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Uber Freight — Leveling the playing field for America’s truck drivers
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@geoffreyweg my uncle has driven a truck for decades. If I remember correctly he said there's a huge amount of time spent waiting for a new load (trailer) at a specific destination. Periodically there's nothing to pick-up and take back either. In addition, the trucking companies have dispatchers who handle this all on the fly.
Drivers are compensated by the mile, so this process drives them nuts.
@lukethomas14 Interesting. Then presumably shippers decide to ship things on the fly? I would think they plan their shipments days/weeks in advance—given the likely high cost in preparing whatever it is they're shipping—but I guess that's not always the case
@geoffreyweg It depends. Larger trucking outfits have more advanced logistics/technology. Smaller ones don't. 98% of trucking companies have less than 20 trucks (http://www.trucking.org/News_and...) so there's a huge amount of variance.
My uncle hauls scrap metal and they have certain routes that they bank on every week - sometimes they "get lucky" and don't have to haul back an empty trailer.
A rule of thumb I use is to look for trucks hauling empty trailers - that's generally a sign of an inefficiency in the supply chain.
Reminds me of what Transfix has been building for years https://www.producthunt.com/post...
@besvinick perhaps Uber has the right momentum to pull it off to become the mainstream way of handling logistics of goods. Good for Transfix as well, they've got a foot in the future business model.
Uber shows us that the future may come sooner than we think.
Uber Freight launches to connect truck drivers with available shipments
https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/1...
Also good coverage from The Verge about Uber Freight the other week
https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/...
@mqsley I once was part of this and know the industry well, experience I take with me to this digital day and age!
@erickschonfeld there are 3.5 million truck drivers now who earn on average $40,000 per year. By my math it's a $140B opportunity if you replaced them all and captured 100% of the market.
@erickschonfeld or maybe don't signup and stop working in the business today instead of tomorrow? Steps towards efficiency leads to a unknown future, but overall better product and service.
I used to work in this industry, first as driver for years, then as manager for a few years, onwards to the next rank before I jumped off and started my own digital business.
I know everything there is about managing loads, uncertainty, unpaid waiting time and logistical elements as billing and "simply" getting paid in time.
This is Uber revolutionising the long haul part of the business and seemingly they know exactly what truckdrivers value; freedom. Not freedom from work, but from everything that clutters the experience they love; driving for miles and miles. It's that simple and if Uber allows the possibility that they can go back to owning their own truck again (not sub-employed), they certainly will not let that change go easily.
Good luck Uber and let the competitors roll in and change this freight market in need for a digital update for decades!
@vegardwikeby Totally agree. I hear getting paid, and the logistics is a nightmare. If they can solve this problem, it's a huge profit for them.
Leave it to Uber to make trucking look sexy lol The many waves of technology ::sigh:: ::laugh:: ::ohwell:: 
Great initiative!
Some of my friends back at college along with myself had tried a similar initiative in India. Here is the product design process of the same: https://medium.com/@si.agniva/tr...
Any feedback would be appreciated.
@jimcanto yes, but I think short-lived as they use their new trucking data to enter the self-driving freight market and relieve these drivers of their duties.
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