Uber Freight, a subsidiary of Uber Technologies Inc. focused on connecting shippers to carriers, has announced a new plan to evolve the company to new heights. The company, which first debuted in 2018, has grown over the years, adding features that allow for easier freight quoting, faster booking, and better service tracking. Now, as per their new announcement, they will also have 24 hour support available, price comparisons, and extended capacity. They have also designed a feature that will allow them to highlight and focus on the advanced services offered by small and medium sized businesses.
The head of shipper products at Uber Freight, Steve Barber, had some excitement to share regarding the expansion.
Barber first spoke on the importance of technology within this industry. He called it an “essential role” in the supply chain on any shipping scale, whether that be globally or domestically. He expressed further that the scale does shift depending on the nature of the shipment and it is incredibly important to find accurate shipping practices for the scale in which they will be working. Specifically, he expressed that they need to be able to find their match in terms of capacity. That is why Uber Freight has worked so hard to set up this service, according to Barber.
Furthermore, Barber spoke candidly about the out of date practices some in the industry still solely rely on, such as email. He expressed how these old school methods lack effective market benchmarking tools, which then leads to poor ability to find adequate matches. He confidently believes the new and improved platform will allow the “smaller players” to have better changes of not only getting jobs, but getting jobs that mesh well with their capabilities.
Uber Freight wants to “provide them with a way to move.”
The Uber name has faced some issues in the past with regard to promoting their contractors as small businesses, before having controversy over whether or not drivers of Uber should be allowed to unionize or not. However, it seems Uber Freight has learned from past mistakes and really wants to promote the users of the service as small businesses in order to help them grow their fleet and capabilities.
