What is it about?

In this book, the political and economic factors which have led to the rise of logistics in Europe in the context of the mass consumption society will be discussed. First, the ascent of truck transport in the 1920s to satisfy consumer needs, the rise of packaged goods in cartons and wooden boxes and the importance of the European motorway infrastructure for the development of modern logistics, also the dimension freight transport has acquired in Europe, which organizations have been created in Europe to enable and facilitate transnational goods transports, is shown. The railway could not follow the strong increase of packed goods. The railway transshipment points for packaged goods became bottelnecks. One can make the assertion that modern logistics is based on the need to comply with the flood of packaged goods. Other than in the US, the national transport markets were initially uncoordinated. It was only in the process of European unification that transport markets for truck freight and associated logistics systems became Europe-wide. This change was accompanied by the struggle between rail and truck. Second, Europe-wide just-in-time deliveries in the car manufactures, the role of the parcel delivery services in a society of mass consumption and the problems of Alpine crossing for goods traffic are further issues of the book. Finally, the various factors that led to the logistics revolution of the 1990s, as the Internet and the shift of consumer goods production from Europe to Asia, are shown.

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This page is a summary of: Richard Vahrenkamp, The logistic revolution: the rise of logistics in the mass consumption society (Brandsberg: Josef Eul Verlag GmbH, 2012. Pp. vii + 281. ISBN 9783844101188 Pbk. £48.99/€59), The Economic History Review, April 2013, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/1468-0289.12015_31.
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