Breaker,James Caldwell breaker! There's an alligator up ahead smokin' the brakes on the freight industry. That's what the winning entry of our latest Beigie Award tells us. What is the Beigie Award, you ask? It's our recognition of the periodic report put out by the Federal Reserve about the state of economic conditions across the country, called the Beige Book. And it's often full of revealing anecdotes about our current economic conditions. We celebrate each release by awarding the regional bank with the BEST anecdote our very own Beigie Award!

Today, we power up our CB radios to find out what's roiling the transportation services sector, and talk to a trucking company operator who's feeling what one regional bank called a freight recession.

Music by Drop Electric. Find us: Facebook / Newsletter.

Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts and NPR One.

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.