среда, 13 января 2010 г.

A $6 million cargo cult

Original: A $6 million cargo cult

Submitted by Dmitri Davydov on Sun, 2010-01-10 12:17.
Link of the day - I will pay you $25, if you come up with a cool domain name for me.

http://www.uship.com/

(CNNMoney.com) -- In 2001, Matt Chasen's mother wanted to send an antique dresser from Ohio to Texas, but was staggered when she received a $1,000 shipping quote -- far more than the dresser was worth. Unable to find a cheaper option, she never sent it.

One year later, Chasen reserved a nine-foot truck to move from Seattle to Austin. When he arrived at the rental center, the only one left was a 20-footer, so he took it. Standing in the back of the cavernous vehicle, he thought of his mother.

"I thought, 'Wow I wish I could have gotten in touch with people with half-empty trucks to move my mom's dresser,'" he recalls.

The idea: Inspiration hit Chasen, 34, ver with an empty truck who moved everything for $3,800.

"You have to do the homework yourself but it makes it much easier to find a deal," says Eldred.

The risk: Not everyone wants to help people like Eldred or Chasen's mother. Many drivers simply aren't interested in the hassle of picking up and moving a bunch of random stuff, whether it's a broken-down bulldozer or grandma's piano, suggests Tim Barton, CEO of Freightquote.com, an 800-employee Kansas City company that also offers competitive bidding and brings in $400 million in annual revenues.

And uShip faces another quandary: in a weak economy, Chasen can expect plenty of excess truck capacity, but fewer people who want to ship, while good times will bring the reverse, explains Kevin Sterling, a transportation analyst at BB&T Capital Markets. "They've got to manage that," he says.

The reward: While bigger players like Freightquote.com and CH Robinson Worldwide may be ideal for the sh transport companies.

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