Uber Freight for Trucking is Here. But What Does It Mean?

Press a button. Get a load. Can it really be that simple?

Uber is now officially in the trucking game and this is the promise it makes. But will it disrupt the trucking industry like it has the taxi cab business?

There’s now doubt the original target market is going to be Owner Operators and smaller fleets. Those experienced truckers who want to achieve the ultimate freedom. This is evident in Uber’s flagship video ad showing a middle-aged driver primarily playing with his dog in front of scenic backgrounds taking just seconds to look at this phone to find a load and only seconds more to tap a button to get paid for a delivery.

Uber freight is an app that will “connect professional truck drivers with shippers looking to transport big loads over long distances.” “We take the guesswork out of finding and booking freight, which is often the most stressful part of a driver’s day,” Uber said in a Medium blogpost.

The goal is clearly to eliminate the “middleman” role which can definitely be headache causing when it comes to logistics. But does this also mean eliminating an aspect of customer service and relationship building? While this might not matter nearly as much on a smaller scale level, it certainly would with larger clients and fleets who need to regularly get freight from point A to point B to keep contracts.

But then there’s the payment piece. If Uber can figure out a way to simplify and speed up the payment piece, that could be huge. It has been reported that many trucking companies are waiting 30 days or longer to get paid. Likewise, some drivers are waiting over 10 hours to get a new load or get loaded…without being paid. As we all know, time is money and speed is everything everything in the transportation business. If sending and receiving money is just a tap away in the app everyone could benefit.

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* photo from TechCrunch.com