奧多明尼昂貨運 (ODFL) 2022 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the Old Dominion Freight Line Third Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note this event is being recorded.

美好的一天，歡迎參加 Old Dominion Freight Line 2022 年第三季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意正在記錄此事件。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Drew Andersen. Please go ahead.

我現在想把會議交給 Drew Andersen。請繼續。

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to the third quarter 2022 Conference Call for Old Dominion Freight Line. Today's call is being recorded and will be available for replay beginning today and through November 2, 2022, by dialing 1 (877) 344-7529, access code 3324067. The replay of the webcast may also be accessed for 30 days at the company's website.

謝謝你。早上好，歡迎來到 Old Dominion Freight Line 2022 年第三季度電話會議。正在錄製今天的通話，從今天開始到 2022 年 11 月 2 日，撥打 1 (877) 344-7529，訪問代碼 3324067 可以重播。網絡廣播的重播也可以在公司網站上訪問 30 天.

This conference call may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 including statements, among others, regarding Old Dominion's expected financial and operating performance. For this purpose, any statements made during this call that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing the words believes, anticipates, plans, expects and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.

本次電話會議可能包含 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》含義內的前瞻性陳述，其中包括關於 Old Dominion 預期財務和經營業績的陳述。為此，在本次電話會議期間做出的任何非歷史事實陳述的陳述均可能被視為前瞻性陳述。在不限制前述內容的情況下，相信、預期、計劃、預期和類似表達旨在識別前瞻性陳述。

You are hereby cautioned that these statements may be affected by the important factors, among others, set forth in Old Dominion's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and in this morning's news release. And consequently, actual operations and results may differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

特此提醒您，這些聲明可能會受到 Old Dominion 向證券交易委員會提交的文件和今天上午的新聞稿中所述的重要因素的影響。因此，實際運營和結果可能與前瞻性陳述中討論的結果存在重大差異。公司不承擔因新信息、未來事件或其他原因而公開更新任何前瞻性陳述的義務。

As a final note, before we begin, we welcome your questions today, but we ask in fairness to all that you limit yourselves to just a couple of questions at a time before returning to the queue. Thank you for your cooperation.

作為最後一點，在我們開始之前，我們歡迎您今天提出問題，但我們公平地詢問您在返回隊列之前一次僅限制自己幾個問題的所有問題。謝謝您的合作。

At this time, for opening remarks, I would like to turn the conference over to the company's President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Greg Gantt. Please go ahead, sir.

現在，作為開場白，我想把會議交給公司總裁兼首席執行官 Greg Gantt 先生。請繼續，先生。

Good morning, and welcome to our third quarter conference call. With me on the call today is Adam Satterfield, our CFO. After some brief remarks, we will be glad to take your questions.

早上好，歡迎參加我們的第三季度電話會議。今天與我通話的是我們的首席財務官 Adam Satterfield。在簡短的評論之後，我們將很高興回答您的問題。

During the third quarter, the Old Dominion team extended the company's track record for double-digit growth in revenue and profitability. The third quarter of 2022 was our seventh straight quarter with double-digit revenue growth and the nice straight quarter of double-digit growth in earnings per diluted share. These financial results reflect the ongoing strength and demand for our services as we continue to deliver value to our customers by providing superior service at a fair price.

在第三季度，Old Dominion 團隊擴大了公司的收入和盈利能力兩位數增長的記錄。 2022 年第三季度是我們連續第七個季度實現兩位數的收入增長，以及每股攤薄收益連續兩位數增長的良好季度。這些財務業績反映了對我們服務的持續實力和需求，因為我們通過以公平的價格提供優質服務，繼續為客戶創造價值。

Consistently executing on this key element of our long-term strategic plan is critical to our continued ability to win long-term market share. We were pleased to provide our customers with 99% on-time service and a cargo claims ratio of 0.2% during the third quarter.

始終如一地執行我們長期戰略計劃的這一關鍵要素，對於我們繼續贏得長期市場份額的能力至關重要。我們很高興在第三季度為客戶提供 99% 的準時服務和 0.2% 的貨物索賠率。

Service means much more than just picking up and delivering our customers' freight on time and damage free. In fact, MASTIO & Company conducts a comprehensive industry study each year that most recently measured carriers on 28 service and value-related attributes. We are extremely proud that MASTIO recently named OD as the #1 LTL provider for the 13th straight year. And this latest survey, shippers and logistics professionals ranked OD as #1 for 24 of the 28 individual attributes. The consistency of our service performance over many years, as validated by MASTIO reflects the commitment from each of our team members who work hard every day to go above and beyond for our customers.

服務不僅僅意味著按時無損壞地提取和交付客戶的貨物。事實上，MASTIO & Company 每年都會進行一項全面的行業研究，最近對運營商的 28 項服務和價值相關屬性進行了測量。我們非常自豪 MASTIO 最近連續第 13 年將 OD 評為#1 LTL 供應商。在這項最新調查中，托運人和物流專業人士將 OD 列為 28 項個人屬性中的 24 項的第一名。 MASTIO 驗證了我們多年來服務性能的一致性，這反映了我們每個團隊成員每天努力工作以超越客戶的承諾。

Our superior service performance has not only allowed us to win market share over the long term. It has also supported our long-term yield management strategy. This simple strategy focuses on increasing our yields to offset our cost inflation each year while also supporting our ongoing investments in capacity. We have consistently invested 10% to 15% of our revenue in capital expenditures each year regardless of the economic environment.

我們卓越的服務表現不僅使我們能夠長期贏得市場份額。它還支持了我們的長期收益管理戰略。這個簡單的策略側重於提高我們的產量以抵消我們每年的成本膨脹，同時也支持我們對產能的持續投資。無論經濟環境如何，我們每年始終將收入的 10% 至 15% 用於資本支出。

Investments in our fleet and technologies have helped us improve our operating efficiency and customer service, while the significant investments in our service center network generally support our growth. We have expanded the capacity of our service center network by over 50% in the past 10 years while doubling our market share, and we believe further investments will be necessary to ensure that our network is never a limiting factor to our growth.

對我們的車隊和技術的投資幫助我們提高了運營效率和客戶服務，而對我們服務中心網絡的重大投資通常支持我們的增長。在過去 10 年中，我們將服務中心網絡的容量擴大了 50% 以上，同時將我們的市場份額翻了一番，我們相信需要進一步投資以確保我們的網絡永遠不會成為我們增長的限制因素。

We believe a big part of our value proposition is having available capacities when our customers needed the most. The capacity advantage we have in the marketplace was especially critical for customers that dealt with various supply chain issues over the past 2 years, while industry capacity was generally limited. We increased our revenues by over $2 billion over the past 2 years, which would not have been possible if we had not consistently increased our network capacity. Our business model continues to prove itself time and again, and we are extremely grateful to our customers for their trust in us. Freight is a relationship business, and we believe our superior service, available network capacity and consistent approach to pricing have allowed us to strengthen our long-term relationships. We also believe the value offered by carrier is becoming increasingly important to shippers, which is why we remain absolutely committed to executing on the fundamental element of our long-term strategic plan. As a result, we will continue to focus on providing customers with superior service at a fair price.

我們相信，我們價值主張的很大一部分是在客戶最需要的時候擁有可用的產能。我們在市場上的產能優勢對於過去 2 年處理各種供應鏈問題的客戶來說尤其重要，而行業產能普遍有限。在過去 2 年中，我們的收入增加了超過 20 億美元，如果我們沒有持續增加網絡容量，這是不可能的。我們的商業模式不斷證明自己，我們非常感謝客戶對我們的信任。貨運是一項關係業務，我們相信我們卓越的服務、可用的網絡容量和一致的定價方法使我們能夠加強我們的長期關係。我們還認為，承運人提供的價值對托運人來說變得越來越重要，這就是為什麼我們仍然絕對致力於執行我們長期戰略計劃的基本要素。因此，我們將繼續專注於以合理的價格為客戶提供優質的服務。

We will also continue to invest in our OD Family of employees, our fleet and our service center network to support our long-term growth initiatives. Old Dominion has the financial strength to make these investments, and as a result, we believe we are better positioned than any carrier to produce long-term profitable growth and increase shareholder value.

我們還將繼續投資於我們的 OD 員工家族、我們的車隊和我們的服務中心網絡，以支持我們的長期增長計劃。 Old Dominion 擁有進行這些投資的財務實力，因此，我們相信我們比任何運營商都更有能力實現長期盈利增長並增加股東價值。

Thank you for joining us this morning, and now Adam will discuss our third quarter financial results in greater detail.

感謝您今天早上加入我們，現在亞當將更詳細地討論我們的第三季度財務業績。

Thank you, Greg, and good morning. Old Dominion's revenue grew 14.5% in the third quarter to $1.6 billion, and our operating ratio improved to 69.1%. The combination of these changes helped produce a 36% increase in earnings per diluted share for the quarter.

謝謝你，格雷格，早上好。 Old Dominion 第三季度的收入增長 14.5% 至 16 億美元，我們的運營比率提高至 69.1%。這些變化的結合幫助本季度每股攤薄收益增加了 36%。

Our revenue growth was due primarily to the 17.4% increase in LTL revenue per hundredweight, which more than offset the 2.6% decrease in our LTL tons. We believe this decrease in LTL tons reflects the overall softness in the domestic economy that has generally caused a decrease in demand for our customers' products. Demand for our service has remained strong, however, as customers are continuing to take advantage of our value proposition.

我們的收入增長主要是由於每英擔零擔收入增加了 17.4%，這抵消了我們零擔噸數減少 2.6% 的影響。我們認為，LTL 噸數的下降反映了國內經濟的整體疲軟，這通常導致對我們客戶產品的需求下降。然而，隨著客戶繼續利用我們的價值主張，對我們服務的需求依然強勁。

On a sequential basis, revenue per day for the third quarter decreased 3.8% when compared to the second quarter of 2022, with LTL tons per day decreasing 4.3% and LTL shipments per day decreasing 3.6%. For comparison, the 10-year average sequential change for these metrics includes an increase of 3.6% in revenue per day, an increase of 1.2% in tons per day and an increase of 2.4% in shipments per day.

與 2022 年第二季度相比，第三季度的每日收入環比下降 3.8%，其中每天零擔噸下降 4.3%，每天零擔運輸量下降 3.6%。相比之下，這些指標的 10 年平均連續變化包括每天收入增長 3.6%、每天噸數增長 1.2% 和每天出貨量增長 2.4%。

At this point, in October, our revenue per day has increased by approximately 8% when compared to October 2021. This month-to-date revenue performance includes a decrease of approximately 7% in our LTL tons per day. As usual, we will provide actual revenue related details for October in our third quarter Form 10-Q.

在這一點上，與 2021 年 10 月相比，我們在 10 月份的每日收入增長了約 8%。本月至今的收入表現包括我們每天的零擔噸數減少了約 7%。像往常一樣，我們將在第三季度的 10-Q 表格中提供 10 月份的實際收入相關詳細信息。

Our third quarter operating ratio improved to 69.1% with improvements in both our direct operating cost and overhead cost as a percent of revenue. Many of our cost categories improved as a percent of revenue during the quarter, although our operating supplies and expenses increased 300 basis points due primarily to the rising cost of diesel fuel and other petroleum-based products as well as the increased cost for parts and repairs to maintain our fleet.

我們的第三季度運營率提高到 69.1%，直接運營成本和間接成本佔收入的百分比均有所改善。我們的許多成本類別在本季度佔收入的百分比有所提高，儘管我們的運營供應和費用增加了 300 個基點，這主要是由於柴油和其他石油產品成本上升以及零件和維修成本增加維護我們的艦隊。

We more than offset the impact of this increase with the improvement in our salaries, wages and benefits and purchase transportation. The improvement in these expenses as a percent of revenue reflects our best efforts to effectively match all of our variable costs with current revenue and volume trends.

我們通過提高工資、工資和福利以及購買運輸來抵消這種增長的影響。這些費用佔收入百分比的提高反映了我們為有效匹配所有可變成本與當前收入和數量趨勢所做的最大努力。

Old Dominion's cash flow from operations totaled $514.2 million and $1.3 billion for the third quarter and first 9 months of 2022, respectively, while capital expenditures were $181.7 million and $504.8 million for the same periods. We noted in our release this morning that our capital expenditures are now estimated to be $720 million for this year. The decrease from our prior estimate is primarily due to the timing of equipment deliveries that we expect to be pushed into next year. We will provide further details about our 2023 capital expenditure plan with our fourth quarter earnings release.

Old Dominion 在 2022 年第三季度和前 9 個月的運營現金流總額分別為 5.142 億美元和 13 億美元，而同期資本支出為 1.817 億美元和 5.048 億美元。我們在今天上午的新聞稿中指出，我們今年的資本支出現在估計為 7.2 億美元。較我們先前估計的減少主要是由於我們預計將推遲到明年的設備交付時間。我們將在第四季度收益發布中提供有關 2023 年資本支出計劃的更多詳細信息。

We utilized $345.4 million and $1.1 billion of cash for our share repurchase program during the third quarter and first 9 months of 2022, respectively, while cash dividends totaled $33.4 million and $101.4 million for the same periods.

我們在 2022 年第三季度和前 9 個月分別使用了 3.454 億美元和 11 億美元的現金用於我們的股票回購計劃，而同期的現金股息總額為 3340 萬美元和 1.014 億美元。

Our effective tax rate for the third quarter 2022 was 23.9% as compared to 25.2% in the third quarter 2021. We currently anticipate our effective tax rate to be 25.6% for the fourth quarter.

我們 2022 年第三季度的有效稅率為 23.9%，而 2021 年第三季度為 25.2%。我們目前預計第四季度的有效稅率為 25.6%。

This concludes our prepared remarks this morning. Operator, we'll be happy to open the floor for questions at this time.

今天上午我們準備好的發言到此結束。接線員，我們很樂意在這個時候開始提問。

(Operator Instructions) The first question today comes from Jack Atkins with Stephens.

（操作員說明）今天的第一個問題來自 Jack Atkins 和 Stephens。

Okay, great. So I guess, first, Adam, I'd be curious if you could maybe give us the full stats for September in terms of tonnage per day on a year-over-year basis. And was there anything sort of unique kind of going on in September with regard to the end of the quarter with the hurricane? And I guess just kind of wrapping up that September, October commentary, I guess, do you feel like that the sequential trends are the underperformance versus seasonality is maybe accelerating somewhat. And if you can maybe provide some color on sort of what's driving that. So anyway, I know a lot there, but just sort of curious on current trends and if you could provide some additional color there.

好，太棒了。所以我想，首先，亞當，我很好奇你能否向我們提供 9 月份的完整統計數據，以每年的噸數計算。關於颶風季末，9 月有什麼獨特的事情發生嗎？而且我想只是結束了 9 月和 10 月的評論，我想，你是否覺得連續趨勢是表現不佳與季節性的關係可能會有所加速。如果你可以提供一些顏色來說明驅動它的原因。所以無論如何，我在那裡知道很多，但只是對當前的趨勢有點好奇，如果你能在那裡提供一些額外的顏色。

Sure. We'll test my memory, I guess, and see if I can remember all of those. But so for September, looking at on a year-over-year basis, our tonnage was down 5.4% and then shipments, those were, let's see here, shipments per day were down 6.8%. So we had a little bit of an increase in weight per shipment for the month. It was up about 1.5% overall. And so if you remember, we've talked before about the weight per shipment trend last year, the third quarter was our low watermark, if you will, where we were at a total of 1,538 pounds. So we did start seeing a sequential increase from the third quarter to the fourth quarter of last year. So that should somewhat normalize as we transition.

當然。我想我們會測試我的記憶力，看看我是否能記住所有這些。但是，對於 9 月份，與去年同期相比，我們的噸位下降了 5.4%，然後出貨量，讓我們在這裡看看，每天的出貨量下降了 6.8%。因此，我們本月的每批貨物重量略有增加。整體上漲約1.5%。因此，如果您還記得，我們之前曾討論過去年每批貨物的重量趨勢，第三季度是我們的低水位線，如果您願意的話，我們的總重量為 1,538 磅。因此，我們確實開始看到從去年第三季度到第四季度的連續增長。因此，隨著我們的過渡，這應該在某種程度上正常化。

Looking at things on a sequential basis for the tonnage, we did have in September about a 0.4% increase versus August. The 10-year average is a 3.9% increase. So similarly, I think what we saw in the third quarter is similar to the second quarter. We did underperform for the total quarter, the average sequential trends in 2Q. And we did, again, this is the third straight quarter of underperformance, if you will, but we started out with the decrease in July, which is pretty typical. We were down 4%. The 10-year average is down 3%. And then we dropped a little bit further in August, which is normally about flattish. And then we just didn't see the sizable increase that we typically do in September.

從噸位的順序來看，我們在 9 月份確實比 8 月份增加了大約 0.4%。 10年平均增長3.9%。同樣，我認為我們在第三季度看到的情況與第二季度相似。我們整個季度的表現確實落後於第二季度的平均連續趨勢。我們再次做到了，如果你願意的話，這是連續第三個季度表現不佳，但我們從 7 月份的下降開始，這是非常典型的。我們下跌了 4%。 10年平均下降3%。然後我們在 8 月進一步下跌，這通常是持平的。然後我們只是沒有看到我們通常在 9 月份做的大幅增長。

I will say that so far and obviously, there are still days to be finished for October, but we look like we are trending pretty much right in line with normal seasonality at this point, which I think is an encouraging trend. Certainly, a lot of work left to do as we go through the fourth quarter. Typically, we would see an increase in November and then it drops off in December. Normally, overall, you've got a decrease on average for the fourth quarter versus the third. Last year, we did have an increase, which makes the comps quite a bit tougher in the fourth quarter. And we anticipated that really is going into the beginning of this year, really.

我會說到目前為止，顯然，10 月份還有幾天要完成，但我們看起來目前的趨勢與正常的季節性非常一致，我認為這是一個令人鼓舞的趨勢。當然，隨著我們進入第四季度，還有很多工作要做。通常情況下，我們會在 11 月看到增長，然後在 12 月下降。通常，總體而言，第四季度與第三季度相比平均有所下降。去年，我們確實有所增加，這使得第四季度的比賽更加艱難。我們預計這真的會進入今年年初，真的。

So I think it's just one of those things, like we said in our prepared remarks that certainly feels like demand for us. The feedback that we're getting from our customers has been positive. We're seeing good trends with our national account reporting. We're not losing customers. So things are all trending favorably in that regard. It's just a matter of the demand, we feel like is not out there for our customers' products, if you will. We're just not picking up as much freight for those same customers that we may be making stops every day at their locations.

所以我認為這只是其中之一，就像我們在準備好的評論中所說的那樣，這當然感覺像是對我們的需求。我們從客戶那裡得到的反饋是積極的。我們在國民賬戶報告中看到了良好的趨勢。我們不會失去客戶。因此，在這方面，一切都朝著有利的方向發展。這只是需求問題，如果您願意，我們覺得我們客戶的產品並不存在。我們只是沒有為那些我們可能每天在他們的地點停靠的相同客戶收取盡可能多的貨物。

So just continuing to kind of work through these challenges, if you will. We certainly made adjustments all year. I think when you look at the operating ratio performance in general and what our service metrics are, we've been making adjustments to this lower-than-anticipated volume environment that we've been in. But we typically, when we've been in a down cycle, we've been in a negative GDP environment this year. A lot of times, we'll see 3 to 5 quarters where we kind of underperform our 10-year average and I always like to remind everyone that our 10-year average includes doubling our market share.

因此，如果您願意，請繼續努力應對這些挑戰。我們當然全年都進行了調整。我認為，當您查看總體運營比率表現以及我們的服務指標時，我們一直在對我們所處的這種低於預期的交易量環境進行調整。但我們通常，當我們一直在下行週期中，我們今年一直處於負 GDP 環境中。很多時候，我們會看到 3 到 5 個季度的表現低於我們的 10 年平均水平，我總是想提醒大家，我們的 10 年平均水平包括將我們的市場份額翻一番。

But this, like I said, was the third quarter where we underperformed. We're going into the winter. That's always a little bit seasonally slower anyways. And so we feel like based on what we've been able to do so far this year producing over $900 million of revenue growth, good solid operating ratio improvement. We'll get through this winter and then perhaps we start seeing some build up once we get into the spring and I'm talking on a sequential basis, start seeing that build up back in the business once we get into the spring. Maybe sooner, obviously, a lot's going on with the economy. But that's some of the baseline for what we're thinking right now.

但正如我所說，這是我們表現不佳的第三季度。我們要進入冬天了。無論如何，這總是有點季節性地變慢。因此，我們認為，基於我們今年迄今為止所做的工作，收入增長超過 9 億美元，運營比率改善良好。我們將度過這個冬天，然後也許一旦我們進入春天，我們就會開始看到一些積累，我是按順序談論的，一旦我們進入春天，就會開始看到這種情況在業務中恢復。很明顯，可能會更快，經濟正在發生很多事情。但這是我們現在所想的一些基線。

Okay. That's very helpful color, Adam. And you got all my -- all those different questions in there. I guess maybe for my one quick follow-up. Would just be curious to kind of get your sense for sequential, how we should be thinking about the sequential change in operating ratio 3Q to 4Q? I know to your point, typically, tonnage is a bit softer sequentially. And there's -- I'm sure a lot of puts and takes out there. Historically, it's about 200 basis point degradation 3Q to 4Q. Is that the right way to think about it this year? Or just some additional color would be helpful.

好的。這是非常有用的顏色，亞當。你得到了我所有的 - 所有這些不同的問題。我想也許是為了我的快速跟進。只是想了解一下您對順序的理解，我們應該如何考慮 3Q 到 4Q 營業比率的順序變化？我知道你的觀點，通常情況下，噸位按順序要軟一些。還有——我敢肯定有很多推銷和推銷。從歷史上看，從第三季度到第四季度下降了大約 200 個基點。這是今年考慮的正確方式嗎？或者只是一些額外的顏色會有所幫助。

Sure. Yes, for one, the fourth quarter, we usually have an annual actuarial assessment that can impact, if you just look at the raw numbers, the pure average. But it's usually about a 200 to 250 basis point sequential deterioration from 3Q to 4Q. And I think probably the appropriate target would be about a 400 basis points increase off of 69.1% that we had. And just talking through a few of those puts and takes that will go into it. And I'd say 400, probably plus or minus a little bit, just depending on -- in some cases, some of these expense items I'm about to talk about, but also the top line. But obviously, we've got -- we had a onetime item that favorably impacted our operating ratio by about 100 basis points in the third quarter.

當然。是的，對於第四季度，我們通常會進行年度精算評估，如果您只看原始數據，則可能會影響純平均值。但從第三季度到第四季度，通常會出現大約 200 到 250 個基點的連續惡化。我認為合適的目標可能是在我們擁有的 69.1% 的基礎上增加約 400 個基點。只需通過其中一些看跌期權進行討論即可。我會說 400，可能會加減一點，這取決於 - 在某些情況下，我將要討論的這些費用項目中的一些，但也是最重要的。但顯然，我們有一個一次性項目，在第三季度對我們的營業比率產生了約 100 個基點的有利影響。

So kind of adding that back to normalized what our fringe benefit cost have been trending earlier this year. Then I think that similar to the 2Q to 3Q change in our general supplies and expenses, we generally see a little bit of improvement from the third quarter to the fourth quarter. I expect that from a dollar standpoint, that should remain somewhat flattish, but as revenue is typically a little bit lower, we'd expect that to increase. Maybe 20 basis points from 3Q to 4Q.

因此，將其添加回正常化我們的附加福利成本今年早些時候的趨勢。然後我認為，與我們一般供應和費用的 2Q 到 3Q 變化類似，我們從第三季度到第四季度總體上看到了一點點改善。我預計從美元的角度來看，這應該會保持平穩，但由於收入通常會略低一些，我們預計會增加。從第三季度到第四季度可能會增加 20 個基點。

Depreciation is another item. We're still taking delivery of equipment. Normally, you kind of have all your depreciation in there, so I'd expect to see that continue, tick up a little bit.

折舊是另一個項目。我們仍在接收設備。通常情況下，你的所有折舊都在那裡，所以我希望看到這種情況繼續下去，稍微增加一點。

And then finally, our miscellaneous expenses, those have trended low throughout the year. Those are typically around about 0.5 point. I think we're at 20 basis points, 0.2% in the third quarter. So I expect that to normalize at some point as well. So some of those cost items just may create just a little bit of variance versus what the 10-year average might otherwise suggest. But you know us, I mean, we're looking at every dollar we can from a discretionary spending standpoint and we'll be managing productivity and other costs as tightly as we can as we continue to adjust to current top line revenue and volume trends.

最後，我們的雜項費用，全年都趨於低位。這些通常約為 0.5 點。我認為我們處於 20 個基點，第三季度為 0.2%。所以我希望這也會在某個時候正常化。因此，與 10 年平均值所暗示的相比，其中一些成本項目可能只會產生一點點差異。但是您了解我們，我的意思是，我們正在從可自由支配的支出的角度考慮每一美元，我們將盡可能嚴格地管理生產力和其他成本，因為我們將繼續調整當前的收入和銷量趨勢.

The next question comes from Allison Poliniak with Wells Fargo.

下一個問題來自富國銀行的 Allison Poliniak。

James on for Allison. Actually, I just wanted to get a little bit more color on September and just kind of wanted to understand if there was a mix shift in the in that month that might have impacted yields and trying to sort of get a sense of what pricing was independent of sort of that mix shift change and sort of how we should think about that moving forward?

詹姆斯換艾莉森。實際上，我只是想在 9 月獲得更多顏色，只是想了解當月是否存在可能影響收益率的混合變化，並試圖了解什麼定價是獨立的那種混合轉變的變化，以及我們應該如何考慮向前發展？

Yes, nothing major that we have not already been seeing certainly that our weight per shipment has been trending higher, as I mentioned, at least through the third quarter. And then our length of haul has been a bit lower as well. That's down almost 1%. So both of those metrics putting a little downward pressure on that reported revenue per hundredweight metric. And which I think we've talked a little bit about that on the last earnings call. Overall, excluding the fuel surcharge, the revenue per hundredweight was up 7%. So we're still seeing good yield performance overall. And then those yields are mix metrics, if you will, somewhat reconcile how we got from the growth rate that we are seeing for the second quarter to the third quarter.

是的，正如我所提到的，至少在第三季度，我們還沒有看到我們的每批貨物重量一直呈上升趨勢。然後我們的運輸距離也短了一些。這下降了近 1%。因此，這兩個指標都對報告的每英擔指標收入施加了一些下行壓力。我認為我們在上次財報電話會議上已經談了一點。總體而言，剔除燃油附加費，每英擔收入增長 7%。因此，我們仍然看到整體收益表現良好。然後這些收益率是混合指標，如果你願意的話，可以在某種程度上協調我們從第二季度到第三季度的增長率中獲得的結果。

But overall, as contracts are renewing, we're continuing to look for increases and design with our long-term philosophy is we always are looking to try to increase yields to offset our cost inflation. I would say, core inflation is probably a bit higher than what some of these increases we're getting right now just dealing with this inflationary environment. But we're always looking at things on a long-term basis. And so we're continuing to make progress on those renewals, try to get our cost-plus type pricing to ultimately support the investments that we're making back in the system.

但總體而言，隨著合同的續簽，我們將繼續尋求增長，我們的長期理念是我們一直在尋求提高收益率以抵消成本膨脹。我想說的是，核心通脹可能比我們現在在應對這種通脹環境時得到的一些增長要高一些。但我們總是著眼長遠。因此，我們將繼續在這些續訂方面取得進展，嘗試讓我們的成本加成型定價最終支持我們在系統中進行的投資。

We've invested a lot in real estate capital expenditures. When you look over the last 10 years, it's been almost $4 billion of investment in total with about $2 billion going into our real estate network. So I think we've certainly done a good job of making sure we're investing ahead of growth, and we don't want the network to be a limiting factor to our ability to grow. And so it's been important to build in that capacity into the service center network, and it certainly makes years like 2021 and the growth that we've seen in revenue this year possible.

我們在房地產資本支出方面投入了大量資金。回顧過去 10 年，總投資近 40 億美元，其中約 20 億美元進入我們的房地產網絡。所以我認為我們確實做得很好，確保我們在增長之前進行投資，我們不希望網絡成為我們增長能力的限制因素。因此，在服務中心網絡中建立這種能力非常重要，它肯定會讓像 2021 年這樣的年份以及我們今年看到的收入增長成為可能。

Got it. And just a follow-up on that, just given the renewals that you're seeing, the sort of efficiency in the network, like if tonnage trends continue negatively or even sort of become more negative, do you just -- is 2023 a year that you can still get OR expansion sort of at or above 100 basis points? Or are you going to start bumping up against fixed costs fairly soon?

知道了。只是對此的跟進，鑑於您所看到的續訂，網絡中的效率，例如如果噸位趨勢繼續負面甚至變得更加負面，您是否只是 - 是 2023 年您仍然可以在 100 個基點或以上獲得 OR 擴展嗎？或者你會很快開始對抗固定成本嗎？

Well, I think the thing that we typically see in the past, and you can look at sort of 2016, 2019, as an example, is when we get into an environment where revenue is flat to down overall, that's something where we are going to continue to invest, like Greg mentioned in his comments earlier, we're going to continue to invest for the long term. And so that often creates a little headwind, if you will, on the depreciation cost as a percent of revenue.

嗯，我認為我們過去通常看到的事情，你可以看看 2016 年、2019 年，例如，當我們進入一個整體收入持平到下降的環境時，這就是我們要去的地方為了繼續投資，就像格雷格之前在評論中提到的那樣，我們將繼續長期投資。因此，如果您願意的話，這通常會在折舊成本佔收入的百分比方面產生一些不利影響。

But the OR change that we saw in '16 and '19, the slight deterioration in those periods was pretty much limited to that change in depreciation cost as a percent of revenue. We certainly are looking to manage all of our variable costs to match what those revenue volume trends are. We'll be looking for productivity. And we'll be looking closely at every dollar that we spend. We certainly want to spend dollars when there's an appropriate return that's there and don't want to do anything that it might limit our long-term performance. But you just got to be careful when it comes to discretionary spending.

但是我們在 16 年和 19 年看到的 OR 變化，這些時期的輕微惡化幾乎僅限於折舊成本佔收入百分比的變化。我們當然希望管理所有可變成本，以匹配這些收入趨勢。我們將尋求生產力。我們將密切關注我們花費的每一美元。當有適當的回報時，我們當然想花錢，並且不想做任何可能限制我們長期業績的事情。但是，在可自由支配的支出方面，你必須小心。

So we've generally been able to manage all those other costs flat. Our cost structure is highly variable, more than 2/3, almost 3/4 of our cost is variable now. So we just continue to work those costs as best we can. Look for productivity in any way that we can save money to offset any kind of pressure we may be seeing on the top line.

所以我們通常能夠管理所有其他成本。我們的成本結構是高度可變的，超過 2/3，現在幾乎 3/4 的成本是可變的。因此，我們只是繼續盡可能地處理這些成本。以任何可以節省資金的方式尋找生產力，以抵消我們可能在頂線上看到的任何壓力。

The next question comes from Jordan Alliger with Goldman Sachs.

下一個問題來自高盛的 Jordan Alliger。

Just a follow-up maybe on the cost front, looking ahead beyond even the current quarter, you talked about inflation. Is there any relief on the inflation front, whether it be on the wage side. I assume on the purchased transport side, but just sort of your thoughts on sort of the cost inflation environment as we move beyond this? What you're seeing today?

可能只是在成本方面的後續行動，甚至超越當前季度，您談到了通貨膨脹。通脹方面是否有任何緩解，無論是在工資方面。我假設在購買的運輸方面，但是當我們超越這一點時，你對成本通脹環境的看法？你今天看到了什麼？

Well, from a core inflation standpoint, as we go into next year, I think everybody in this country is probably hoping for seeing some type of relief. And really, I think that starts with we've got to have improvement on the energy side. Energy drives inflation overall for this country, and we've got to see some type of movement there. And I think that gives -- kind of removes the hurdle of uncertainty for many business owners and our customers because then it should control what the Fed action may be.

好吧，從核心通脹的角度來看，隨著我們進入明年，我認為這個國家的每個人都可能希望看到某種緩解。真的，我認為首先我們必須在能源方面有所改善。能源推動了這個國家的整體通脹，我們必須看到那裡的某種運動。我認為這為許多企業主和我們的客戶消除了不確定性的障礙，因為它應該控制美聯儲可能採取的行動。

And so once you get those, then I think at least cleared, you get reinvestment back in businesses and so forth and hopefully start seeing freight flows once again a little bit stronger at the levels that we anticipated when we started this year. But for us, in particular, salary wages and benefits are probably 65% of our total cost.

因此，一旦你得到這些，那麼我認為至少可以清除，你可以重新投資於業務等等，並希望開始看到貨運流量再次達到我們今年開始時預期的水平。但對我們來說，尤其是工資和福利可能占我們總成本的 65%。

And we did just give a wage increase at the 1st of September this year, rewarding our employees for the performance that they've been able to produce over this last year. And so we control that element of inflation. Certainly, on the benefit side, we've seen a little bit higher cost later on some of the medical costs in particular. But as we continue to improve pay time off benefits and some of those other features that we've rewarded employees with.

我們確實在今年 9 月 1 日加薪，獎勵我們的員工在去年的表現。所以我們控制了通貨膨脹的因素。當然，在福利方面，我們後來看到一些醫療費用的成本更高一些。但是，隨著我們繼續改進帶薪休假福利以及我們獎勵員工的其他一些功能。

Another 15% of our costs there are the operating supplies and expenses. Fuel is obviously a big component. I think our surcharge program has been effective at offsetting the increase there, and we hope that we'll see a decrease as we make our way through 2023. And that should help on some of the parts and other component tires and so forth that we've taken big increases on this year.

另外 15% 的成本是運營用品和費用。燃料顯然是一個重要組成部分。我認為我們的附加費計劃已經有效地抵消了那裡的增長，我們希望隨著我們在 2023 年的前進，我們會看到減少。這應該有助於我們的一些零件和其他組件輪胎等等已在今年大幅增加。

And then certainly, on the depreciation side, with respect to equipment, we've taken some increases there. We hope some of those moderate as we get into next year as well. We haven't finalized what our equipment orders and what pricing and so forth will look like. But those are some of the biggest elements. We certainly have faced increased insurance premiums like every other carrier over the past several years and again, it's just you got to keep looking for ways that when you know you got an increase in one area, so you've got to try to find some savings in the other.

當然，在折舊方面，就設備而言，我們在那裡進行了一些增加。我們希望其中一些溫和的，因為我們進入明年也是如此。我們還沒有最終確定我們的設備訂單和定價等等。但這些是一些最大的元素。在過去的幾年裡，我們當然像其他所有運營商一樣面臨著保險費上漲的情況，只是你必須繼續尋找方法，當你知道你在一個領域有所增加時，所以你必須嘗試找到一些儲蓄在另一個。

And the biggest area for us will be to continue to focus on improved productivity with salaries, wages and benefits being our biggest cost element, we can offset. We control the inflation, but we can help ourselves by continuing to drive improved performance in those areas.

對我們來說，最大的領域將是繼續專注於提高生產力，工資、工資和福利是我們最大的成本要素，我們可以抵消。我們控制通貨膨脹，但我們可以通過繼續推動這些領域的績效改善來幫助自己。

The next question comes from Scott Group with Wolfe Research.

下一個問題來自 Scott Group 和 Wolfe Research。

Adam, I wanted to just follow up. I thought I heard you say that core inflation is now tracking above some of the recent pricing increases you're getting. That feels like a pretty big change just for third quarter rent per shipment ex fuel is up 9%. So just add a little bit of color or clarity to what you're saying there.

亞當，我只想跟進。我想我聽到你說核心通脹現在正在跟踪你最近獲得的一些價格上漲。這感覺就像一個相當大的變化，僅第三季度每批貨物的租金（不含燃料）就上漲了 9%。因此，只需為您所說的內容添加一點顏色或清晰度。

Well, just mainly talking about what we've seen in terms of cost on a per shipment basis. And sometimes those per shipment costs increase a little bit more when you're in a little bit softer environment overall. I mean we've still got a positive spread in terms of when you look at revenue per shipment performance versus its cost per shipment. And we certainly think that can continue overall. And that's -- the focus is always to try to achieve 100 to 150 basis points of positive spread overall and what we can get on a revenue per shipment basis with the fuel versus what the cost per shipment with the fuel can be as well. But just looking at things on a pure cost per shipment basis is certainly trending a lot higher than what I had thought.

好吧，只是主要談談我們在每批貨物的成本方面所看到的情況。有時，當您處於整體較軟的環境中時，每次運輸的成本會增加一點。我的意思是，當您查看每批貨物的收入與每批貨物的成本時，我們仍然有一個正的價差。我們當然認為這可以總體上繼續下去。這就是 - 重點始終是嘗試在整體上實現 100 到 150 個基點的正價差，以及我們可以從每批燃料的收入與每批燃料的成本之間獲得什麼。但是，僅根據每批貨物的純成本來看，趨勢肯定比我想像的要高得多。

I thought we would see moderation in the back half of this year, as we started comping against some of the increased inflationary items that we experienced in the second half of '21, but certainly, that moderation hasn't happened. So we're still seeing some pretty big increases, and I think a lot of it is driven by these increased fuel prices that have just remained high throughout the year.

我認為我們會在今年下半年看到放緩，因為我們開始應對我們在 21 年下半年經歷的一些增加的通脹項目，但可以肯定的是，這種放緩並沒有發生。因此，我們仍然看到一些相當大的增長，我認為其中很大一部分是由這些全年保持高位的燃料價格上漲推動的。

We thought we were going to start seeing some relief a few weeks ago on that as it started trending down a little bit the last 2, 3 weeks. I think it's back up about $0.50 over where we had dropped to a bit prior. But no, no change in terms of what we're going to be looking for from an increased standpoint and what we think we can achieve because again, we've got to have cost-plus pricing in our business that offset that inflation, but more importantly, to keep supporting the reinvestment back in our business.

我們認為我們將在幾週前開始看到一些緩解，因為它在過去 2、3 週開始略有下降。我認為它比我們之前跌到的地方回升了大約 0.50 美元。但是，不，從更高的角度來看，我們將要尋找的東西以及我們認為我們可以實現的目標沒有改變，因為我們必須在我們的業務中採用成本加成定價來抵消通貨膨脹，但是更重要的是，繼續支持對我們業務的再投資。

So you weren't trying to imply that pricing is all of a sudden slowing a lot or anything like that.

所以你並沒有試圖暗示定價突然放緩很多或類似的東西。

No, not at all. And if I said that, I misspoke for sure. Now we're really pleased, I think when you look at in terms of the yield trends that we've had all year, they certainly have been very positive, and that's continuing into October. And we didn't -- I gave the number in terms of what we're seeing from a -- at least as of right now, what the tonnage is doing. But certainly, that implies that, that revenue per hundredweight, excluding the fuel is pretty consistent with where we were, maybe a touch higher for the third quarter overall.

一點都不。如果我這麼說，我肯定說錯了。現在我們真的很高興，我認為當您查看我們全年的收益率趨勢時，它們肯定非常積極，並且一直持續到 10 月。而且我們沒有 - 我根據我們所看到的情況給出了這個數字 - 至少到目前為止，噸位正在做什麼。但可以肯定的是，這意味著每英擔的收入（不包括燃料）與我們的情況非常一致，可能在第三季度整體上略高。

And so we would certainly expect that as we continue to go through renewals, generally, if the mix has held [comps] in that number increases sequentially from quarter-to-quarter. And certainly, that will be the objective as we have increases coming due, and we'll be coming up fairly soon on the general rate increase as well. They will apply to about 25% of our business. But all of those factors, we've not really seen any change in the pricing environment.

因此，我們當然會期望，隨著我們繼續進行續訂，一般來說，如果組合保持 [comps]，那麼這個數字會按季度逐季增加。當然，這將是我們的目標，因為我們即將加息，而且我們也將很快實現總體加息。它們將適用於我們約 25% 的業務。但是所有這些因素，我們都沒有真正看到定價環境有任何變化。

It's remained steady throughout this year. And certainly, this quarter the increases we've been able to get.

這一年一直保持穩定。當然，本季度我們能夠獲得的增長。

The next question comes from Chris Wetherbee with Citigroup.

下一個問題來自花旗集團的 Chris Wetherbee。

Adam, I just wanted to make sure I understood the sequential cadence in operating ratio from 3Q to 4Q. I think you said it was maybe 400 basis points plus or minus relative to the 69.1%. I just want to make sure that, that is right. And then as you think about sort of the potential variables that maybe you could add to that. I guess that would kind of get you closer to OR -- flattish OR on a year-over-year basis, I think you're still below it based on the guidance. But I wanted to get a sense of conceptually as we start to string out over the next few quarters, what are some of the dynamics that could then start to potentially push a deterioration in the operating ratio?

亞當，我只是想確保我了解從 3Q 到 4Q 的營業比率的連續節奏。我想你說相對於 69.1% 可能是正負 400 個基點。我只是想確認一下，這是對的。然後當您考慮可能您可以添加的潛在變量時。我想這會讓你更接近 OR - 同比持平 OR，我認為根據指導，你仍然低於它。但我想從概念上了解，隨著我們在接下來的幾個季度開始拉開序幕，有哪些動態可能會開始潛在地推動運營比率的惡化？

Well, I mean, obviously, the top line is the biggest element. Certainly, when you've got revenue, that covers a lot of cost and some of those fixed cost elements that we have. But yes, the 400 basis point, plus or minus, that was off the 69.1% reported operating ratio. And obviously, just the delta versus the normal cadence, the biggest being that 100 basis point benefit that was onetime in nature that was recorded in the third quarter. But yes, we certainly transition into the next year.

好吧，我的意思是，很明顯，最重要的元素是最重要的。當然，當你有收入時，這涵蓋了很多成本和我們擁有的一些固定成本要素。但是，是的，400 個基點，正負，偏離了報告的 69.1% 的營業比率。顯然，只是增量與正常節奏相比，最大的是第三季度記錄的一次性自然收益 100 個基點。但是，是的，我們肯定會過渡到明年。

Typically, the first quarter is about 100 basis points worse than the fourth quarter. In the first quarter of '22, we had a 70 basis point improvement. So we know we've got some tougher comparisons coming up from both a top line standpoint and an operating ratio standpoint, just given the phenomenal performance that we've had this year. And it's almost 300 basis points improvement in the operating ratio from a year-to-date standpoint.

通常，第一季度比第四季度差大約 100 個基點。在 22 年第一季度，我們提高了 70 個基點。所以我們知道，考慮到我們今年的非凡表現，我們從收入的角度和運營比率的角度來看，我們有一些更嚴格的比較。從年初至今的角度來看，營業比率提高了近 300 個基點。

So it's been an incredibly strong year coming off of the improvement that we made in 2021. I mean the -- had $1.2 billion of revenue growth in, and we put another $900 million year-to-date on top of that. So in a probably a negative GDP environment. So I think we're probably in a stronger position than we've ever been in terms of going through a slower macro environment with respect to the relationships that we had with our customers.

因此，在我們在 2021 年取得的進步之後，這是令人難以置信的強勁一年。我的意思是，收入增長了 12 億美元，除此之外，我們今年迄今還投入了 9 億美元。因此，在可能出現負 GDP 的環境中。因此，就我們與客戶的關係而言，在經歷較慢的宏觀環境方面，我認為我們可能比以往任何時候都處於更有利的位置。

We mentioned earlier, we've not lost any business that we've got to try to go back and regain, if you will. It's just going to be a function of when our customers have more freight to be able to give to us. And so that's encouraging. I've mentioned that I feel like the October trend is encouraging as well. So just be a function of getting through kind of this winter and seeing where that baseline becomes where we finished the fourth quarter of this year from a volume standpoint and then getting through 1Q.

我們之前提到過，如果您願意的話，我們沒有失去任何我們必須嘗試回去重新獲得的業務。這只是當我們的客戶有更多的運費可以給我們時的一個功能。所以這是令人鼓舞的。我已經提到過，我覺得 10 月份的趨勢也令人鼓舞。因此，只需度過這個冬天，看看基線從銷量的角度來看我們在今年第四季度完成的地方，然後通過第一季度。

And like I mentioned, seeing if we can't start getting some of that seasonal buildup that we would typically see coming to us early next year. But again, a lot of it in terms of an OR standpoint is it becomes more challenging to get year-over-year improvements in a flattish or a down revenue environment. But like I mentioned before, for us, it's -- we're going to manage all of our variable costs and then just sort of keep investing.

就像我提到的那樣，看看我們是否不能開始獲得一些我們通常會在明年初看到的季節性積累。但同樣，從 OR 的角度來看，其中很多是在收入持平或下降的環境中實現逐年改進變得更具挑戰性。但就像我之前提到的，對我們來說，我們將管理所有可變成本，然後繼續投資。

So we might see some loss there on the depreciation line, but that's something that we know once that volume returns to the business. And we say to produce long-term operating ratio improvement -- takes improvements in density and yield. So once it starts coming back to us, we've proven what we can do in terms of the model. And so getting that throughput through the system, I think we can start working and trying to achieve the long-term operating ratio goal that we laid out at the end of last year of producing a sub-70 annual operating ratio.

因此，我們可能會在折舊線上看到一些損失，但一旦數量恢復到業務中，我們就知道這一點。我們說要實現長期運營比率的提高——需要提高密度和產量。因此，一旦它開始回到我們身邊，我們就證明了我們可以在模型方面做些什麼。因此，通過系統獲得吞吐量，我認為我們可以開始工作並努力實現我們在去年年底制定的長期運營率目標，即年運營率低於 70。

Yes. Okay. That makes sense. And then you guys have done historically a good job of outperforming on a tonnage basis relative to peers, both I think in up cycles as well as down cycles. I guess as you think about this one, maybe with -- maybe more of your competitors leaning in from a growth perspective. I don't know if you would agree with that comment first off. But how do you sort of see that relative performance opportunity for you as you go through what could be a softer period over the course of the next year or so?

是的。好的。那講得通。然後你們在歷史上做得很好，相對於同行在噸位基礎上表現出色，我認為無論是在上升週期還是在下降週期。我想當您考慮這一點時，也許是-也許更多的競爭對手從增長的角度傾斜。我不知道您是否會首先同意該評論。但是，當您在接下來的一年左右的時間裡經歷一段可能較為疲軟的時期時，您如何看待這種相對的表現機會？

Well, a lot of times, our market share has been flatter, if you will, like, again, looking at 2016 and 2019, as recent examples. But for the last 3 quarters, while we've been still producing really solid volume growth, if you back us out at least from the public carrier group, volumes have been negative on a year-over-year basis going back to 4Q of last year. And really just looking at total tonnage, it's kind of on an average basis was flattish pretty much since the first quarter of '21 through second quarter of '22.

好吧，很多時候，我們的市場份額都比較平，如果你願意的話，就像最近的例子一樣，再看看 2016 年和 2019 年。但是在過去的三個季度中，雖然我們的銷量增長仍然非常穩健，但如果你至少讓我們退出公共運營商集團，那麼從上一季度的第四季度開始，銷量同比下降年。真的只看總噸位，從 21 年第一季度到 22 年第二季度，它的平均水平幾乎持平。

So we've certainly significantly increased our market share when you look at the volumes and the revenue trends for us through these last couple of years. But a lot of times, like I said, it's just -- it may be a point where we may get to where we're sort of flattish, if you will, with the group. But right now, it just -- it feels a little bit different. And that's what I mean by we've not lost when I look at our national account reporting talking to customers. There's more conversations about the value add that -- how we help customer supply chains really over these last couple of years as people have dealt with the pandemic and supply chain challenges.

因此，當您查看過去幾年我們的銷量和收入趨勢時，我們肯定顯著增加了我們的市場份額。但是很多時候，就像我說的那樣，這只是 - 如果你願意的話，這可能是我們可能會到達一個平淡無奇的地方，如果你願意的話。但現在，它只是 - 感覺有點不同。這就是我的意思是，當我查看與客戶交談的國民賬戶報告時，我們並沒有迷失方向。關於增值的討論越來越多——在過去幾年裡，隨著人們應對大流行和供應鏈挑戰，我們如何真正幫助客戶供應鏈。

And what we were able to do in '21, in particular, while there were a lot of capacity issues within the industry and to be able to support our customers and their growth and try to keep their networks and supply chain balanced. I think that's gone a long way. We've proven our value proposition. And so that's why I think we're in a better spot than perhaps we've ever been. So whenever we come out of this slower economic environment to really start building on the market share levels that we currently have in place.

尤其是我們在 21 年能夠做的事情，雖然行業內存在很多產能問題，並且能夠支持我們的客戶及其增長，並努力保持他們的網絡和供應鏈平衡。我認為這已經走了很長一段路。我們已經證明了我們的價值主張。所以這就是為什麼我認為我們比以往任何時候都更好。因此，每當我們擺脫這種放緩的經濟環境，真正開始建立我們目前擁有的市場份額水平時。

So yes, that's kind of what we've seen in the past and certainly where we think we might be, but where we've been flattish, we might still see a little positive delta from a share standpoint through the group. Certainly, we've been in probably 3 straight quarters of negative GDP. And when you compare our volume performance versus the other public carriers at least, there's probably been a wider spread there perhaps in other times in the past.

所以是的，這就是我們過去所看到的，當然我們認為我們可能會在哪裡，但在我們一直持平的地方，從整個集團的份額的角度來看，我們可能仍會看到一些積極的增量。當然，我們可能已經連續三個季度出現負 GDP。而且，當您至少將我們的銷量表現與其他公共運營商進行比較時，可能在過去的其他時候可能會有更廣泛的傳播。

The next question comes from Amit Mehrotra with Deutsche Bank.

下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Amit Mehrotra。

Adam, I don't know if you mentioned this before, but you talked about October being a little bit better. Can you just quantify that for us? Like typically, obviously, what's the historical shipment volume or tonnage volume from October -- September to October versus what it was? And then less of a nitpicky question. I guess I'm not so worried about Old Dominion's ability to see a positive spread between revenue and cost per shipment. I think you've done it 10 in the last 15 years because obviously, the MASTIO data and the service and you guys are just best in class there. But I guess the question really is the industry's ability to see positive yield ex-fuel growth next year. And some of this is a pricing discipline question for the industry, which I ask every quarter, but I just want to get your perspective in terms of what you think the industry's ability to see yield ex fuel positive pricing is next year based on everything you're seeing out there from a pricing perspective?

亞當，我不知道你之前是否提到過這一點，但你說十月會好一些。你能為我們量化一下嗎？通常，很明顯，從 10 月到 9 月到 10 月的歷史裝運量或噸位是多少？然後就不那麼挑剔的問題了。我想我並不擔心 Old Dominion 能否看到每批貨物的收入和成本之間的正差。我認為您在過去 15 年中已經完成了 10 次，因為很明顯，MASTIO 數據和服務以及你們在那裡是同類中最好的。但我想問題真的是該行業明年是否有能力看到除燃料外的正收益增長。其中一些是該行業的定價紀律問題，我每個季度都會問這個問題，但我只是想了解您的看法，您認為該行業在明年看到基於您的一切的收益率（不含燃料）正定價的能力是什麼'從定價的角度來看？

Sure. Yes. One, thank you for recognizing the service performance. And certainly, as we said, service supports yield. You can't go into an account at a renewal. You've had service failures and so forth and have had rolling embargoes and missed pickups, late deliveries, damage shipments, those types of things and to be able to get the consistent increases like we've been able to achieve, really going back for many years now. But that is a differentiated quality from us versus the group as well as I think that we look for consistency with our program is not necessarily in whose favor is the market today versus tomorrow. We just want to build in a fair approach that tries to create win-win scenarios for us and for our customers.

當然。是的。一、感謝您對服務業績的認可。當然，正如我們所說，服務支持收益。您不能在續訂時進入帳戶。您遇到過服務故障等等，並且遇到過滾動禁運和錯過取件、延遲交付、損壞貨物等類型的事情，並且能夠像我們已經能夠實現的那樣獲得持續的增長，真的回去了現在很多年了。但這是我們與集團之間的差異化質量，我認為我們尋求與我們的計劃的一致性並不一定是今天與明天的市場對誰有利。我們只是想建立一種公平的方法，試圖為我們和我們的客戶創造雙贏的局面。

They know what the -- how to forecast and plan for from an expense standpoint. But more importantly, they can recognize the value, and there's a difference between price and cost. And I think we're increasingly seeing customers recognize that value that we're able to deliver for them. But -- so we certainly will continue with our initiatives, and I can't comment on what the other carriers will be doing and what their strategies will be going forward. But I think that, like I mentioned, the last 3 quarters, the other carriers at least, have been negative from a volume standpoint and have continued to push pricing.

他們知道什麼——如何從費用的角度進行預測和計劃。但更重要的是，他們可以識別價值，價格和成本之間存在差異。而且我認為我們越來越多地看到客戶認識到我們能夠為他們提供的價值。但是 - 所以我們肯定會繼續我們的舉措，我無法評論其他運營商將做什麼以及他們的戰略將如何發展。但我認為，就像我提到的那樣，過去三個季度，至少其他運營商從數量的角度來看一直是負面的，並繼續推動定價。

So it's hard to imagine that, that changes and certainly seems like that's been favorable to their financial results. There's been general improvement and industry dynamics appears. But yes, our yield philosophy has been different from the group for many years, and certainly it's been rewarding for us and has allowed us to do a lot of things in terms of the investment cycle and the dollars that we've been able to put into our system, to keep growing and to have the baseline.

因此，很難想像這種變化，而且看起來肯定有利於他們的財務業績。總體改善，行業動態顯現。但是，是的，我們的收益率理念多年來一直與集團不同，當然這對我們來說是有回報的，並且讓我們在投資週期和我們能夠投入的資金方面做很多事情進入我們的系統，以保持增長並擁有基線。

We've probably got 20% to 25% excess capacity in the system today. And so we know we're building up from that next big leg of growth comes to us, and we're confident in what our long-term market share capabilities should be and feel like that we can get through the challenges of the short term and softer economic environment. But it's what you do in those upcycles that really make a difference. And so you have a lot of encouraging trends, if you will, for us and just we want to make sure that we stay ahead of the game and have got the capacity. We've got the people and we've got the fleet to be able to take advantage of the next up cycle whenever it starts.

我們今天的系統可能有 20% 到 25% 的過剩產能。因此，我們知道我們正在從下一個重要的增長階段開始建設，我們對我們的長期市場份額能力充滿信心，並且感覺我們可以度過短期的挑戰和較軟的經濟環境。但你在這些上升週期中所做的事情確實會有所作為。所以你有很多令人鼓舞的趨勢，如果你願意的話，對我們來說，我們只是想確保我們在比賽中保持領先並有能力。我們有人員，我們有車隊，以便能夠在下一個上升週期開始時利用它。

And what about the October versus September data point?

那麼 10 月與 9 月的數據點呢？

Yes, sure. From a tonnage standpoint, and again, keep in mind, we typically don't even talk about the details. We just give sort of an average change in the revenue. But just knowing the sensitivity around at this point. But the number will change a little bit as we finish out these final few days of the month. But right now, what we're seeing from a month-to-date standpoint. It looks like that we're going to be pretty much right in line with the normal sequential change for October.

是的，當然。從噸位的角度來看，請記住，我們通常甚至不談論細節。我們只是給出了收入的平均變化。但只是知道此時的敏感性。但是隨著我們在這個月的最後幾天結束，這個數字會發生一些變化。但是現在，從本月至今的角度來看，我們所看到的。看起來我們將與 10 月份的正常順序變化基本一致。

Typically, October decreases about 3.5% sequentially versus September. And we're right in that ballpark. And certainly, it can move around a little bit as we finish out the month. But that's really the first time since February of this year that the numbers have pretty much been in alignment. So we'll look and see. There's not necessarily a positive catalyst coming, if you will. But if we can kind of keep touch and keep pace with normal sequential trends, the positive catalyst meaning in the economy right now. But if we can kind of keep pace with these normal sequentials as we go through 4Q and 1Q, then we have an idea of what type of buildup we might see sequentially as we start getting into the spring of next year.

通常，10 月份與 9 月份相比環比下降約 3.5%。我們就在那個球場上。當然，當我們結束這個月時，它可能會稍微移動一點。但這確實是自今年 2 月以來數字幾乎一致的第一次。所以我們會看看。如果你願意的話，不一定會有積極的催化劑到來。但是，如果我們能夠保持聯繫並跟上正常的連續趨勢，那麼目前經濟中的積極催化劑意義。但是，如果我們在經歷 4Q 和 1Q 時能夠跟上這些正常的順序，那麼我們就會知道當我們開始進入明年春天時，我們可能會看到哪種類型的積累。

The next question comes from Todd Fowler with KeyBanc Capital Markets.

下一個問題來自 KeyBanc Capital Markets 的 Todd Fowler。

So Adam, I think you've touched on this in a couple of different ways on the call here, but I just wanted to kind of square up the comments on the weight per shipment. It was up in the third quarter. It sounds like it's still trending positive. But your comments about customers seeing less demand, I would think that, that would have some impact where there just be less freight on each pallet. So can you just talk a little bit about the mix and what's been going on with weight per shipment? It seems like it's in the kind of a normalized level, but just want to make sure that that's the right way to think about it right now.

所以亞當，我認為你在這裡的電話中以幾種不同的方式談到了這一點，但我只是想對每批貨物重量的評論進行整理。它在第三季度上升。聽起來它仍然呈積極趨勢。但是你對客戶看到需求減少的評論，我認為，這會產生一些影響，因為每個托盤上的貨物更少。那麼，您能否談談混合情況以及每次裝運重量的情況？它似乎處於一種標準化水平，但只是想確保這是現在考慮它的正確方式。

Yes. It -- from a sequential standpoint, it decreased about 10 pounds from the second quarter to the third quarter. And right now in October, it's pretty much about the same as where we were right around 1,560 pounds, if you will. And so yes, if that trend held through the fourth quarter, then we would be looking at a decrease. We took action last year in terms of getting some of the heavier weighted shipments out of our system. Some of those spot quote systems -- shipments as well. Those spot quote of the total of our business have decreased as a result of what we're doing last year, really in an effort to protect capacity for our existing LTL customers and make sure that we can deliver what they needed.

是的。它——從連續的角度來看，它從第二季度到第三季度減少了大約 10 磅。現在在 10 月，如果你願意的話，它與我們大約 1,560 磅的情況幾乎相同。所以是的，如果這種趨勢一直持續到第四季度，那麼我們將會看到下降。去年，我們採取了行動，將一些較重的貨物從我們的系統中取出。其中一些現貨報價系統——還有發貨。由於我們去年所做的事情，我們業務總量的現貨報價有所減少，實際上是為了保護我們現有 LTL 客戶的產能並確保我們能夠提供他們需要的東西。

And -- but we started seeing an increase sequentially in the fourth quarter of '21 versus that low watermark that we hit in 3Q. So it went from 1,538 pounds up to 1,575 pounds in 4Q and then increase further in the first quarter of this year to 1,589 pounds. And then since that point, it's been declining a bit. But yes, I mean that supporting last year was such a strong fourth quarter in terms of -- we ended up with an increase in our tons per day. It's typically down about 1.5% and we were actually up almost 2.5% sequentially versus the third quarter. So that strength as we went through 4Q was why we had such high expectations coming into this year, and it's just been sort of this flattish environment, if you will, from a volume standpoint all year. But yes, that's kind of what we've been seeing from a weight per shipment standpoint.

而且 - 但我們在 21 年第四季度開始看到連續增長，而我們在第三季度達到的低水位線。因此，它在第四季度從 1,538 磅升至 1,575 磅，然後在今年第一季度進一步增加至 1,589 磅。然後從那以後，它一直在下降。但是，是的，我的意思是去年第四季度的支持如此強勁——我們最終每天的噸數增加了。它通常下降約 1.5%，與第三季度相比，我們實際上環比增長了近 2.5%。因此，我們在經歷第四季度時的實力就是為什麼我們對今年有如此高的期望，如果你願意的話，從全年的數量來看，這只是一種平淡的環境。但是，是的，從每批貨物的重量的角度來看，這就是我們所看到的。

Okay. No, that sounds -- I mean, tonnage being down a little bit, the weight per shipment holding in seems like a decent combination all things considered. Just for a follow-up, I'm curious if you have any comments on headcount, it was down sequentially, I guess, is that's probably letting a little bit of attrition kind of run its course, and I don't think the fourth quarter is a big hiring period. But how should we think about the cadence of headcount either sequentially or year-over-year, just given the demand trends?

好的。不，這聽起來——我的意思是，噸位下降了一點，每批貨物的重量似乎是一個不錯的組合。只是為了跟進，我很好奇你是否對員工人數有任何評論，我猜它是依次下降的，這可能是讓一些減員順其自然，我不認為第四季度是一個重要的招聘時期。但是，考慮到需求趨勢，我們應該如何考慮按順序或按年計算員工人數的節奏呢？

Todd, I think you'll continue to see that trend track our shipments. Right now, like you said, we've been simply letting attrition take care of our needs or move it back in the right direction. But -- and we would continue to do that through the first quarter, which is typically our slowest quarter. But we aren't really hiring or filling vacancies and whatnot, but not much going on from that standpoint at this point in time.

托德，我想你會繼續看到這種趨勢跟踪我們的出貨量。現在，就像你說的那樣，我們只是讓減員來滿足我們的需求或將其移回正確的方向。但是 - 我們將在第一季度繼續這樣做，這通常是我們最慢的季度。但我們並沒有真正招聘或填補空缺等等，但從這個角度來看，目前沒有太多進展。

Got it. So you've got a little bit of a glide path for the next couple of quarters just on the attrition front.

知道了。因此，在接下來的幾個季度中，就在減員方面，您已經有了一些下滑的路徑。

Yes, I think so. But keep in mind, we've continued to have driving schools and continue to work those and continue to get drivers trained because we know this thing will change at some point in time, and we'll come out on the other side in a better position certainly from -- I think, from a driver standpoint and certainly from a capacity standpoint. So I think we're doing some of the right things today to set the stage for when times do recover and get better and as has been in the past in our business, you know that time will come, hopefully, sooner than later.

是的，我想是這樣。但請記住，我們繼續開辦駕駛學校，繼續開展工作，繼續培訓司機，因為我們知道這件事會在某個時間點發生變化，我們會以更好的方式出現在另一邊位置肯定來自 - 我認為，從駕駛員的角度來看，當然從能力的角度來看。因此，我認為我們今天正在做一些正確的事情，為時間恢復和變得更好奠定基礎，就像我們過去的業務一樣，你知道時間會來得更快，希望比遲早到來。

The next question comes from Ravi Shanker with Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Ravi Shanker。

Adam, I just wanted to follow up on some of the tonnage commentary already. Specifically, if we were to take a little bit of a glass-half-full approach here, I think you said in the start of the call that you kind of underperformed on share for like 3 to 4 quarters and already 3 quarters into it, if you historically look at like your tonnage stays negative for like 2 or 3 months maximum and you're already kind of pretty much all the way into that. You did say that you don't think that there is a positive catalyst on the horizon. But what are you looking for any potential signs of the cycle may be turning and we may be kind of in a restock kind of uptick position maybe in the next couple of months.

亞當，我只是想跟進一些噸位評論。具體來說，如果我們在這裡採取一點點半滿的方法，我想你在電話會議開始時說過，你在 3 到 4 個季度和已經 3 個季度的股票表現不佳，如果您從歷史上看，您的噸位最多保持負數 2 或 3 個月，而您已經幾乎一直處於這種狀態。你確實說過你不認為即將出現積極的催化劑。但是你在尋找什麼週期的任何潛在跡象可能正在轉變，我們可能會在未來幾個月內處於補貨的上升位置。

Well, I mean, the biggest thing is just the conversations that we've had with customers. Like I said earlier, I think that there's just so much uncertainty in the market today. And that just gets in the psyche of business owners in terms of the risk that they're going to take for capital. I think there's still a labor issue and supply chain issue that is impacting many customers today. And we've heard first hand that just given the uncertainty out there with the economy that some customers have made the decision to not be as aggressive to fill open positions from a labor standpoint for fear of what may come on the demand side for their business.

嗯，我的意思是，最重要的就是我們與客戶的對話。就像我之前說的，我認為今天的市場存在很多不確定性。就他們將為資本承擔的風險而言，這只會讓企業主感到不安。我認為今天仍然存在影響許多客戶的勞工問題和供應鏈問題。我們直接聽到的是，鑑於經濟的不確定性，一些客戶已決定不從勞工的角度積極填補空缺職位，因為他們擔心他們的業務需求方面可能會出現什麼情況.

But I think that we certainly -- when you think about there's 3 big layers of uncertainty that people are facing right now, the upcoming midterm elections. And then after that, you've got clarity at least for the next couple of years. But then comes to the energy issue that it's got to be dealt with. We've got to see some type of improvement overall in terms of where fuel prices are and the impact that has on overall inflation for the domestic economy. And I think that if that riddle get solved, then you get some clarity in terms of the interest rate environment.

但我認為我們當然——當你考慮到人們現在面臨的三大不確定性時，即將到來的中期選舉。然後在那之後，至少在接下來的幾年裡，你已經清楚了。但接下來是必須處理的能源問題。就燃料價格的走勢以及對國內經濟整體通脹的影響而言，我們必須看到某種類型的總體改善。而且我認為，如果這個謎題得到解決，那麼你就可以清楚地了解利率環境。

And so I think we've got to start knocking some of those down to get back into a growth type of mode. But even when we look back at prior periods, be it even looking as bad as 2009 was, we started getting growth and the sequential growth that is in the spring of that year. So we had a really bad 4Q '08 and 1Q from a sequential standpoint, like many businesses did.

因此，我認為我們必須開始將其中一些打倒，以恢復增長模式。但是，即使我們回顧之前的時期，即使看起來像 2009 年一樣糟糕，我們也開始獲得增長，並在當年春天實現了連續增長。因此，從連續的角度來看，我們在 08 年第四季度和第一季度的表現非常糟糕，就像許多企業一樣。

But looking at 2016, another slower environment, same kind of thing where the fourth quarter of '15, things are slowing down. We kind of went through the winter. We started getting build up back in the spring. At some point, people have got to get some inventory back in the system and I know there's been a lot of conversation about inventories, but frankly, we continue to face issues in terms of getting parts.

但看看 2016 年，另一個較慢的環境，就像 15 年第四季度一樣，事情正在放緩。我們經歷了一個冬天。我們在春天開始建立起來。在某些時候，人們必須在系統中恢復一些庫存，我知道關於庫存的討論很多，但坦率地說，我們繼續面臨獲取零件方面的問題。

Many of our customers give us the same feedback that they don't have the right levels of the inventories in the right places. So that creates freight demand. And we still look at an inventory to sales ratio that's lower than pre-pandemic levels. So I think there's certainly a lot of factors that have got to be dealt with, but just having those conversations with customers and our sales team, we're doing that on a day in and day out basis.

我們的許多客戶都向我們提供了相同的反饋，即他們在正確的地方沒有正確的庫存水平。所以這就產生了貨運需求。而且我們仍然看到庫存與銷售的比率低於大流行前的水平。所以我認為肯定有很多因素需要處理，但只是與客戶和我們的銷售團隊進行這些對話，我們每天都在這樣做。

We're trying to figure out what their plans are going into next year, and we take those from each of our sales account representatives, each of our service center managers at our 255 locations and tried to build that into somewhat a baseline forecast plan to build around from an equipment planning standpoint, headcount planning, service center capacity planning.

我們正試圖弄清楚他們明年的計劃，我們從我們的每個銷售客戶代表、我們在 255 個地點的每個服務中心經理那裡獲取這些計劃，並試圖將其構建成一個基線預測計劃從設備規劃、人員規劃、服務中心能力規劃的角度進行構建。

But that's the best feedback. And you can read all the economic reports in the world, but the best is feedback we get from the ground up to help us plan for our business.

但這是最好的反饋。你可以閱讀世界上所有的經濟報告，但最好的是我們從頭開始獲得的反饋，以幫助我們規劃我們的業務。

Great. And maybe as a quick follow-up. I apologize if I missed this and you said it, but are you seeing any signs of TL players kind of trying to encroach into the LTL market kind of given how loose things are on the TL side?

偉大的。也許作為快速跟進。如果我錯過了這一點，我很抱歉，你說過，但你是否看到任何 TL 玩家試圖侵入 LTL 市場的跡象，因為 TL 方面的事情有多鬆散？

Not really. And the reason for that is where that may come into play and has in the past, say, back in the 2018 time frame would be on some of those spot quote-type shipments. Before the strategic actions that we took last year spot-quote shipments are like 8,000 to 10,000 pounds type loads. And historically, 10,000 pounds somewhat define the LTL industry. But those heavier shipments, you might have a truckload carrier come in and try to build multiple stops or just be willing to take 1 load, if you will, and not with that spillover type of freight.

並不真地。其原因在於，這可能會在過去發揮作用，例如，早在 2018 年的時間範圍內，這些現貨報價類型的出貨量就會出現。在我們去年採取的戰略行動之前，即期報價裝運量大約是 8,000 到 10,000 磅類型的貨物。從歷史上看，10,000 磅在某種程度上定義了 LTL 行業。但是對於那些較重的貨物，您可能會請卡車承運人進來並嘗試建立多個站點，或者如果願意的話，只願意承擔 1 個負載，而不是那種溢出類型的貨運。

But the actions that we took last year were designed to try to get some of that freight that wouldn't be as sticky proactively out of our system. And so as a result, those spot-quote shipments that used to average maybe 5% of our total, so a small number overall, it's probably more like 1% to 2% at this point. So we were fortunate that we proactively tried to flush some of that out of the network, really designed us to make sure that we were protecting our consistent LTL shippers and the capacity means that they had, in particular last year and what we thought was going to transpire this year as well.

但是我們去年採取的行動旨在嘗試從我們的系統中獲取一些不會像以前那樣粘滯的貨物。因此，那些過去平均可能占我們總數的 5% 的現貨報價出貨量，所以總體上是一個很小的數字，此時可能更像是 1% 到 2%。所以我們很幸運，我們主動嘗試將其中的一些從網絡中清除，真正設計我們以確保我們保護我們一致的 LTL 托運人和他們擁有的能力意味著，特別是去年和我們認為會發生的事情今年也會發生。

But I don't think looking at some of our competitors wait for shipments that I think some other companies took a similar approach. I don't think that's as big of a kind of a challenge to work through. In the past there's -- that freight would swing back into the truckload. It creates somewhat a vacuum effect that other carriers would look to feel. I don't think that risk is out there as much as it has been in prior cycles.

但我不認為我們的一些競爭對手會等待發貨，我認為其他一些公司也採取了類似的方法。我不認為這是一個很大的挑戰。過去有 - 貨物會回到卡車裝載量。它在某種程度上產生了其他運營商看起來會感覺到的真空效應。我認為風險沒有以前的周期那麼大。

The next question comes from Bascome Majors with Susquehanna.

下一個問題來自 Bascome Majors 和 Susquehanna。

Following up on Todd's headcount question. If I look at your shipments per employee, they're still, call it, 8% below where they were this quarter in 2019. Can you talk a little bit about maybe a more bottoms-up look at productivity and your own metrics? How does productivity compare to history on the dock right now? How does the driver productivity compare? And just -- is there an opportunity in some of these tops-down metrics that we can calculate to get back to historic levels in a weaker demand environment? Or does it make sense to stay a little long head count in a structurally tighter labor market?

跟進托德的人數問題。如果我看看你們每個員工的出貨量，他們仍然，稱之為，比 2019 年本季度的水平低 8%。你能談談對生產力和你自己的指標進行更自下而上的看法嗎？與碼頭上的歷史相比，生產力如何？駕駛員的工作效率如何比較？只是——在一些自上而下的指標中，我們可以計算出在需求疲軟的環境中恢復到歷史水平的機會嗎？或者，在結構性緊縮的勞動力市場中保持長期的人數是否有意義？

Yes. I'll answer the last part of your question first, Bascome, but I think it definitely does make sense to stay a little long from a labor standpoint because we -- as we've talked about on prior calls, we had to work on awful lot of harder in the recent past to ramp up from a driver standpoint, particularly, that we have in over the years.

是的。我將首先回答你問題的最後一部分，Bascome，但我認為從勞工的角度來看，留一點時間肯定是有道理的，因為我們 - 正如我們在之前的電話中談到的那樣，我們必須努力從駕駛員的角度來看，最近很難提升，尤其是我們多年來所擁有的。

It's just much more difficult on (inaudible) the market, was a heck of a lot tighter, and we did work an awful lot harder than we always had in years before to ramp up. So for sure, we will be a little more diligent on trying to maintain that driver force and keep it as high a level as we possibly can without negatively affecting productivity.

在市場上（聽不清）要困難得多，要緊得多，而且我們確實比以前幾年來一直努力工作要努力得多。因此，可以肯定的是，我們會更加努力地嘗試保持這種驅動力，並在不對生產力產生負面影響的情況下將其保持在盡可能高的水平。

To go back to the general productivity question. We're starting to see some improvements -- some market improvement on the platform, which is a good thing, and it's pretty typical when we get in this environment. Our labor force becomes better trained and more experienced, and we start to see the positive improvement, positive change. And we are seeing that now. So that's certainly a good thing.

回到一般的生產力問題。我們開始看到一些改進——平台上的一些市場改進，這是一件好事，當我們進入這種環境時，這是非常典型的。我們的勞動力訓練有素，經驗更豐富，我們開始看到積極的進步，積極的變化。我們現在看到了這一點。所以這當然是一件好事。

Certainly, we struggle a little bit on the P&D side, the pickup and delivery side because we're obviously just not picking up the same number of shipments that at each stop that we were doing when we were really, really busy. So that's certainly more of a challenge. Your miles between stops and that kind of thing become a little greater and is certainly more difficult to keep up from that standpoint.

當然，我們在 P&D 方面、提貨和交付方面有點掙扎，因為我們顯然只是在每個站點接貨的數量不如我們在非常非常忙碌時所做的那樣。所以這肯定是一個更大的挑戰。您在停靠站之間的英里數和那種事情變得有點大，而且從這個角度來看肯定更難跟上。

So obviously, we'll continue to focus on those. We always think we have room for improvement, both P&D and platform and from a load factor standpoint. So we're continuing to stay laser-focused on those type of things and continue to try to drive some cost out when we can and where we can.

顯然，我們將繼續關注這些。我們一直認為我們有改進的空間，無論是 P&D 還是平台，從負載率的角度來看。因此，我們將繼續專注於這些類型的事情，並繼續嘗試在我們可以和可以的地方降低一些成本。

The next question comes from Bruce Chan with Stifel.

下一個問題來自於 Stifel 的 Bruce Chan。

This is Matt on for Bruce. Curious to get your current view on net capacity in the industry and maybe how you might expect it to trend over the next couple of years here.

這是布魯斯的馬特。很想知道您目前對該行業淨產能的看法，以及您可能期望它在未來幾年的趨勢如何。

Well, certainly, I think in this type of environment, there's certainly capacity out there much more so than it was last year back in the mid-2021 and prior. But I think we were the only one that maybe wasn't really suffering from a capacity standpoint. Certainly, we were in better shape than most. As Adam had mentioned before, we spent an awful lot of money to ramp up from capacity. And I think we've done an extremely good job of that.

好吧，當然，我認為在這種類型的環境中，與去年 2021 年中期及之前相比，那裡的容量肯定要大得多。但我認為我們是唯一一個從容量的角度來看可能並沒有真正受到影響的人。當然，我們的狀態比大多數人都好。正如亞當之前提到的，我們花了很多錢來增加產能。我認為我們在這方面做得非常好。

We continue to stay focused on building capacity. And like I mentioned before, we'll come out of this thing hopefully sooner than later, and we'll be in good shape. But I think there is some capacity obviously out there now. We don't see the same things going on this year that we did last year when carriers were in trouble, they set in bargains and various things to limit pickups and whatnot. And certainly, we're not seeing or hearing about those kind of things now.

我們將繼續專注於能力建設。就像我之前提到的，我們希望早日擺脫這種局面，我們會處於良好狀態。但我認為現在顯然有一些能力。我們沒有看到今年發生的事情與去年運營商陷入困境時所做的相同，他們進行了討價還價和各種限制皮卡等的事情。當然，我們現在沒有看到或聽到這類事情。

So yes, there is capacity obviously. But I think the question is, what's everybody doing to try to ramp up when the need arises on the other side. And you know what we're doing. We've got a large number of capacity increasing projects underway now, and we'll keep working on those. And again, like I said, be in better shape when volumes do change and when we start to pick back up. So we feel good about where we are. And honestly, what the others do, they do. And we can't -- certainly, can't control that.

所以是的，顯然有容量。但我認為問題是，當另一方出現需要時，每個人都在做些什麼來嘗試增加。你知道我們在做什麼。我們現在有大量的產能增加項目正在進行中，我們將繼續努力。同樣，就像我說的，當交易量發生變化並且我們開始回升時，狀態會更好。因此，我們對自己所處的位置感覺良好。老實說，其他人做什麼，他們做什麼。我們不能——當然，不能控制它。

Great. Lastly, are you guys seeing any changes or differences in underlying demand by specific end market or geography?

偉大的。最後，你們是否看到特定終端市場或地理位置的潛在需求有任何變化或差異？

No. We've probably seen a little bit better performance with our industrial-related accounts once again in the most recent quarter. It probably grew a couple of hundred basis points faster than the overall company average revenue growth rate. And on the retail side, it was probably a couple of hundred basis points below but overall still seeing growth in all segments, if you will, but there's probably a little bit better performance on the industrial side.

不。在最近一個季度，我們的工業相關賬戶可能再次出現了更好的表現。它的增長速度可能比公司整體平均收入增長率快幾百個基點。在零售方面，它可能低於幾百個基點，但如果你願意的話，總體上所有領域的增長仍然存在，但工業方面的表現可能會好一些。

And most of our regions, you got some growing a little bit more than others when we look at it. But most are staying fairly balanced, which is a good thing. It's helped us be able to effectively reduce our purchase transportation, which was a positive for the third quarter. We're effectively back to pre-pandemic levels in the sense that we're essentially fully insourced again, and that's where we wanted to be because we know that improves our service value overall. And so that's been a positive trend, if you will.

在我們的大多數地區，當我們看到它時，你的增長比其他地區多一點。但大多數人都保持相當平衡，這是一件好事。它幫助我們能夠有效地減少我們的採購運輸，這對第三季度來說是一個積極的因素。我們實際上已經回到了大流行前的水平，因為我們基本上再次完全內購，這就是我們想要的，因為我們知道這會提高我們的整體服務價值。所以這是一個積極的趨勢，如果你願意的話。

But if you don't have somewhat consistent growth in all those regions, you can get a little bit out of balance, and we might not have been able to achieve that objective. So that's been a positive development, at least to help from a service and a costing standpoint.

但是，如果您在所有這些地區沒有保持一定程度的持續增長，您可能會有點失衡，我們可能無法實現這一目標。所以這是一個積極的發展，至少從服務和成本的角度來看是有幫助的。

That's super helpful. Congratulations again on the exceptional performance.

這非常有幫助。再次祝賀出色的表現。

The next question comes from Todd Wadewitz with UBS.

下一個問題來自瑞銀的 Todd Wadewitz。

Yes. It's Tom Wadewitz. Just -- I think, Adam, you gave quite a bit of commentary on September, October, but I don't know if you offered what the revenue per hundredweight was kind of trending in October ex fuel. Can you give us kind of a sense of that, is that kind of stable or where is that at?

是的。是湯姆·韋德維茨。只是--我認為，亞當，您在 9 月和 10 月發表了很多評論，但我不知道您是否提供了 10 月不含燃料的每英磅收入的趨勢。你能給我們一種感覺嗎，那是穩定的還是在哪裡？

Yes, pretty stable. Tom, I didn't give a specific number, so to speak, but I just mentioned that it's right in line, maybe a little bit better than what we saw the average for the third quarter. We were up 7.2%, the revenue per hundredweight in the third quarter, excluding fuel surcharge and right about that same level in October.

是的，相當穩定。湯姆，我沒有給出具體的數字，可以這麼說，但我只是提到它是正確的，可能比我們看到的第三季度的平均值要好一點。第三季度每英擔收入增長 7.2%，不包括燃油附加費，與 10 月份大致相同。

So do you think that, that's kind of the level you stabilize at? I mean, I guess you talked about inflation being maybe a bit more stickier, higher than you thought. I think we normally think of maybe 4% to 5% as being what's a normal growth in revenue per hundredweight to get a bit more than inflation. But I guess if you're running with higher inflation, you got to get more price, right? So you think that's the right level? Or do you think that in a weaker -- kind of a weak freight market, you're going to see that decelerate a bit further as you go into 2023?

所以你認為那是你穩定的水平嗎？我的意思是，我猜你談到通脹可能比你想像的更粘，更高。我認為我們通常認為 4% 到 5% 是每英擔收入的正常增長，才能比通貨膨脹略高。但我想如果你在更高的通貨膨脹下運行，你必須得到更多的價格，對吧？所以你認為這是正確的水平？還是您認為在較弱的貨運市場中，隨著您進入 2023 年，您會看到進一步減速？

No, I think that when you look at our long-term revenue per shipment performance, so a little bit different than the per hundred. But long-term revenue per shipment, we've been able to average between 4.5% to 5%. And that's -- I think whether you look at it in certain years, including fuel or excluding fuel, that's kind of been the goal because long term our cost per shipment performance has been kind of in that 3% to 3.5% range, mainly the increase is that we give to our employees each year from the wage improvement.

不，我認為當您查看我們的每件貨物的長期收入表現時，與每百件的收入略有不同。但是從每批貨物的長期收入來看，我們已經能夠平均在 4.5% 到 5% 之間。這就是——我認為無論你在某些年份看它，包括燃料還是不包括燃料，這都是我們的目標，因為從長遠來看，我們的每次出貨成本表現在 3% 到 3.5% 的範圍內，主要是增加是我們每年給我們員工的工資提高。

But we certainly -- we've face the increased cost of equipment and insurance premiums and fortunately have been able to offset some of those other inflationary items through improved productivity and efficiencies within our operations. But we're certainly -- we'll have the same objectives as we go through the rest of this fourth quarter and as we transition into next year as well.

但我們當然 - 我們已經面臨設備和保險費成本的增加，幸運的是，我們能夠通過提高我們運營的生產力和效率來抵消其他一些通貨膨脹項目。但我們當然 - 我們將擁有與第四季度剩餘時間相同的目標，以及我們過渡到明年的目標。

Looking at the per hundred, certainly, we had bigger increases in 2021. Some of that started particularly in the back half of the year when inflation was picking up, and this year has been solid increases as well. But the key is just this contracts renewed and they renewed throughout the year for us is to continue to make improvement.

看看每百人，當然，我們在 2021 年有更大的增長。其中一些特別是在通脹回升的後半年開始的，今年也有穩健的增長。但關鍵是這個合同續簽了，他們全年續簽，對我們來說是繼續改進。

So it's -- we work a continuous improvement cycle, whether it's with our yield management, the efficiency of our operations. Every department is looking at continuous improvement. And certainly, we've got to continue with our best efforts there on the yield side. But I think that we'll see core inflation. We certainly hope that, that moderates as we transition into next year. So we shouldn't need as big of an increase perhaps as what we've seen the last two. But certainly, we want to see sequential increases from quarter-to-quarter.

所以它 - 我們工作一個持續的改進週期，無論是我們的產量管理，我們的運營效率。每個部門都在尋求持續改進。當然，我們必須在收益方面繼續盡最大努力。但我認為我們會看到核心通脹。我們當然希望，隨著我們過渡到明年，這種情況會有所緩和。所以我們不應該需要像我們看到的最後兩個一樣大的增長。但可以肯定的是，我們希望看到季度與季度的連續增長。

The next question comes from Jon Chappell with Evercore ISI.

下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Jon Chappell。

Adam, just 2 quick follow-ups for you. First, on the PT, brought it up and then answer a couple of questions ago, 2.1% as far as I can tell, is about as low as it's ever been in your network. So as you contemplate keeping maybe more resources from a headcount perspective just because of the challenges in hiring, is there any more room to flex PT? Or are you kind of at the absolute minimum there? And we think about it holistically, salaries, wages and benefits plus PT, probably stays a little bit elevated for the foreseeable future?

亞當，只需為您提供 2 個快速跟進。首先，在 PT 上提出，然後回答幾個問題，據我所知，2.1% 大約是您網絡中的最低水平。因此，當您考慮僅僅因為招聘方面的挑戰而從員工人數的角度考慮保留更多資源時，是否還有更多的空間來調整 PT？或者你是絕對最低限度的嗎？我們從整體上考慮，工資、工資和福利加上 PT，在可預見的未來可能會保持一點點高嗎？

Yes, that level where we are, we effectively in the third quarter didn't use any PT within our domestic line haul network. That balance that we've historically had that generally trends between 2% to 2.5% of revenue reflects mainly our -- as we have a little small truckload brokerage operation. So you've got those carrier costs there and then the partners that we have with our Canadian operation as well. Those purchase transportation costs are in that baseline number.

是的，在我們所處的水平上，我們實際上在第三季度沒有在我們的國內長途網絡中使用任何 PT。我們歷史上的平衡通常在收入的 2% 到 2.5% 之間，主要反映了我們的 - 因為我們有一點小卡車經紀業務。所以你有那些運營商成本，然後是我們在加拿大業務中的合作夥伴。這些採購運輸成本在該基線數字中。

So certainly, I wouldn't necessarily expect that to get much lower as a percent of revenue, unless something is changing with those businesses, which we don't foresee. But they had nothing really out there to call, if you will, as it impacts the domestic operation.

因此，當然，我不一定期望它佔收入的百分比會低得多，除非這些業務發生了一些我們無法預見的變化。但如果你願意的話，他們真的沒有什麼可以打電話的，因為這會影響國內的運營。

We certainly flexed up as we went through the balance of 2021 primarily using that PT to supplement our workforce and to a degree, our fleet where some of what I mentioned earlier, we had some regions that were growing much stronger, like coming off the (inaudible) as we came out of pandemic, was growing incredibly strong and can get your fleet out of balance, if you don't appropriately manage. So that was some of why we were using a little bit of PT as well. It's just to keep the network overall in balance.

當我們度過 2021 年的餘額時，我們當然會靈活應變，主要使用該 PT 來補充我們的勞動力，並且在某種程度上，我們的艦隊在我之前提到的一些地方，我們有一些地區變得更加強大，比如離開 (聽不見）隨著我們擺脫大流行，變得異常強大，如果您管理不當，可能會使您的機隊失去平衡。所以這也是我們使用一點點 PT 的部分原因。這只是為了保持網絡整體平衡。

Okay. That helps. And then also to tie a couple of things together. I mean, it sounded like you're pretty optimistic. I mean maybe optimistic is a strong word, but not as pessimistic regarding some of your customer commentary. But in your prepared remarks, I wrote down you said directly, demand just isn't there for some of your customers' freight.

好的。這有幫助。然後還將一些事情聯繫在一起。我的意思是，聽起來你很樂觀。我的意思是，也許樂觀是一個強有力的詞，但對於您的一些客戶評論並不那麼悲觀。但是在你準備好的評論中，我直接寫下了你說的，你的一些客戶的運費沒有需求。

So do we foresee maybe a late peak season where it's not there today, but going into a time that might seasonally be slower, you start to see a reversion or a catch-up? Or do we kind of just write off the rest of this year as it's going to be weak and maybe things are rightsized by '23 and start to see a pickup then?

那麼，我們是否預見到今天可能會出現一個較晚的旺季，但進入一個季節性可能較慢的時間，您會開始看到回歸或追趕？還是我們只是註銷今年剩下的時間，因為它會很弱，也許到 23 年事情會調整大小，然後開始看到回升？

Yes. For us, we don't have a peak season per se. Usually, September is our busiest month of the year just from a function of the seasonality in our business. And we have pretty consistent seasonal trends year in and year out as we progress, whether it's week-by-week within the months and then month-by-month through the quarters. But nevertheless, I mean, certainly, some of the months that we had in the earlier part of the year coming off the strength of how we finish '21. And it looks like March will be our busiest month in terms of just the average weight and shipments, if you will.

是的。對我們來說，我們本身沒有旺季。通常，僅從我們業務的季節性因素來看，9 月是我們一年中最繁忙的月份。隨著我們的進步，我們每年都有相當一致的季節性趨勢，無論是幾個月內的每週，然後是每個季度的每月。但是，儘管如此，我的意思是，當然，我們在今年早些時候的一些月份中，我們完成了 21 年的努力。如果您願意的話，就平均重量和出貨量而言，看起來 3 月將是我們最繁忙的月份。

But yes, it's just managing through kind of the base levels where we are. Looking at, I mentioned earlier that when we get -- whether it's an up cycle or a down cycle, a lot of times we'll have 3 to 5 quarters where we either outperform or underperform normal seasonality. And so the third quarter was the third such quarter of underperformance. So I will just continue to watch the trends. Like I mentioned, what we've seen at least through the second and third quarters was just in the months where we see a lot of buildup. We didn't see that same type of acceleration.

但是，是的，它只是通過我們所處的基礎級別進行管理。回顧一下，我之前提到過，當我們得到 - 無論是上升週期還是下降週期，很多時候我們將有 3 到 5 個季度的表現優於或低於正常的季節性。所以第三季度是第三個表現不佳的季度。所以我會繼續觀察趨勢。就像我提到的那樣，我們至少在第二和第三季度看到的只是在我們看到大量積累的幾個月。我們沒有看到同樣類型的加速。

September, for example, that would normally be up sequentially about 4%, we were up about 0.5%. So will we get the buildup in November? Remains to be seen, and then December kind of drops off. But I feel like if we can kind of somewhat stay a little bit closer in touch with our normal sequential trends through 4Q and 1Q next year then that's kind of the looking at getting to the spring and seeing when we start, seeing some volumes coming back to the business.

例如，9 月份通常會環比上漲約 4%，而我們上漲了約 0.5%。那麼我們會在 11 月得到積累嗎？還有待觀察，然後 12 月會下降。但我覺得，如果我們能在某種程度上與明年第四季度和第一季度的正常連續趨勢保持更緊密的聯繫，那麼這就是在尋找春天，看看我們什麼時候開始，看到一些成交量回來到企業。

2Q of this year, it's quite a bit different. We're used to seeing volumes increase sequentially about 7.5% from the first quarter to the second quarter, and we were up about 0.7%. So we just haven't had that buildup that we otherwise would see. But yes, it's just going to be a function of kind of getting through and watching these developments. But October generally sets the trend when we look back for the fourth quarter.

今年第二季度，情況有些不同。我們習慣於看到從第一季度到第二季度的銷量環比增長約 7.5%，而我們增長了約 0.7%。所以我們只是沒有我們會看到的那種積累。但是，是的，它只是一種通過和觀察這些發展的功能。但當我們回顧第四季度時，10 月份通常會引領趨勢。

And when we look back at some prior periods where we were kind of in or going into an economic slowdown, we had a lot more underperformance, if you will, with October versus September. So that was something that we've been closely watching internally. Makes us feel a little bit better as we really get into the winter months where we're always going to be a little bit seasonally slower.

當我們回顧之前一些我們處於或進入經濟放緩的時期時，如果你願意的話，我們在 10 月與 9 月相比表現不佳。所以這是我們一直在內部密切關注的事情。讓我們感覺好一點，因為我們真的進入了冬季，我們總是會季節性地慢一點。

So it's just a function of continuing to execute on the plan and adjusting as need be to what the overall volume environment dictates. And then just trying to stay engaged with our customers and figure out when we would really see that spring build up next year or not. And then all the while, we're probably focusing a little bit more on sequential trends now.

因此，它只是繼續執行計劃並根據需要根據整體音量環境的要求進行調整的功能。然後只是試圖與我們的客戶保持互動，並弄清楚我們何時才能真正看到明年春天的到來。然後一直以來，我們現在可能更多地關注連續趨勢。

Certainly, again, from a year-over-year standpoint, the fourth quarter was so strong. We kind of knew the fourth quarter and the first quarter from a year-over-year standpoint, we're going to need much harder comparisons on the volume side. So that's why we're probably paying a little bit closer attention now to how some of the seasonality is played out for us.

當然，再次從同比的角度來看，第四季度是如此強勁。從同比的角度來看，我們有點了解第四季度和第一季度，我們將需要在數量方面進行更困難的比較。所以這就是為什麼我們現在可能會更加關註一些季節性對我們的影響。

The next question comes from Jason Seidl with Cowen.

下一個問題來自 Jason Seidl 和 Cowen。

Just one question for me, and it's sort of been asked in different ways, but how should we think about the industry's continued ability to gain pricing above cost inflation with many larger LTL carriers sort of expanding capacity into a downturn? Is that something we should be concerned about? Or is the fact that we're seeing so much cost inflation across to everybody's network that we should remain confident that everyone is going to maintain pricing discipline that we've seen over the last decade?

對我來說只有一個問題，而且人們以不同的方式提出了這個問題，但是我們應該如何看待該行業在許多大型零擔運輸公司將運力擴大到低迷時繼續獲得高於成本通脹的定價能力？這是我們應該關心的嗎？還是我們看到每個人的網絡都出現瞭如此多的成本膨脹，以至於我們應該對每個人都將維持過去十年所見的定價紀律保持信心？

Yes. Well, we've certainly -- like I mentioned, we've -- the carrier group on average to exclude us has seen negative volumes on a year-over-year basis for the last 3 quarters. And -- but has continued to increase their yields. And so we wouldn't anticipate a lot of change from that.

是的。好吧，我們當然 - 就像我提到的那樣，我們已經 - 平均而言，排除我們的運營商集團在過去 3 個季度的同比下降量。並且 - 但一直在增加他們的產量。因此，我們預計不會有很多變化。

With respect to whether capacity is really being added or not remains to be seen. We've not seen really any material addition. Some people are talking about it. There have been one other carrier, I guess, that certainly has increased their service in account. But when you look at the industry, at least the public carriers, on average over the last 10 years, there has been a decrease in industry capacity.

至於產能是否真的在增加，還有待觀察。我們還沒有真正看到任何物質添加。有些人在談論它。我猜，還有另一家運營商肯定增加了他們的服務。但是，當您查看行業時，至少是公共運營商，平均而言，在過去 10 年中，行業運力一直在下降。

So don't really foresee a lot of change in that regard as we move forward. But certainly, we'll continue to watch it. But yes, we believe the industry will stay disciplined, but we know what our plan is, what we can control, and we'll continue to control the elements that we can and what the other carriers do, we'll just continue to sort of watch and see.

因此，在我們前進的過程中，不要真的預見到這方面的很多變化。但可以肯定的是，我們將繼續關注它。但是，是的，我們相信這個行業會保持自律，但我們知道我們的計劃是什麼，我們可以控制什麼，我們將繼續控制我們可以控制的元素以及其他運營商的行為，我們將繼續分類觀望。

But I think we've got a long-term track record in terms of what we've been able to do over the last 10 years. We've average grown our revenue 11% a year, and we certainly have made improvements to the operating ratio along the way. And again, it's been through a combination of consistent improvements in yield and then the density through that -- the volume throughput in the system that's allowed us to produce this consistent operating ratio improvement.

但我認為，就過去 10 年我們能夠做到的事情而言，我們擁有長期的業績記錄。我們的收入平均每年增長 11%，而且在此過程中我們當然也提高了運營比率。再一次，它是通過產量的持續改進和密度的組合 - 系統中的體積吞吐量使我們能夠產生這種一致的運行率改進。

And different carriers have had different strategies along the way. And certainly recent periods, other carriers have been increasing rates faster than us, but we don't control what they do, but we'll continue to certainly watch. But our conversations with customers are what's going on within Old Dominion, what our cost inflation looks like, the investments that we want to make to help support our customers and the growth in their business. And ultimately, what's the value that we can add to our customer supply chains.

在此過程中，不同的運營商採取了不同的策略。當然，最近一段時間，其他運營商的費率上漲速度比我們快，但我們無法控制他們的行為，但我們肯定會繼續觀察。但我們與客戶的對話涉及 Old Dominion 內部發生的事情、我們的成本膨脹情況、我們希望進行的投資以幫助支持我們的客戶以及他們的業務增長。最終，我們可以為客戶供應鏈增加什麼價值。

And those are the conversations we have versus trying to compare our price versus someone else's price. It's all about value, and that's service value is what has won the day for us and what will continue to drive our ability to win market share in the long term.

這些是我們進行的對話，而不是試圖將我們的價格與其他人的價格進行比較。一切都與價值有關，而服務價值為我們贏得了勝利，並將繼續推動我們贏得長期市場份額的能力。

Well, clearly, your game plan has worked. So I think sticking with it is a good thing.

好吧，很明顯，你的遊戲計劃奏效了。所以我認為堅持下去是一件好事。

The next question comes from Ken Hoexter with Bank of America.

下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Ken Hoexter。

Adam, just to balance out your last comment there. Your 100 basis point revenue over cost you noted before, but also noting higher inflation. I just want to understand, do you still target the kind of 50 to 100 basis point operating ratio improvement on a full year going forward? Or does that change if volumes are weaker here?

亞當，只是為了平衡你最後的評論。您之前提到的成本超過了 100 個基點的收入，但也注意到通貨膨脹率較高。我只是想了解，您是否仍將未來全年運營比率提高 50 到 100 個基點作為目標？或者如果這裡的交易量較弱，情況會改變嗎？

Well, I think we talked a little bit about this earlier, certainly in periods where revenue has been flat or been down. We've had a little bit of OR degradation and generally limited to the depreciation cost as a percent of revenue. And the reason for that is we want to continue to invest for the long-term market share opportunities, we believe we have.

好吧，我想我們早些時候談到了這個問題，當然是在收入持平或下降的時期。我們有一點 OR 降級，通常僅限於折舊成本佔收入的百分比。原因是我們希望繼續投資以獲取長期的市場份額機會，我們相信我們已經做到了。

And certainly, when you look at the second quarter of 2020, we had a big decrease in revenue that year. But we were a lot more aggressive in terms of managing costs and actually improved the operating ratio 10 basis points. But I think that looking more at 2016, 2019 for the general performance and doing some of the things that really protect our long-term opportunities, keeping a little bit of inflated headcount, like Greg mentioned earlier, continue with our investment cycle.

當然，當您查看 2020 年第二季度時，我們當年的收入大幅下降。但我們在管理成本方面更加積極，實際上將運營比率提高了 10 個基點。但我認為，更多地關注 2016 年和 2019 年的總體表現，並做一些真正保護我們長期機會的事情，保持一點點膨脹的員工人數，就像前面提到的 Greg 一樣，繼續我們的投資週期。

Those are the types of long-term decisions that we want to make that improve our opportunities for out years to get prepared for maybe what 2024, 2025 looks like versus just trying to focus too closely on the short term and what the first half of next year might otherwise look like.

這些是我們希望做出的長期決策類型，以改善我們未來幾年的機會，為 2024 年、2025 年的情況做好準備，而不是僅僅試圖過分關注短期和下一個上半年的情況年可能看起來像。

So certainly, a lot of it depends on the overall revenue environment and what we will see. There's a lot of uncertainty out there, but that 2016 and 2019 are probably better examples to look at in terms of how we try to manage the business, manage our overall variable cost flat as best we can or prevent any type of increase in deterioration there and those cost elements. And then just might see that those depreciation costs increasing as a percent of revenue because of the investment driving increased depreciation dollars and then you're denominated being potentially flat to down from a revenue standpoint.

因此，當然，這在很大程度上取決於整體收入環境以及我們將看到的情況。那裡有很多不確定性，但 2016 年和 2019 年可能是我們如何嘗試管理業務、盡可能管理我們的整體可變成本持平或防止任何類型的惡化增加方面的更好例子以及那些成本要素。然後可能會看到這些折舊成本佔收入的百分比增加，因為投資推動了折舊美元的增加，然後從收入的角度來看，你被認為可能持平或下降。

And then the percent of volume, you mentioned from the spot boards, but how about from the third-party carriers, your brokers, does that shift in this kind of a market when things get softer, do you add more? Do you keep it steady? How do you think about that strategically?

然後是成交量的百分比，你提到了現貨板，但是從第三方運營商，你的經紀人那裡，當事情變得疲軟時，這種市場是否會發生變化，你會增加更多嗎？你保持穩定嗎？您如何從戰略上考慮這一點？

Well, I mean we've got good long-term relationships with many 3PLs. They're about 1/3 of our business overall. A lot of times, what you'll see in a slower macro environment, we're seeing this a little bit now is, some of those levels that's 3PL driven that kind of flattened out a little bit. And so we'll continue to watch that, but certainly feel like that a lot of the big 3PL customers that we have, in some ways, can help us in the sense of demonstrating the value independently to the shippers that they're potentially helping manage transportation services for and talking through what the different elements of value in terms of our superior service on time, pickups on-time, deliveries, load damages, all those sorts of things that they're talking to someone that has just been solely focused on price in the past, they can help us talk more about value. So in some ways, that could be beneficial to us in a slower macro environment.

好吧，我的意思是我們與許多 3PL 建立了良好的長期關係。它們約占我們整體業務的 1/3。很多時候，你會在較慢的宏觀環境中看到，我們現在看到的是，一些由 3PL 驅動的關卡有點扁平化。因此，我們將繼續關注這一點，但肯定會覺得我們擁有的許多 3PL 大客戶在某些方面可以幫助我們獨立地向托運人展示他們可能幫助的價值管理運輸服務並討論不同的價值要素，包括我們的準時優質服務、準時取貨、交貨、負載損壞，以及他們與剛剛專注的人交談的所有這些事情在過去的價格上，他們可以幫助我們更多地談論價值。因此，在某些方面，這可能對我們在較慢的宏觀環境中有益。

So are you seeing that increase as a percentage? Or is it sticking -- does it just stick around that third level up and down in the market? Or are you already seeing a change?

那麼，您是否看到了百分比的增長？或者它是否堅持——它只是停留在市場的第三層上下？還是您已經看到了變化？

No, it's remaining about 1/3. It's just -- the growth is flattening out a little bit with -- in terms of looking at the overall revenue with our 3PLs right now.

不，還剩下大約 1/3。就目前我們的 3PL 的整體收入而言，增長正在趨於平緩。

And then last for me is the fuel. It seemed relatively neutral this quarter in terms of kind of a quarterly impact, I guess, versus a huge lag impact last quarter. Does that math sound right to you?

最後對我來說是燃料。我猜，與上一季度的巨大滯後影響相比，本季度的季度影響似乎相對中性。你覺得這個數學聽起來對嗎？

And then our -- in your negotiations? Are customers kind of talking? I mean I know you keep raising your rates, but do customers push back even harder now? Are you -- is it a bigger struggle as you go through these negotiations given the volume environment?

然後我們的 - 在你的談判中？客戶會說話嗎？我的意思是我知道你一直在提高你的利率，但客戶現在是否更努力地反擊？考慮到成交量的環境，您在進行這些談判時是否會遇到更大的困難？

Well, no. There's always a conversation about total all-in price, if you will, because that's ultimately the bill that the customer is paying. But for us, certainly, there was a slight decrease in the average price of fuel in the third quarter versus the second. So that's something we'll probably talk a little bit about more on the last call.

嗯，不。如果你願意的話，總是有關於總價的對話，因為這最終是客戶支付的賬單。但對我們來說，第三季度的平均燃料價格肯定比第二季度略有下降。所以這就是我們可能會在最後一次電話會議上多談一點的事情。

But like I mentioned earlier, we hope that we see that continue to decrease. And I would just say looking at the impact, there's been a lot of questions about that. If we were to see a decrease in the impact of fuel surcharge, and our philosophy is we want -- the fuel surcharge is just one element of pricing and whether fuel goes up or down, we hope that's neutral to the bottom line for us.

但就像我之前提到的，我們希望看到這種情況繼續減少。我只想說看看影響，對此有很多疑問。如果我們看到燃油附加費的影響減少，而我們的理念是我們想要——燃油附加費只是定價的一個因素，無論燃油價格上漲還是下跌，我們希望這對我們的底線是中性的。

And probably the best periods to go back and look if we are to get some type of material improvement in fuel price is 2015, the average price of diesel fuel was down about 30% that year. We were fortunate that we still had some volume growth going that year to help us have good revenue trends overall, and we were able to improve the operating ratio.

如果我們要在燃料價格上獲得某種類型的實質性改善，回溯的最佳時期可能是 2015 年，那年柴油的平均價格下降了約 30%。我們很幸運，那一年我們仍然有一些銷量增長，以幫助我們總體上有良好的收入趨勢，並且我們能夠提高運營率。

The fuel dropped another 15% in 2016. That year was a little bit different in terms of the overall top-line environment and a little bit more pressure from a volume standpoint. But we certainly would like to see overall the fuel price continue to drop. And certainly, that would decrease the all-in price that is being paid today.

燃料在 2016 年又下降了 15%。那一年在整體頂線環境方面略有不同，從數量的角度來看壓力更大一些。但我們當然希望看到整體燃油價格繼續下跌。當然，這會降低今天支付的全部價格。

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Gantt for any closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想把會議轉回甘特先生的任何閉幕詞。

We thank you all for your participation today. We appreciate your questions, and please feel free to give us a call if you have anything further. Thanks, and have a great day.

我們感謝大家今天的參與。我們感謝您的問題，如果您有任何進一步的問題，請隨時給我們打電話。謝謝，祝你有美好的一天。

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連接。