I look forward to the breathless praise from tech news, with lots of fluff about automation and driver-less lorries.
I suspect that as they have to deal with real companies, with lawyers that do due diligence things won't be so smooth.
Delivery is business critical to most companies, so Uber are going to have to make a pretty strong pitch to get business.
I'm not sure who they are pitching at, companies that do lots of hauling will have decent relationships with haulage broker/companies directly. They'll do credit and guarantees.
The other thing is that I'm strongly suspicious of Uber business practice, as they appear they'll do anything to make a quick buck. (drop drivers, jack up prices, lie, cheat and generally break the law)
That's not something that I want when shipping business critical stuff. "oh sorry, the surge price on the haulage has changed, conference season you know..." or "we've dropped that subcontractor, we're sorry your pallet appear to have been lost"
There are a number of small businesses who occasionally need LTL freight, a few times a year perhaps. I do believe that market is poorly served and is ripe for disruption. The number of "logistics 2.0" tech-focused startups lately seems to confirm that others share my belief.
For those companies if your vendor doesn't have an existing relationship with a freight broker familiar with things you're in for a huge waste of time and a confusing mess where you feel you're likely being ripped off.
If you could instead spend 5 minutes typing some stuff into Uber and clicking go it wins that market segment every time.
We were this company until we got a bit larger and now have a relationship with a broker. But even now it's a little antiquated.
> That's not something that I want when shipping business critical stuff. "oh sorry, the surge price on the haulage has changed, conference season you know..."
This already happens, as anyone shipping throughout the year will attest to. Rates are a lesser form of airline pricing.
> or "we've dropped that subcontractor, we're sorry your pallet appear to have been lost"
Trivial non-problem that again already exists in the market. This has happened, and it's just as rare as you'd expect it to be.
> They'll do credit and guarantees
Why wouldn't Uber? Considering their performance here in the consumer space I would expect them to be easier to work with here than current brokers who rely on that $200 to feed their kids that week.
I suspect that as they have to deal with real companies, with lawyers that do due diligence things won't be so smooth.
Delivery is business critical to most companies, so Uber are going to have to make a pretty strong pitch to get business.
I'm not sure who they are pitching at, companies that do lots of hauling will have decent relationships with haulage broker/companies directly. They'll do credit and guarantees.
The other thing is that I'm strongly suspicious of Uber business practice, as they appear they'll do anything to make a quick buck. (drop drivers, jack up prices, lie, cheat and generally break the law)
That's not something that I want when shipping business critical stuff. "oh sorry, the surge price on the haulage has changed, conference season you know..." or "we've dropped that subcontractor, we're sorry your pallet appear to have been lost"