UBER FREIGHT for shippers...To replace brokers?

Those megas do a service that many of us can not, with plenty of trucks they can always have a truck and driver ready and relay it on the way keeping with that just in time freight so more storage is not needed. Small operations can not do that easily. They also give a easy way to enter the business if you play the game right.

 

Uber will never replace all brokers, just as the mega carriers will never replace all O/O or medium to small fleets. O/O and small to medium fleets provide a level of service that is all to easy to slip between the cracks with the mega carriers. Same with brokers, a small brokerage office will provide a level of service and personal contact that the larger brokerages will have trouble maintaining.

 

If you're really interested, the Journal of Commerce has a story on that today.

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For me, Uber would not be a viable business partner.

 

nothing today. thanks for asking.

IT is great you are doing this but you are looking at the big picture with an aggregate of all the segments with too many assumptions.

Yes that's true to a point, that's the nature of their business but that does not mean it will effect your bottom line.

See you are assuming the truck stop lunch counter version of how it really works, most of those BS stories and assumptions have no truth behind them, just like this idea that all Megas are trying to drive the O/O out of business - bullsh****!!

Megas run on fixed rates, not spot rates. Most of their regulars all have an agreement and/or contract with the consignee of what they are going to pay. these rates don't change often, maybe reviewed once or twice a year at best.

However there are outlets for the loads that are more close to a spot market and are used in bidding wars to get things moved, one was (and maybe still is NLM which handled at one point 90% of the automotive freight), there are others depending on the segment but overall you won't be dealing with the same sources of freight as the megas.

ON top of this, Uber, Uship, Amazon - all are acting like brokers, and they will eventually have to deal with being shut out of the industry (which in my opinion should be). BUT again they don't effect your bottom line because you won't be competing against them.

I won't even get into what shippers/consignees see something like Uber is to them, many don't like it and like Uber, many still prefer to take a taxi than get near an Uber.

Who will you be competing against is the cheap owner, the one who is willing to run their truck into the ground for that $1.15 a mile freight, capturing $300 a day to keep afloat. This is your competition, no one else and there are more of them around who effect the rates than you could ever imagine.

These cheap owners are the threat, they are why you see $1.25 a mile/500 mile runs, the broker will get someone to haul it, they look for those bottom feeders and then hold on to them as if they are gold because they really are to them.

I agree but you need to know what you need to know first.

One reason why I am good at what I do is I learned the truth, I was at the lunch counter one time or another and nothing has changed for the past 40 years, I would just nod my head or say "that's BS" but never believed much of it. I had to step away from the lunch counter, asked questions to those who I met while working at shippers, called people up out of the blue and ask them and didn't think that I would be put out of business because of ... what ever the flavor of fear is today in the industry because I wasn't afraid to ask.

 

It's sad to learn that Uber is encroaching on the trucking business, too. They have all but decimated the taxi business in NYC - I see it on TV all the time. The taxi drivers used to make so much money and they paid over a million dollars for the medallions (the permit issued by the city that allows cabs to operate). And, then Uber arrived and they pay drivers a base fare of just $1.72 and just a little per mile. The minimum fare is only $3.37. Sad. Guys have lost their medallions because they can no longer afford to make the payment on their $1million+ medallion. In the past year, over 5 or 6 taxi drivers have committed suicide as a result of the financial strain put on them. Uber is taking like 40% of all fares for their drivers and nobody is taking the yellow taxis anymore!

 

Uber succeeded with the personal transportation market because thier model allowed them to flood the market with capacity.

They were able to do that, because there was a ready source of capacity. They can't have the same impact on rates. The trucking market is already open and capacity driven.

Where Uber appears to be targeting is developing an efficient process of matching the capacity ... They're after the brokers cut.

 

Of course OOIDA will look at it. They're always sniffing around for a potential lawsuit. It's thier bread and butter.