I am curious if ATA stats include the increased tonnage that FedEx and UPS are reporting from the growth in online sales. While I am keenly aware that the growth — to just over $1 billion this year — doesn’t offset the decline 100%, it could also be that the “Great Recession” is causing a tectonic shift in the economy as a whole, as both consumers and businesses change how they do things.

I can tell you that I shop very little “in stores” anymore. If I can buy it on Amazon through my Prime account, I do. And its not because of the sales tax difference.

It’s because modern retail — in general — sucks. And as companies like Amazon get better at what they do, the value proposition changes.

So we might be seeing more than just an ongoing slowdown — we might be seeing a complete shift in how we “do business” here in America.