just something for a discount. Would you take some of this stuff off our hands, so we can normalize our own production rates?" And that's fairly typical.

是的。或許還可以再講一個軼事。每年年底，尤其是在需求疲軟的年份，我們經常會遇到供應商聯繫我們說：「嘿，我們剛剛打折賣出了一批貨。你們能不能幫我們處理掉一些，好讓我們自己的生產恢復正常水平？」這種情況相當普遍。

And I'll say that -- the -- it's still early, and we don't know what December is going to look like in many respects. But we haven't seen as much activity from our suppliers inquiring about our willingness to enter into those kind of sort of year-end types of deals. And what that might suggest to you is that a lot of our suppliers might have inventories that are pretty close to where they need to be.

我想說的是──現在下結論還為時過早，我們很多方面都無法預測12月的狀況。但我們並沒有看到供應商過度詢問我們是否願意達成那種年終交易。這或許意味著，我們許多供應商的庫存水準已經接近所需水準了。

Those are anecdotes. We're not even in November, December yet. But I'm probably feeling somewhat encouraged about where the inventory levels within and throughout our supply chain are getting to.

這些都是個案。現在甚至還沒到十一月、十二月呢。但我對我們供應鏈內部及整個供應鏈的庫存水準現況感到有些樂觀。

Next question is coming from Ryan Merkel from William Blair.

下一個問題來自威廉·布萊爾的瑞安·默克爾。

I had a couple of questions on gross margin. So usually, gross margins kind of flat sequentially into 3Q. And obviously, it was up 40 bps. Can you just unpack what the drivers are there? Just because that was the surprise factor.

我有一些關於毛利率的問題。通常情況下，毛利率在第三季會較上季持平。但顯然，第三季毛利率上升了40個基點。您能解釋一下背後的驅動因素嗎？因為這確實出乎我的意料。

Yes. As I indicated in my preamble, mix wasn't quite the headwind that I expected it was going to be. And price/cost was more of a tailwind than I expected it to be relative to the guidance that I gave at the Q2 call. Those are the 2 pieces.

是的。正如我在前言中提到的，產品組合併沒有像我預期的那樣成為不利因素。而且，相對於我在第二季財報電話會議上給出的指引，價格/成本的利多因素也比我預期的要大。以上就是兩個方面。

And when you say price/cost, you're talking on product, you're talking on freight? Because it sounds like freight was the thing that you mentioned first driving the gross margin.

你說的價格/成本，是指產品價格/成本，還是指運費？因為聽起來你之前提到的最早影響毛利率的因素是運費。

Yes. But in many cases, freight rolls into our product cost, right? The biggest reason why there's been inflation and deflation over the past 3 or 4 years isn't the cost of steel. There's a bit of that. It has a lot more to do with what the cost of moving product has been. So the price/cost in our -- when we talk about price/cost, in many cases, elements of freight are moved into our product price.

是的。但在很多情況下，運費都計入了我們的產品成本，對吧？過去三、四年通貨膨脹和通貨緊縮的主因並非鋼鐵成本。雖然鋼鐵成本確實有一定影響，但更重要的是產品運輸成本的變動。因此，當我們談到價格/成本時，在許多情況下，運費都已計入了我們的產品價格。

Yes, because we consider that our landed cost to the shelf, as opposed to when we're moving it around North America or moving it around in our business.

是的，因為我們考慮的是商品上架的落地成本，而不是我們在北美地區運送或在公司內部運送商品的成本。

Now there's transportation that does not fall into product costs. Those are our Ram trucks in the field, et cetera. But when you're talking about the cost of moving things from overseas to domestic, that goes into product cost. As Dan said, it's part of landed, and that gets reflected in our price/cost dynamics.

現在有些運輸成本不計入產品成本，例如我們用於外勤的Ram卡車等等。但是，如果談到將貨物從海外運到國內的成本，那就屬於產品成本了。正如丹所說，這部分成本是到岸成本的一部分，最終會反映在我們的價格/成本動態中。

Got it. Okay. That's helpful. And then sequentially, you think maybe gross margin could come down a little bit more than seasonality. Is that because price/cost is going to decline, and the reason there, you're going to lower fastener prices to match the lower product costs? Or is it also this idea that maybe charging for freight is getting a little bit harder?

明白了。好的。這很有幫助。那麼，您認為毛利率的下降幅度可能會略大於季節性因素。這是因為價格/成本會下降，所以您打算降低緊固件的價格來匹配較低的產品成本嗎？還是因為收取運費的難度也增加了？

No. I mean, there's a few reasons why I think gross margin will come in a bit. One of it is the seasonality you talked about. The second thing I talked about a moment ago was simply freight revenues has softened a little bit in the face of a weaker cycle. And again, we have a certain degree of leverage around our freight that works great when the freight revenues are at record levels, and it's not quite as good when they're not. That's another element of it.

不。我的意思是，我認為毛利率會略有上升的原因有很多。其中之一是您剛才提到的季節性因素。我剛才提到的第二點是，在經濟週期疲軟的情況下，貨運收入略有下降。而且，我們在貨運方面有一定的槓桿作用，當貨運收入處於歷史高點時，這種作用非常顯著；但當貨運收入下降時，這種作用就不那麼明顯了。這是另一個影響因素。

And then the moderation in price/cost that I anticipate is probably has more to do with the field continuing to make modest adjustments where they're required by contract or what have you to do so. And again, we're talking about a relatively small number here. It's not dramatic. But those are the moving pieces that I see playing out to a slightly weaker fourth quarter gross margin relative to third.

我預期價格/成本的緩和可能更多地與行業繼續根據合約或其他規定進行適度調整有關。再次強調，我們討論的只是相對較小的數量，並不劇烈。但這些因素最終會導致第四季毛利率略低於第三季。

Thanks, Ryan. I see it's about 2 minutes before the hour, and I realize everybody on this call has a busy week of earnings conversations to be engaged in. Thank you for your time. Good luck in the fall. And my thanks to the Fastenal team. Have a good day, everybody.

謝謝瑞恩。我看現在離整點還有兩分鐘，也知道大家這週都要忙著討論財報。感謝你抽出時間。祝你秋天一切順利。也感謝Fastenal團隊。祝大家今天愉快。

Thank you, everyone.

謝謝大家。

Thank you. That does conclude today's teleconference and webcast. You may disconnect your line at this time and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation today.

謝謝。今天的電話會議和網路直播到此結束。您可以掛斷電話了，祝您有美好的一天。感謝您今天的參與。