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U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

Appendix A. Comparability with the 2007, 2002, 1997, and 1993 Commodity Flow Surveys

Thursday, June 9, 2016

The following tables show a comparison of the commodity classification system, industry coverage, sample size, sample weeks, reported mode of transportation, and data items requested for each shipment among the 1993, 1997, 2002, 2007, and 2012 Commodity Flow Surveys (CFS).

Commodity Classification System

1993 CFS:

  • Standard Transportation Commodity Code (STCC), developed by the Association of American Railroads (AAR)

1997, 2002, 2007, and 2012 CFS:

  • Standard Classification of Transported Goods (SCTG)
     

Industry Coverage

1993 CFS and 1997 CFS

  • Establishments classified based on the 1987 Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system
  • Publishers were covered— classified in Manufacturing Division
  • Logging covered—under Manufacturing Division
  • Other Manufacturing (excluding Printing Trade Services [SIC 279])
  • Mining (except mining services [SICs 108, 124, 138, 148] and oil and gas extraction [SICs 131 and 132])
  • Wholesale (merchants and
    manufacturers' sales branches and government-owned liquor stores)
  • Retail—catalog and mail-order houses
  • Auxiliaries (managing offices, warehouses)

2002 CFS

  • Establishments classified based on the 1997 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)
  • Publishers were not covered—
    classified in information sector1
  • Logging not covered2
  • Other manufacturing (excluding Prepress services [NAICS 323122])
  • Mining (except support activities [NAICS 213] and oil and gas extraction [NAICS 211])
  • Wholesale (merchants and manufacturers' sales branches and government-owned liquor stores)
  • Retail—electronic shopping and mail-order houses
  • Auxiliaries (managing offices, warehouses)

2007 CFS

  • Establishments classified based on the 2002 NAICS
  • Publishers were covered—
    classified in information sector1
  • Logging not covered2
  • Other manufacturing (excluding Prepress services [NAICS 323122])
  • Mining (except support activities [NAICS 213] and oil and gas extraction [NAICS211])
  • Wholesale (merchants and manufacturers' sales branches and government-owned liquor stores)
  • Retail—electronic shopping and mail-order houses, fuel dealers
  • Auxiliaries (managing offices, warehouses)3

2012 CFS

  • Establishments classified based on 2007 NAICS
  • Publishers were covered—
    classified in Information Sector1
  • Logging not covered
  • Manufacturing (excluding Prepress Services [NAICS 323122])
  • Mining (except support activities [NAICS 213] and oil and gas extraction [NAICS 211])
  • Wholesale (merchants and manufacturers’ sales branches and own brand importers)
  • Retail—electronic shopping and mail-order houses, fuel dealers
  • Auxiliaries (managing offices, warehouses and trucking)3

1 Under NAICS, publishers were reclassified from Manufacturing (SIC 2711, 2721, 2731, 2741, and part of 2771) to Information (NAICS 5111 and 51223) and were
excluded in the 2002 CFS. In 2007, Music Publishers (NAICS 51223)  was tabulated and published in Newspaper, Periodical, Book and Directory Publishers (NAICS 5111). However, for the 2012 cycle, NAICS 51223 was not sampled.

2 Because of changes in the classification of establishments between SIC and NAICS, logging establishments (NAICS 1133), which were covered as part of Manufacturing in the 1993 and 1997 surveys, were not included in 2002 and 2007. Detailed information about NAICS classification can be found on the Census Bureau’s NAICS Web site.

3 While included in all surveys, the procedures for identifying in-scope auxiliary establishments have changed over the years. For the 1997 CFS, a managing office was considered in-scope only if it had sales or end-of-year inventories in the 1992 Census. Research conducted prior to the 2002 CFS showed that not all managing offices with shipping activity in the 1997 CFS indicated sales or inventories in the 1997 Economic Census. Consequently, the 1997 Economic Census results were not used to determine scope for managing offices in the 2002 CFS. For 2002, an auxiliary was included if it supported an in-scope or retail company. For the 2007 CFS, an advance survey of approximately 40,000 auxiliary establishments was conducted in 2006 to identify those auxiliary establishments with shipping activity. Those that indicated that shipping was performed (as well as nonrespondents) were included in the CFS sample universe. For the 2012 CFS, a targeted advance survey (precanvass) of approximately 100,000 establishments was conducted in 2011 to identify those establishments that actually conduct shipping activities. In these groups, surveyed establishments that reported that they did not conduct any shipping activity were excluded from the eventual CFS sample universe.

 

CFS Sample Size and Sample Frame

  Number of establishments in each CFS cycle
1993 1997 2002 2007 2012
Sample size 197,176 102,739 51,005 102,369 102,565
Sample frame size (approximately) 790,000 770,000 760,000 754,000 716,000

 

Sample Weeks

1993 CFS

  • Respondents were asked to select a sample of their individual outbound shipments during a 2-week period in each of the four calendar quarters of the year 1993, and report key characteristics (e.g., commodity, weight, value and destination) for each of the sampled shipments

1997, 2002, 2007, and 2012 CFS

  • Respondents were asked to select a sample of their individual outbound shipments during a 1-week period in each of the four calendar quarters of the reference CFS year, and report key characteristics (e.g., commodity, weight, value, and destination) for each of the sample shipments

Reported Mode of Transportation

1993 CFS

  • For-hire truck 
  • Private truck 
  • Rail 
  • Air
  • Inland water
  • Deep sea water
  • Pipeline
  • Parcel, U.S. Postal Service, or courier
  • Other
  • Unknown

1997, 2002, and 2007 CFS

  • For-hire truck
  • Private truck
  • Rail
  • Air
  • Shallow draft vessel
  • Deep draft vessel
  • Pipeline
  • Parcel, U.S. Postal Service, or courier
  • Other
  • Unknown

2012 CFS

  • For-hire truck
  • Private truck
  • Rail
  • Air
  • Inland water
  • Deep sea
  • Pipeline
  • Parcel, U.S. Postal Service, or courier
  • Other
  • Unknown
     

Data Items Requested for Each Shipment

1993 CFS

  • For each shipment:
  • Shipment ID
  • Shipment date
  • Total value
  • Total weight
  • Standard Transportation Commodity Code (STCC) of the commodity that contributes the most to the shipment's weight
  • Commodity description
  • All known modes of transportation
  • Single origin (assumed to be the mailing address unless the respondent provided a different physical location address)
  • Destination
  • Containerized (Y/N)
  • NA
  • NA
  • Hazardous material (Y/N)
  • Export (Y/N)
  • If export: U.S. exit gateway, mode(s) of transport to the gateway, foreign city and country of destination, and mode(s) of export

1997 CFS

  • For each shipment:
  • Shipment ID
  • Shipment date
  • Total value
  • Total weight
  • Standard Classification of Transported Goods (SCTG) code of the commodity that contributes the most to the shipment’s weight
  • Commodity description
  • All known modes of transportation
  • Single origin (assumed to be the mailing address unless the respondent provided a different physical location address)
  • Destination
  • Containerized (Y/N)
  • NA
  • NA
  • Hazardous material—United Nations or North American (UN/NA) code
  • Export (Y/N)
  • If export: U.S. exit gateway, mode(s) of transport to the gateway, foreign city and country of destination, and mode(s) of export

2002 and 2007 CFS

  • For each shipment:
  • Shipment ID
  • Shipment date
  • Total value
  • Total weight
  • SCTG code of the commodity that contributes the most to the shipment’s weight
  • Commodity description
  • All known modes of transportation in the order used
  • Single origin (assumed to be the mailing address unless the respondent provided a different physical location address)
  • Destination
  • NA
  • Intermodal (Y/N)
  • NA
  • Hazardous material—UN/NA code
  • Export (Y/N)
  • If export: U.S. exit gateway, mode(s) of transport to the gateway, foreign city and country of destination, and mode(s) of export

2012 CFS

  • For each shipment:
  • Shipment ID
  • Shipment date
  • Total value
  • Total weight
  • SCTG code of the commodity that contributes the most to the shipment’s weight
  • Commodity description
  • All known modes of transportation in the order used
  • Single origin (assumed to be the mailing address unless the respondent provided a different physical location address)
  • Destination
  • NA
  • NA
  • Temperature controlled (Y/N)
  • Hazardous material—UN/NA code
  • Export (Y/N)
  • If export: U.S. exit gateway, mode(s) of transport to the gateway, foreign city and country of destination, and mode(s) of export

NA Not available.

Data Items Requested for Each Establishment

1993, 1997, and 2002 CFS

  • NA

2007 CFS

  • Third party logistics (3PL) usage

2012 CFS

  • Rush Delivery usage

NA Not available.