Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
Mr. Hofrichter, here are some suggestions. Why don't you consider doing a survey of businesses that ship and are located in your area, way down in Cocomo or wherever. You can get help and probably even some data from the local Economic Development Commission and Chamber of Commerce, and I think you'll find that company personnel, particularly shipping and plant managers, will be more than happy to help a student on such an assignment. Ask them for such information as what they ship; their modal split-incoming/outgoing (how do goods and materials get to and from their facility); what their demands and requirements are, particularly as regards inventory, schedules, reliability and cost; what kind of rail/truck access they need; what kinds of problems do they experience with their carriers and what kinds of exceptional service; and the factors that would cause them to change modes, to mention a few things. Sit down and I think you can probably come up with a few others. Make sure they know who you are, what school you attend and what year you are, what class this paper is for and the topic, and be willing to agree to maintain confidentiality (that is, you need to get their permission to name their companies-otherwise you can just use the data but don't identify the specific company-say something like "three companies ship more than 50 trailers per week, and two have no rail access"). Keep in mind that some items like shipping costs are competitive issues and they will not want that information published. Make your questions general enough that you can get good data on what you need without compromising their business. Do not advocate one mode over another or try to convince them to ship more by rail-that will turn them off very quickly. Ask everyone the same questions. You don't have to do every business in town, or cover the subject to exhaustion. Your teacher/prof might like the local angle. You can do this kind of thing over the phone, but you ought to think about dressing up and making an appointment to see at least the biggest of them. You might get a tour and it could lead to some good things later. Good luck on your paper. Let us all know how it turns out.[^]
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag