Regulatory Reform and Motor Carrier Tariff Complexity

摘要

In principle, a motor freight tariff is simply a price list informing shippers of the charges they can expect to pay for transportation services. A tariff serves the same function as a restaurant menu or a department store catalog. Present tariffs are usually very complex, and whether or not potential for tariff simplifications exists is an issue which has occupied a prominent role in the ongoing debate over continued antitrust immunity for general freight carriers. Widely divergent views exist regarding how regulatory reform would affect tariff complexity. This study considers in some detail the arguments surrounding regulatory reform and tariff simplification, in an attempt to provide some resolution to the present debate. The present tariff structure is described, and the pressures regulatory reform places on the present structure are examined. A review is made of realistic structural changes in tariffs which could result from reform pressure. Tariffs published by different freight-carrying modes, and by truckers in other countries are examined in an attempt to understand how tariffs have evolved in different, but related, circumstances. The study also looks at recent developments in the domestic general freight industry. Finally, the probable impact of regulatory reform on tariff simplification is discussed.