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TT’s 15-page financial review of 1999 makes it clear that the year that was, was the year of the Internet. It was the year that trucking discovered — and was discovered by — the personalized Digital Age.

Thanks to this new tool of truly worldwide and virtually instantaneous information and communications, life in trucking is never going to be the same. While it may be argued for years to come whether things are better as a result of the Internet, there is little doubt things will be markedly different.

The Internet has made the planet smaller, opening up markets and options that were unthinkable just a few years ago. Of course, it has also done the same for our competitors. Indeed, it has created new competitors who wouldn’t be in business at all were it not for the opportunities the technology has created.

The Net also has speeded up the pace of life. It can make things happen more quickly; it is the framework of a seven-days-a-week, 24-hours-a-day global marketplace. Which is also good news and bad.

How many of us today are content with the answer, “Gee, that department’s closed right now. Can we get back to you tomorrow? Or Monday?”

If we don’t have an answer right now – whatever hour or day it is – our potential customer is only a few mouse clicks away from our competitors. So now we’re expected to be always open, and always ready with the answers.

During trucking’s initial Internet frenzy, it seemed as if all traditional markets were at risk, that the winners might be the new guys on the block who didn’t know much about trucking but who had the latest and fastest computers or software.

Now, as the Internet has moved into some semblance of middle age, a whole year later, it looks as if sanity has returned. Customers are looking for business relationships with the companies they’ve had experience with, with firms that know the industry.

Thus the challenge for trucking is to master the new technology and put it to work. As we detail in other pages this week, some companies are doing just that: extending their reach through the Internet, joining with others to make joint purchases and finding loads to reduce empty trips.

Our Annual Report and TT 100 listing of company revenues are designed to help make more sense out of what happened last year so that this year turns out even better. Hope it helps.