WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Senator Herb Kohl sent a letter to Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney requesting a Department of Justice antitrust investigation into the manner trucking shipping rates are set. The Commodity Classification Standards Board (CCSB), a subsidiary organization of the trucking industry's trade association, sets the classifications used by trucking companies to set current shipping rates. In general, the higher the classification, the more expensive the rate. The CCSB recently increased the classification for shoes from 100 to 150, causing shoe companies to see an increase in their shipping rates. Companies that rely on the trucking industry to ship their products contend that the trucking industry is jointly determining the classifications which individual shipping companies use to set rates, which raises antitrust concerns.  

"The cost to ship shoes has increased substantially for businesses since the Commodity Classification Standards Board increased the classification for shoes. This increase in shipping rates has begun to hurt businesses throughout Wisconsin and nationwide, which is why I called upon the Justice Department to look more closely at trucking shipping rates and begin an antitrust investigation into this matter," Kohl said.  

Several major Wisconsin businesses that use trucking to ship their products have recently faced increased trucking shipping rates.