Once again, I shelved the intended editorial; it was rapidly becoming a can of worms in need of more beavering in the background to sort my angle. One of the reasons I filed it for now was the time of day, and the date. The sun was breaking over Tasman Bay on the fifth day of September and I was overcome with a wave of positivity.

‘There’s always time to write about problems and issues,’ I pondered. ‘The same ones we had two or three decades ago, and likely the same ones we’ll have in two or three decade time.’

Spring is nature’s call to new life and new starts, so I decided not to miss the opportunity and look at life while sipping a cup of coffee I deemed half-full.

Mike Devon from our sales team and I went on a customer visit around the Garden City a couple of weeks ago, and as I dropped him at Christchurch airport, we both agreed the mood had definitely shifted in the right direction. Similar rounds throughout the nation over the previous couple of years haven’t been motivational extravaganzas, so we were buoyed by the end of that one.

Other positives? The PM’s been saying there’s $6bn worth of infrastructure supposed to start pre-Christmas, I know of a couple of small building contractors in need of staff – and I haven’t heard that in a while, order books are filling up at engineering businesses I’ve chatted to – across a breadth of industries, I’m aware of a couple of new quarries looming, GDP growth is expected to keep clawing away in a positive direction, and all going well, by this time next year we should be seeing high twos maybe low threes as a growth percentage. And of course, another good dairy season would help immeasurably.

I’ll give you retail and hospo aren’t flash yet, but discretionary spending post a clout with the mallet of recession is always the last to recover.

Notwithstanding the unknown, the big factor from here on in is attitude, approach, and action. These three things are likely to be New Zealand’s biggest challenge and the one thing we need to get right if we’re to remain anything other than a margin of error in the globe’s economic stats. We’re actually at a time in history when there are a lot of balls bouncing in our court – energy, food, and tourism. What has the potential to scupper us is general apathy and misguided reliance on the state as the entity holding the panacea to our woes without realising, we are the state. Blame is the greatest shackle of all.

Spring has sprung, it’s time to shake off the melancholy, smell the new flowers, and bury the boot!

Build something, sell something, grow something, do something.

While I’m here, Shannon and the team are putting together a Little Trucker Down Under bumper holiday annual. It’s going to be full of games, activities, and great stories. This is screen-free, carry-along holiday fun that keeps the kids connected to industry.

Whether a supply business or transport company, you can get behind it and make sure your brand is seen by an audience at the most impressionable age. There’s also the opportunity to buy the annual wholesale to sell yourself over the counter, give to the staff or customers’ kids, whatever you want.

We’ll also sell it ex the online store, at the truck shows over summer and throughout next year. I’ll likely have some in Gus the Bus too. They won’t be hard to find.

If you want your name front and centre, contact:

Pav Warren – 027 201-4001 pav@nztrucking.co.nz

Mike Devon – 027 332-4127 mike.devon@nztrucking.co.nz

There’s plenty wanting to support the kids with a year long activity book, so procrastinate at your peril.

And …stay with me folks, voting in the John Murphy Memorial Top Truck competition for 2024 – 2025 closes on Monday 8 September so make sure you tick all the right boxes on that one! Head to the New Zealand Trucking website
https://www.nztrucking.co.nz/top-truck-of-the-year-2024-2025/ 

All the best

Dave McCoid
Editorial Director