Hats off to the nation's less-than-truckload (LTL) carriers. By all accounts, they've continued to provide timely deliveries during this past year while navigating such speedbumps as rising diesel prices and soaring operating costs.

Despite the obstacles they've faced, a number of LTL truckers have risen to the quality challenge this year. Our readers singled out Yellow Freight, Roadway Express, and Watkins Motor Lines for praise. All three of those carriers also made the Readers' Choice list last year.

But the sagging economy did appear to put the brakes on the national LTL carriers' performance overall. Their composite customer satisfaction score dipped from the previous year's, falling from 31.49 in 2000 to 31.38 in 2001. Ratings inched downward in four categories. The on-time performance score, for example, slid from 10.04 to 9.97. Also dropping were scores for customer service (from 6.42 to 6.32), equipment and operations (from 3.88 to 3.84), and information technology (from 3.85 to 3.80). LTL carriers showed a slight improvement in only one category—value—whose score went from 7.30 to 7.44.

Readers polled for our quality survey singled out only one multiregional carrier for its service excellence: American Freightways. Overall, shippers indicated that the multiregionals' performance had improved only marginally—the carriers' weighted customer satisfaction score crept up from 31.28 to 31.32. When the final survey results were in, this class of LTL carriers recorded small upswings in only two categories: The value rating jumped from 7.58 to 7.63, while the equipment and operations score rose from 3.85 to 3.98. Minimal drops were recorded in the on-time performance, information technology, and customer service categories.

Surface package carriers, on the other hand, overcame several obstacles imposed by the current economy, according to this year's survey. Their overall composite score increased from 34.25 to 34.59. Marks were higher than last year's in all five categories: On-time performance edged up from 11.07 to 11.15, and the value rating rose from 8.23 to 8.33. The information technology score increased—from 4.20 to 4.25—as did the customer service rating, which rose from 6.44 to 6.49. The equipment and operations score also nudged upward, from 4.32 to 4.37.

When it came to the selection of Readers' Choice winners, surface package carriers also fared a bit better than their multiregional counterparts did. Readers awarded accolades to two companies. Those carriers—the same two that earned Readers' Choice designations last year—were United Parcel Service and FedEx Ground.

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