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Revenue Recognition
9 Months Ended
Sep. 28, 2019
Revenue Recognition [Abstract]  
Revenue Recognition

(3)

Revenue Recognition

The Company broadly groups its services into the following categories: truckload services, brokerage services, intermodal services, dedicated services and value-added services. We disaggregate these categories and report our service lines separately on the Consolidated Statements of Income.

Truckload services include dry van, flatbed, heavy-haul and refrigerated operations. We transport a wide variety of general commodities, including automotive parts, machinery, building materials, paper, food, consumer goods, furniture, steel and other metals on behalf of customers in various industries.

To complement our available capacity, we provide customers freight brokerage services by utilizing third-party transportation providers to move freight.  Brokerage services also include full service domestic and international freight forwarding, and customs brokerage.  

Intermodal services include rail-truck, steamship-truck and support services. Our intermodal support services are primarily short-to-medium distance delivery of rail and steamship containers between the railhead or port and the customer and drayage services.

Dedicated services are primarily provided in support of automotive and retail customers using van equipment.  Dedicated services also include our final mile and ground expedited services.  Our dedicated services are primarily short run or round-trip moves within a defined geographic area.

Transportation services are short-term in nature; agreements governing their provision generally have a term of less than one year. They do not contain significant financing components.  The Company recognizes revenue over the period transportation services are provided to the customer, including service performed as of the end of the reporting period for loads currently in-transit, in order to recognize the value that is transferred to a customer over the course of the transportation service.

We determine revenue in-transit using the input method, under which revenue is recognized based on the duration of time that has lapsed from the departure date (start of transportation services) to the arrival date (completion of transportation services). Measurement of revenue in-transit requires the application of significant judgment. We calculate the estimated percentage of an order’s transit time that is complete at period end, and we apply that percentage of completion to the order’s estimated revenue.

Value-added services, which are typically dedicated to individual customer requirements, include material handling, consolidation, sequencing, sub-assembly, cross-dock services, kitting, repacking, warehousing and returnable container management.  Value-added revenues are substantially driven by the level of demand for outsourced logistics services. Major factors that affect value-added service revenue includes changes in manufacturing supply chain requirements and production levels in specific industries, particularly the North American automotive and Class-8 heavy-truck industries.

Revenue is recognized as control of the promised goods or services is transferred to our customers, in an amount that reflects the consideration the Company expects to receive in exchange for its services. We have elected to use the “right to invoice” practical expedient to recognize revenue, reflecting that a customer obtains the benefit associated with value-added services as they are provided. The contracts in our value-added services businesses are negotiated agreements, which contain both fixed and variable components. The variability of revenues is driven by volumes and transactions, which are known as of an invoice date. Value-added service contracts typically have terms that extend beyond one year, and they do not include financing components.  

The following table provides information related to contract balances associated with our contracts with customers (in thousands):

 

 

September 28,

2019

 

 

December 31,

2018

 

Prepaid expenses and other - contract assets

 

$

2,391

 

 

$

1,901

 

We generally receive payment for performance obligations within 45 days of completion of transportation services and 65 days for completion of value-added services. Contract assets in the table above generally relate to revenue in-transit at the end of the reporting period.