Starting wage in euros per hour in Germany for many warehouse workers, where union contracts set a wage standard for entire industries. That’s equal to about $13.00 in US currency. Wages then rise from there based on experience. The issue comes up as workers as Amazon.com DCs in Germany have been pressing for the higher €13 starting wage currently in place for retail workers - a move which naturally enough Amazon is resisting. Starting pay at Amazon's US facilities is about $11.00 per hour. Amazon counters that its German workers also receive bonuses as well as company shares after two years of employment. The company says that over the past five years, these additions have added an average of 8% to base pay annually.

Share of US tonnage that will be moved by truck in 2024, according to the annual forecast by the American Trucking Associations and its chief economist Bob Costello. That would be up from 68.5% in 2012. However, the trucking sector’s share of transportation spend will just barely increase, 81.0% in 2024, versus 80.7% in 2012, implying other modes will have slightly more pricing power. Interestingly, total freight tonnage across all modes was still off 12% in 2012 from 2006 levels, though up 8.2% from the recent low in 2009. Truck tonnage last year was up 10.3% from the low in 2009, but still off 12.7% from its high in 2006.