uship.com Format Change
 

I had shipping request on uship for a couple days this week (short major city to major city haul). It quickly became evident that their format has changed. No longer do I get bids flowing in and competitive bids, rather 1 bid at a time and my listing is not available to shippers unless I decline the current bid or the offer expires. That bid uship allows me to see may or may not be the only bid. No way of knowing. It's just presented as "the lowest bid." Well, that lowest bid used to be the highest. Buck per mile for an open car hauler pulled by a Toyota running on $2.25/gal fuel? Another good thing turned into joke --

It may have been a "good" thing price wise, but I hope they are out of business soon.

Truth is they were not even checking "transporters" (and I use that term lightly) for insurance, Reg. lic. dot numbers or anything else they were suppose to have.

I don't know one reputable company that was still dealing with them, I welcome competition, I just want an even playing field.

I worked for a transport company based out of San Jose, Ca. for a short time. I would find loads and place bids for the company to transport. They owned their own trucks but I also did some brokering on their behalf. It's been a couple years since I worked for them but I can still log into my old uship account as a provider and see what the carriers and brokers see. I can search for loads ect. but I can no longer place bids or post loads..

recently I was trying to get my 67 moved after I bought it and decided to place it on uship. I used my personal account of course and ran the auction two times I think they were 10 days each. I did not get any bids the first auction and the second I got one bid only. I remember in the past I used to get tons of bids and this just seemed fishy to me.

This is when I decided to see if I could log into my old account that I used with my former employer and see if my auction was even showing up or what the problem was.

I was able to log in and found that my auction was not showing up in the results at all. It was nowhere to be found. In the past when I was working for the shipping company a very generic search would get every load in the area of the state you searched. Now you have to be very specific with your search parameters to get a load to appear. You have to enter a exact pick up and destination city. There is a exception though. The people that paid to have their auction upgraded showed up just as every auction even the free ones used to in the past. You did not have to enter specific citys to see those loads. To me its plain to see that they are trying to force users to pay for the upgraded auction in order to get better results. before this was not the case. like I said in the past any and all loads in the general area would show up when you searched. Even the free auctions.

uship charges a fee when you accept a bid so even the free auctions make them money if they are successfully matched with a broker/carrier.

I agree they have screwed something up that used to be very useful..

I had good luck with them a few times in the past. Maybe that's all it was, luck.

" Good Thing " in reality is " Below Cost Transport " ....

Why don't you go get your car yourself - keep track of all actual expenses - then see how much it costs ...


U-Sip is a broker board - the charge folks who haul to find a load - just like any other broker does ...


Jim

I did. Not the first time and won't be the last. This trip (roundtrip, 7.3L dually crewcab Ford, 4.10 gears, no dbl OD, $3.12/gal diesel) cost me 40% under the lowest 1 way quote. Of course, I got only 3 quotes instead of 10 +, because of the new format. 2 of those quotes were brokers and the other a dreaming Toyota truck owner.

I've had several cars shipped in the past using that site and always used an independent hotshot driver. For 15 bucks, it wasn't a bad tool at all. Now it's 25 and the tool is not nearly as useful.

Actual cost vs. fuel ...
 

Actual cost to operate equipment goes way beyond fuel in the tank .... :cool:

You mentioned unleaded prices dropping - diesel prices have not ....

Real trucks that haul freight put diesel in the tank - not unleaded ....

#2 diesel is averaging $3.50 to $4.00 a gallon in most parts of the country
and fuel efficiency drops in the Winter by 10% or more for a diesel vehicle ...

I just spent $900 to replace a HPOP & sensor last week and another $800
to replace my dually rear tires .... :2cents:

You have no clue what it actually costs to operate a truck & trailer by the mile ....

" A dreaming Toyota truck owner " is probably someone who is not hauling for the cost of fuel .... :rolleyes:


Why don't you man up and go get your own vehicle instead of whining ..... :confused:


Jim

Here is a word of advice for anyone that wants to know if the prized possession they just bought will be carried by some fly-by-night or by an actual and LEGAL Transport company.

Have them send you over a copy of their ICC documents, Dot number, THEN tell them you need to be added to THEIR INSURANCE as a "Certificate Holder".

This is what happens, by being a cert/holder their insurance company must send you an updated copy of that carriers insurance, listing liabilities, cargo, collision, AND dates of expiration.

WAY too many of these hot shots will (and some less than scrupulous companies) will get insurance, pay the down payment, and once they have the insurance deck page in their hand that says it expires in a year they then turn around a month later and cancel their insurance, but they still have that copy in hand.

So, IOW, if you car gets wrecked, YOU are out the FULL amount of damages, because good luck finding this guy afterwards.

Stan

Does anyone read around here?

As I wrote, I did go get the car myself, so man this. My truck also runs on diesel. Strike 2 on you. Diesel is currently $2.99 - $3.50 along the route I took. Strike 3, you're out. The trip is under 5 hours 1 way. My costs, roundtrip, were 40% of the lowest bid.

I've been in this game a long time and what I see coming out of uship isn't what it once was.

To recap, for those who place ads on uship or plan to, be aware of the change in format. You won't get bids flowing in continuously. Because of this, don't expect very competitive bids. All I saw were brokers at about $1.40/mile and 1 low-budget who knows what a tick over buck/mile. All were open transport bids. This might have changed over time (my ad didn't run long before I went to pick the car up myself), but I wouldn't expect to fair much better even over a 10 day period given the format.

I was confused on that one as well.

I've never had anything shipped to me from Uship, but I've had a car that I sold get shipped out. It seemed to work out fine, but I didn't like the way the site was laid out when I went to check it out.

Now factor in what you would charge for an hour's work.

Are you trying to justify $1.40/mile open transport major city to major city? Toyota guy aside. I don't consider him a viable option.

The profit margin on this particular car is another story that really has no bearing on the point of this thread, but is half the reason I opted to get the car myself.

Trying to keep the "costs" real. They can price themselves out of business, but let's not paint a picture that's inaccurate.

Looks more like brokers flooding transport ads and pushing out legit independent transport companies.

UShip use to be a great shipping option a few years ago. I had numerous dealing with the site both getting cars and oversized parts (and also shipping some stuff out as well). never had a problem, and the cost was cheaper most times than me going to get it (Especially the time aspect of it).

But now, like previously posted, it is a glorified brokerage house. You rarely talk to an actual shipper until the load has been contracted out. And these guys don't care about your "Stuff".

Maybe it's time for an enthusiast to create a new site --

CFO change in February
 

First & Foremost ...

Regarding uShip

When you place a load for quotes - you are enlisting the aid of a transport broker

Any transport broker will limit direct contact between someone needing a haul
and the person doing the haul - if they did not they would make no money ....

You will pay a broker fee as will the hauler who bids.

That is how a broker makes money ... :cool:

The CFO leadership changed earlier this year ....

Mr. Bob Bearden has been the Chief Financial Officer at uShip, Inc. since February 5, 2014.
Mr. Bearden oversees uShip's strategic financial planning, debt/equity financing, operational financing,
budgeting, forecasting and capital investments, as well as its accounting team.

Like any other broker - uShip is continually looking for new ways to maximize
profit while minimizing risk - which is resulting in the changes you see ....

Regarding transport in general - the actual miles driven to haul any cargo
from pick up to drop off involve many more than the trip itself.

So - the associated costs increase as well ... :2cents:

Every day I get inquiries about short regional hauls of 500 miles or less,
the advice I give is to get it yourself or hire someone to do a round trip
from the pick up or drop off location ....

Transport Logistics ...

I average 300 unloaded miles a haul to get to a pick up location.

Jim

From what I see, Bob Bearden is turning uship into something much like Montway. Just look at what 3 users are saying here. I know one more guy outside of this site who is tired of dealing with the new uship format.

I'm thinking "CraigsShip" site --

Actually ...
 

Actually,

He is making it more profitable ...

In the process - below cost hauling is falling by the wayside.

There is a bottom line in operating any business,
you can only perform a service for so long below actual cost
before you go out of business .....

Jim