The glossary below may define terms not included in the main Glossary on census.gov

The main Glossary on census.gov provides official definitions covering all topics, censuses, surveys and programs.

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1. Auxiliary Establishment
2. Average Miles per Shipment
3. Business Register
4. Commodity (ECON)
5. Confidentiality
6. Disclosure Avoidance
7. Great Circle Distance
8. Intermodal Shipment
9. North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)
10. Sampling Error
11. Shipment (CFS)
12. Standard Classification of Transported Goods (SCTG)
13. Third-party logistics provider (3PL)
14. Ton-miles
15. Tons shipped
16. Total modal activity
17. Coefficient of Variation
18. Estimates
19. Mode of Transportation
20. Noise Infusion
21. Sampling Variance
22. Standard Error
23. Value of Shipments
24. Cell Suppression
    

The coefficient of variation (of a particular estimate) is the ratio of the standard error (of a particular estimate) to the expected value (of a particular estimate).

An estimate of the coefficient of variation is given by: the ratio of an estimate of the standard error to an estimate of the expected value. The estimate of the expected value is given by: the value of the particular estimate itself.

Data in CFS tables reflect survey estimates, that is, these numbers and percentages are estimated totals produced using the sum of weighted shipment data (reported or imputed). CFS respondents provide data for a sample of shipments made by their respective establishments in the survey year. For each establishment, an estimate of that establishment's total value of shipments is produced for the entire survey year. To do this, four different weights are used – the shipment weight, the shipment nonresponse weight, the quarter weight, and the quarter nonresponse weight. Three additional weights are then applied to produce estimates representative of the entire universe – the establishment-level adjustment weight, the establishment (or sample) weight, and the industry-level adjustment weight.

The type of transportation used for moving a shipment to its domestic destination. (For exports, the domestic destination is the port of exit.)

Single mode shipments – Shipments transported by only one of the following modes: Private truck, For-hire truck, Rail, any water mode, Pipeline, or Air.

Company Owned Truck – Trucks operated by employees of this establishment or the buyer/receiver of the shipment. Includes trucks providing dedicated services to the establishment.

For-hire truck – Truck operated by common or contract carriers made under a negotiated rate.

Rail – Any common carrier or private railroad.

Inland Water – In previous cycles this was known as Shallow Draft. Inland Water refers to vessels or barges operating primarily in inland or coastal waterways, both within and along the borders of the United States, such as rivers, lakes (excluding the Great Lakes), coastal waters, locks, and canals.

Great Lakes – Any vessel or barge operating on the Great Lakes.

Deep Sea – In previous cycles this was known as Deep Draft. Deep Sea refers to vessels or barges operating primarily in the open waters of the ocean, mostly outside the borders of the United States.

Multiple Waterways – Shipments sent by any combination of Inland Water, Great Lakes, and Deep Sea, usually involving a transfer between vessels.

Pipeline – Movements of commodities i.e., oil, petroleum, gas, slurry, etc. through pipelines that extend to other establishments or locations beyond the shipper's establishment. Does not include aqueducts for the movement of water.

Air – Any shipment sent by an air route to its destination This includes shipments carried by truck to or from an airport.

Multiple mode shipments – Shipments for which two or more of the following modes of transportation were used:

• Private and/or for-hire truck
• Rail
• Any water mode
• Pipeline
• Air (except with only truck modes)

Parcel, U.S. Postal Service, or Courier shipments are considered multiple modes because this category includes all parcel shipments whether on the ground or via air tendered to a parcel or express carrier. Parcel shipments are limited to a maximum of 150 pounds. Note: "Truck and Rail" and "Rail and Water" combinations included under "Multiple Modes" may not reflect all the movement of trailers or containers by rail and at least one other mode of transportation. Since the shipper may not always know the modal combinations used to transport the goods, some shipments moving by more than one mode may be reported as a single mode shipment. This may result in underestimation of multimodal shipments in the CFS.

Parcel delivery/Courier/U.S. Parcel Post – Includes ground and air segments of shipments of packages and parcels. Parcel shipments are limited to a maximum weight of 150 pounds.

Other multiple modes – Shipments sent by any other mode combinations not specifically listed in the tables.

Other modes – Shipments for which no mode of transportation were reported, or were reported by the respondent as "Other"; And shipments with a mode other than any of the listed modes, such as conveyor belt, animal power, etc.

A method of disclosure avoidance in which values of each shipment are perturbed prior to tabulation by applying a random noise multiplier.

The squared difference, averaged over all possible samples of the same size and design, between the estimator and its average value.

Measure of the variation among the estimates from all possible samples; measure of the precision with which an estimate from a particular sample approximates the average results of all possible samples; square root of the sampling variance.

The dollar value of the entire shipment. This is defined as the net selling value, exclusive of freight charges and excise taxes. The value data are displayed in millions of dollars. The total value of shipments, as measured by the CFS, and the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) provide different measures of economic activity in the United States and are not directly comparable. GDP is the value of all goods produced and services performed by labor and capital located in the United States. The value of shipments, as measured by the CFS, is the market value of goods shipped from manufacturing, mining, wholesale, and select retail and service establishments, as well as warehouses and managing offices of multiunit establishments. Three important differences between GDP and value of shipments:

1. GDP captures goods produced by all establishments located in the United States, while CFS measures goods shipped from a subset of all goods-producing establishments.
2. GDP measures the value of goods produced and of services performed. CFS measures the value of goods shipped.
3. GDP counts for only the value-added at each step in the production of a product. CFS captures the value of shipments of materials used to produce or manufacture a product, as well as the value of shipments of the finished product itself. This means that the value of the materials used to produce a particular product contributes multiple times to the value of the commodity in the CFS.

Withholding data to protect the confidentiality of information reported by individual businesses or persons. Data withheld are replaced with S's in appropriate data cells.