purgoose10
Veteran Expediter
Just curious to know if anyone is using U Ship for a fill or return load? Most to me seem as though the shipments are impossibly low and not worth the effort.
What do you think?
What do you think?
How many of you are using U Ship for return loads?
- Thread starter purgoose10
- Start date
Seems to me, I agree, waste of time, there are people who bid on stuff just to lower the price, then cancell. I have placed a few bids on there, only to be undercut by a team of guys using an old airport passenger bus, to make extra money, seems like a bad risk for the shipper. Then there are those that never respond to their emails, and on and on, waste of time, if your looking for a backload, it may take days for the shipper to answer you back. I'll continue to bid, but I don't see much hiope in getting shipments. there are over 200,000 registered trucks there. Not good odds.
chefdennis
Veteran Expediter
Most experienced expediters are not going to mess with those kind of deals period....Most of the mid to big carriers will not allow you to carry anything in your truck when leased to them because in the contract is a "exclusive use" article...meaning that they have "exclusive use" of your truck. now there are some that will allow you to find your own freight, but then you have to have it booked thru the carrier and the carrier takes a cut....
Then you have the smaller companies that will allow you to run for more then 1 carrier...their are more then a few opinions on that, both good and bad...its a "to each his own" type of deal....
Then you have those that have there own authority, and they are certainaly not going to mess with places like U-ship...unless they can fit it on a truck that has a load going the same way...but then again, they can't sit and wait for the shipper to take 47 bids when they are already loaded and ready to run....
While I understand no one wants to sit, and that includes me, but the expedite business is not a "drop and hook" deal...you are going to sit, its the nature of the business...
Then you have the smaller companies that will allow you to run for more then 1 carrier...their are more then a few opinions on that, both good and bad...its a "to each his own" type of deal....
Then you have those that have there own authority, and they are certainaly not going to mess with places like U-ship...unless they can fit it on a truck that has a load going the same way...but then again, they can't sit and wait for the shipper to take 47 bids when they are already loaded and ready to run....
While I understand no one wants to sit, and that includes me, but the expedite business is not a "drop and hook" deal...you are going to sit, its the nature of the business...
Brisco
Expert Expediter
And also one thing one needs to realize on Uship is that 60-70-80% of the loads being posted are from Auction site bidders (mainly ebay) who are trying to get an idea on how much it would cost to have an item that they're interested in bidding on shipped to them.
Here's how it goes............
They see an item they're interested in Sunday night. Auction does not end until the following Sunday night. (7 days later) Monday morning they're posting a shipment quote request on Uship. Uship drivers jump on it all week trying to underbid each other for the shipment. Coming following Sunday night, the OP adds the lowest shipping bid from Uship to the price of auction and makes their decision on whether to bid or not. 6-7-8 times out of 10 they decide not to bid on auction leaving all those Uship shipping bids just sitting there unanswered, or cancelling the lowest bid/all of the bids they received.
Take a dozen or so shipping bid requests from Uship and watch them for a few days. My bet is that 2 out of the 12 you watch will actually be shipped. Trust me, I've been watching/used to watch Uship closely for what, 4 years now??? It's not worth the hassle for guys like you guys here, professional drivers, to even waste your time with. You'll do a lot better if you can get your dispatch, or hire someone with time on their hands, to watch the loadboards for you to get better paying backhauls to get you out of a bad freight area and back into a good freight lane.
purgoose10
Veteran Expediter
I was just curious, I haven't tried them out it just seems like to much hassle for the money. I would rather the carrier find the freight, that's what we're paying them for.
purgoose10
Veteran Expediter
I'm not disputing the Va man, the only way to make it doing that kind of hauling is combining shipments and building loads. To do that you would need someone coordinating the shipments. It's all personnel preference I guess.