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Behind the Freight Move: Holidays


As a leader in the rail industry continually doing our part to help push the economy forward, CSX prides itself on delivering ingredients and goods used every day along with its fair share of merriment, wonder and holiday cheer. Whether it's on your dinner table, under the tree or flying off the shelves, odds are that at some point it was on one of our trains. And it's our commitment to bringing the holidays to life that fills us with gratitude, stuffing and fruitcake alike. Happy Holidays from us to you.

 

CSX Delivers You the Holidays 

CSX works with companies year-round to move the products you use every day. This is especially true leading up to the Holiday season as the team at CSX partners with manufacturers, retailers, agriculture customers and grocers to meet the rise in demand for holiday shopping and meal preparation.

U.S. spending on Thanksgiving food is projected to reach almost $3 billion in 2017. To meet this demand, the agriculture industry and grocers across the U.S. incorporate rail into their supply chain to move goods from field to table. Each year CSX delivers over 3 million tons of wheat, 480,000 tons of fresh vegetables and 87,000 cases of beer. Learn how your favorite Thanksgiving meal traditions and dishes arrive by rail.

After all the Thanksgiving dishes are cleared away, American consumers turn their focus to shopping. The Thanksgiving shopping weekend has expanded to include Thanksgiving DayBlack Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday. Over 164 million consumers, or 69% of Americans, plan to shop over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend this year. According to an annual survey conducted by Prosper Insights and Analytics, consumers indicate they will spend an average of $967.13, a 3.4% increase over last year. Total holiday retail sales in November and December are projected to account for $678.75 billion worth of goods sold.

Consumers report they will purchase a variety of gifts this holiday season, including: clothing (61%), gift cards (59%), books (44%), toys (41%), food and candy (34%), electronics (29%), personal care and beauty items (27%), home décor and furnishings (23%), jewelry (22%), cash (20%), sporting goods (19%), home improvement items and tools (13%), flowers and plants (9%) and other (4%).* Of these, nine out of the top 14 most popular gift items move by rail at some point during the supply chain. Furthermore, rail moves these popular gift items on behalf of all 10 of the top 10 retail destinations shoppers will patronize this year.
 

*items in bold are transported by rail

 

 

According to the National Retail Federation, shoppers are buying gifts this year from the following types of stores:

  • Online: 59%
  • Department stores: 57%
  • Discount store: 54%
  • Grocery/super market: 46%
  • Clothing store: 35%
  • Electronics store: 27%
  • Local/small business: 25%
  • Crafts/fabrics store: 15%
  • Drug store: 15%
  • Other specialty store: 14%

Delivering Increased Efficiencies for Retailers, Manufacturers and other Shippers

CSX is focused on helping businesses meet consumer demands, during the holidays and throughout the year, by delivering goods from point A to point B in the fastest, most efficient way possible. The new CSX operating model, Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR), is transforming the rail industry by putting the customer first and delivering a more reliable and consistent service product.

 

Explore the Holidays