5 ms·

I'd be curious to hear some use cases for Uber Freight. I am guessing it is not targeted for individuals wanting alternatives for UPS or FedEx.

jbob2000 10y ago
I have a friend who owns a restaurant equipment import business. He employs a driver to deliver ovens, refrigerators, display cases, etc. to restaurants and grocery stores around the country. He could fire his driver and hire an Uber truck on demand instead, and if he got a blast of orders, he could hire a few trucks instead of having to wait on one driver. I have another friend who is a truck dispatcher. Her entire job is telling truckers where to go and when to be there. Trucking companies don't need to employ dispatchers any more, Uber's algorithms handle her entire job. My uncle drove trucks delivering dairy to grocery stores. Since he was a member of the dairy trucker's union, that was the only thing he was allowed to deliver. If there was no dairy to deliver but lots of bread, sorry, that's for the members of the bread trucker's union. The whole trucking industry is carved into these niche unions which are really frustrating to deal with. When I was a student, I worked for a construction company that had a decrepit old truck they used to deliver some of their prefab pieces, like sets of windows and doors. It broke down a lot and only one guy in the shop had the license and knew how to drive it. Now they can get rid of the truck and just hire Uber whenever they need some bigger stuff delivered.
- nodesocket 10y ago
  Awesome. All makes total sense. I think the dispatcher example is spot on and very common with haulers. Unfortunately for her, her job could indeed be eaten by technology.
aqme28 10y ago
I work for a company that ships a lot of stuff. If uber freight is cheaper and more reliable than the shippers we use today, then why wouldn't we use it? I don't see anything new here though. It's just a matter of them making the same-old-thing more convenient (which is basically all the Uber car service is).
alaskamiller 10y ago
Freight brokerage is a common entrepreneur business model. It's also mostly localized and commissioned. Every market has a variety of players (shippers, carriers, brokers) in the game which brings volatility to pricing and where brokers can find arbitrage opportunities to earn themselves additional revenue. The business is also cyclical, seasonal, meaning again highly volatile and the reliance on the brokerage model to maintain continuity in the marketplace. Past the pricing level there's also multiple levels of bureaucracy to manage. Everything from documenting and confirming loads, rates, BoL, LTL, CoC. Lots of which is still manual and tedious on purpose. Then you finally get to the scheduling, dispatching, and invoicing, which is Uber's area of expertise. To play, Uber needs to tackle all three levels. Re-build the software layers, re-build the processes, then throw in from their deep pockets to take over territory one by one.
sparkie 10y ago
There's a big industry in freight exchange. If shippers deliver to their customers, then need to return to depot empty, they have the full round trip costs to account for (which is inevitably added to their customer's pricing). If for every journey the shipper does, he can find someone who needs a load shipping back to somewhere near his depot, which can pay for the return journey overheads, plus earn some extra money, then it's a big win. The shipper would then only need to price the one way journey into costs for the customer, which could lower his pricing and give him an advantage over competitors in the market, as well as earn additional money for every return load. I run the logistics for a FMCG company, and we own a small fleet, which delivers all over the UK and occasionally into Europe. Most of the time, we return to depot empty. We don't have the resources to act as a transport brokerage in addition to selling our own goods. At present we use returnloads.net and TimoCom, and have a close relationship with a couple of local transport brokers. We place the times and locations of our vehicles into their systems and occasionally get a response. We work on very small timescales (1-3 days) of planning, so it's not easy to find return loads. We also use transport brokerage firms ourselves when we're busy and selling more than our fleet can handle, or if we're shipping out so far that it's not cost effective to put on our own vehicles. Pricing here can vary massively, where if we can manage to find a return load, it's usually at half the cost it would be to contact a standard shipping firm. I can't see Uber Freight being any more useful than returnloads.net, but if it turns out to be, then I could end up being a provider and a consumer.

jbob2000 10y ago

I have a friend who owns a restaurant equipment import business. He employs a driver to deliver ovens, refrigerators, display cases, etc. to restaurants and grocery stores around the country. He could fire his driver and hire an Uber truck on demand instead, and if he got a blast of orders, he could hire a few trucks instead of having to wait on one driver. I have another friend who is a truck dispatcher. Her entire job is telling truckers where to go and when to be there. Trucking companies don't need to employ dispatchers any more, Uber's algorithms handle her entire job. My uncle drove trucks delivering dairy to grocery stores. Since he was a member of the dairy trucker's union, that was the only thing he was allowed to deliver. If there was no dairy to deliver but lots of bread, sorry, that's for the members of the bread trucker's union. The whole trucking industry is carved into these niche unions which are really frustrating to deal with. When I was a student, I worked for a construction company that had a decrepit old truck they used to deliver some of their prefab pieces, like sets of windows and doors. It broke down a lot and only one guy in the shop had the license and knew how to drive it. Now they can get rid of the truck and just hire Uber whenever they need some bigger stuff delivered.

nodesocket 10y ago
Awesome. All makes total sense. I think the dispatcher example is spot on and very common with haulers. Unfortunately for her, her job could indeed be eaten by technology.

aqme28 10y ago

I work for a company that ships a lot of stuff. If uber freight is cheaper and more reliable than the shippers we use today, then why wouldn't we use it? I don't see anything new here though. It's just a matter of them making the same-old-thing more convenient (which is basically all the Uber car service is).

alaskamiller 10y ago

Freight brokerage is a common entrepreneur business model. It's also mostly localized and commissioned. Every market has a variety of players (shippers, carriers, brokers) in the game which brings volatility to pricing and where brokers can find arbitrage opportunities to earn themselves additional revenue. The business is also cyclical, seasonal, meaning again highly volatile and the reliance on the brokerage model to maintain continuity in the marketplace. Past the pricing level there's also multiple levels of bureaucracy to manage. Everything from documenting and confirming loads, rates, BoL, LTL, CoC. Lots of which is still manual and tedious on purpose. Then you finally get to the scheduling, dispatching, and invoicing, which is Uber's area of expertise. To play, Uber needs to tackle all three levels. Re-build the software layers, re-build the processes, then throw in from their deep pockets to take over territory one by one.

sparkie 10y ago

There's a big industry in freight exchange. If shippers deliver to their customers, then need to return to depot empty, they have the full round trip costs to account for (which is inevitably added to their customer's pricing). If for every journey the shipper does, he can find someone who needs a load shipping back to somewhere near his depot, which can pay for the return journey overheads, plus earn some extra money, then it's a big win. The shipper would then only need to price the one way journey into costs for the customer, which could lower his pricing and give him an advantage over competitors in the market, as well as earn additional money for every return load. I run the logistics for a FMCG company, and we own a small fleet, which delivers all over the UK and occasionally into Europe. Most of the time, we return to depot empty. We don't have the resources to act as a transport brokerage in addition to selling our own goods. At present we use returnloads.net and TimoCom, and have a close relationship with a couple of local transport brokers. We place the times and locations of our vehicles into their systems and occasionally get a response. We work on very small timescales (1-3 days) of planning, so it's not easy to find return loads. We also use transport brokerage firms ourselves when we're busy and selling more than our fleet can handle, or if we're shipping out so far that it's not cost effective to put on our own vehicles. Pricing here can vary massively, where if we can manage to find a return load, it's usually at half the cost it would be to contact a standard shipping firm. I can't see Uber Freight being any more useful than returnloads.net, but if it turns out to be, then I could end up being a provider and a consumer.