The behavior of the hypothetical firm On-the-Move profiled in Chapter 8 becomes more vivid by looking at the behavior of an actual moving firm over many years.

In 1930 the moving firm Roadway Express was founded by two brothers, Galen and Carroll Roush. At the start, it had 10 trucks and 3 terminals in Houston, Chicago, and Kansas City, Missouri. In 1975, when both Galen and Carroll Roush had retired from the business, Roadway had 300 terminals in 40 states. In the early 1980s, it was the largest freight carrier in the country. By the 1990s, it had a fleet of 38,501 vehicles and 805 terminals all over the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Thus, in the long run, Roadway Express, like On-the-Move, could vary all inputs to production, not just workers.

But each year for the last 60 years, Roadway Express had certain costs that were considered fixed in the short run, again just like On-the-Move. For example, when business conditions got bad in the early 1970s, the firm reduced its production by reducing labor input. This reduced its variable costs, which were nearly equal to 60 percent of expenses, but the expenses on its long-term leases for terminals and trucks could not be reduced in the short run.