Who actually uses U Ship?
- Thread starter greg334
- Start date
99.9% it's cheese. But having typed that, the other decimal percentage wuz a really, really good gig. With some exceptional freight. That's usually the problem with "expediters", they are looking for those one night stands, steada, a lont term relationship. If you ask ONLY the price, and no other questions, THEN, you'll always be bummed. Way more to this biz than the immediate fast buk!!
Bill Gates turned 15 years old in 1970, so if he was shipping anything in the 60's, it was probably on the cheap, especially considering he founded Microsoft largely on a lie and stolen ideas. 
Several companies helped him out in getting started, not one of which has been the recipient of any loyalty from Gates.
He founded Microsoft as a subsidiary of MITS, and refused to give MITS any Microsoft revenue that wasn't directly related to the sales of Altair BASIC, and when Microsoft outgrew their Albuquerque office, they slashed ties with MITS and moved to Seattle.
IBM gave Gates a huge break and when things got rolling, Gates pulled the rug out from under IBM, refusing to transfer the copyright for MS-DOS to IBM, thus cheating IBM out of all software sales for their own computers. He did give them a trimmed down version of MS-DOS, tho, called PC-DOS, but charged IBM royalties on that, too.
Microsoft and IBM partnered up again to create OS/2 for IBM machines with Windows sitting on top of it, and when it came time to develop it further as Windows 3.0, Microsoft undercut IBM by bundling MS-DOS instead of OS/2 with Windows, leaving the standalone OS/2 package and IBM out in the cold.
Bill Gates might not be the best example to use here.
Several companies helped him out in getting started, not one of which has been the recipient of any loyalty from Gates.
He founded Microsoft as a subsidiary of MITS, and refused to give MITS any Microsoft revenue that wasn't directly related to the sales of Altair BASIC, and when Microsoft outgrew their Albuquerque office, they slashed ties with MITS and moved to Seattle.
IBM gave Gates a huge break and when things got rolling, Gates pulled the rug out from under IBM, refusing to transfer the copyright for MS-DOS to IBM, thus cheating IBM out of all software sales for their own computers. He did give them a trimmed down version of MS-DOS, tho, called PC-DOS, but charged IBM royalties on that, too.
Microsoft and IBM partnered up again to create OS/2 for IBM machines with Windows sitting on top of it, and when it came time to develop it further as Windows 3.0, Microsoft undercut IBM by bundling MS-DOS instead of OS/2 with Windows, leaving the standalone OS/2 package and IBM out in the cold.
Bill Gates might not be the best example to use here.
Dakota
Veteran Expediter
Bill Gates turned 15 years old in 1970, so if he was shipping anything in the 60's, it was probably on the cheap, especially considering he founded Microsoft largely on a lie and stolen ideas.
Several companies helped him out in getting started, not one of which has been the recipient of any loyalty from Gates.
He founded Microsoft as a subsidiary of MITS, and refused to give MITS any Microsoft revenue that wasn't directly related to the sales of Altair BASIC, and when Microsoft outgrew their Albuquerque office, they slashed ties with MITS and moved to Seattle.
IBM gave Gates a huge break and when things got rolling, Gates pulled the rug out from under IBM, refusing to transfer the copyright for MS-DOS to IBM, thus cheating IBM out of all software sales for their own computers. He did give them a trimmed down version of MS-DOS, tho, called PC-DOS, but charged IBM royalties on that, too.
Microsoft and IBM partnered up again to create OS/2 for IBM machines with Windows sitting on top of it, and when it came time to develop it further as Windows 3.0, Microsoft undercut IBM by bundling MS-DOS instead of OS/2 with Windows, leaving the standalone OS/2 package and IBM out in the cold.
Bill Gates might not be the best example to use here.
Wow, nice history lesson. Lots of people in Seattle have gotten rich off him.
flattop40
Expert Expediter
Bill Gates turned 15 years old in 1970, so if he was shipping anything in the 60's, it was probably on the cheap, especially considering he founded Microsoft largely on a lie and stolen ideas.
Isn't that the way most companies are? Most get started by taking products and ideas to the next level. Just an example besides Bill Gates is Ray Crock. He was a multi-mixer salesman went to sell the McDonald brothers some mixers and ended up buying the whole store and the rest is history.
I think you would be hard pressed to give an example of someone actually coming up with an original idea/product and taking it to a multi-billion dollar level. Henry Ford didn't invent the automobile but he took it to the next level.
Just my opinion.
When Gates was in middle school, he, Paul Allen and a couple of others got banned from using the computers at a computer company that the school system had an agreement with so the students could get computer time via a terminal at the school. The four got banned for exploiting bugs in the operating system in order to steal free time on the computer mainframe.
After the ban was lifted, the four brainiacs offered to find bugs in the system in exchange for computer time. Instead of accessing the computers via a terminal, Gates went to their offices to work. Instead of faithfully tracking down bugs, Gates studied the source code for various programs that ran on the system, methodically learning and stealing at the same time. That computer company (CCC) went out of business in 1970, but the Four Musketeers got themselves hired to write a payroll program for Information Sciences, giving them tons of free computer time, plus royalties, to write it. 8th and 9th grade, mind you, is when this happened.
Once his school became aware of Gates' programming abilities, they hired him to write a program for the scheduling of students. And in a classically famous Uber-Geek, SuperNerd move, Gates programmed it so that he and the other three would be placed in classes that were overwhelmingly populated by female students. He was, afterall, a genius, even back then.
Flattop: But that's the thing about Gates, though. Ray Crock bought the store and then reinvented it. Bill Gates would have simply taken the idea, copyrighted all the procedures so that anyone else who used them would have to pay him a royalty, opened his own franchise and called it BillyBurgers, and at the same time talked the McDonald's vendors into supplying only him, leaving McDonald's out of the picture.
The best original million dollar idea is probably this one:
The Million Dollar Homepage
Real about it here:
Wikipedia entry for The Million Dollar Homepage
After the ban was lifted, the four brainiacs offered to find bugs in the system in exchange for computer time. Instead of accessing the computers via a terminal, Gates went to their offices to work. Instead of faithfully tracking down bugs, Gates studied the source code for various programs that ran on the system, methodically learning and stealing at the same time. That computer company (CCC) went out of business in 1970, but the Four Musketeers got themselves hired to write a payroll program for Information Sciences, giving them tons of free computer time, plus royalties, to write it. 8th and 9th grade, mind you, is when this happened.
Once his school became aware of Gates' programming abilities, they hired him to write a program for the scheduling of students. And in a classically famous Uber-Geek, SuperNerd move, Gates programmed it so that he and the other three would be placed in classes that were overwhelmingly populated by female students. He was, afterall, a genius, even back then.
Flattop: But that's the thing about Gates, though. Ray Crock bought the store and then reinvented it. Bill Gates would have simply taken the idea, copyrighted all the procedures so that anyone else who used them would have to pay him a royalty, opened his own franchise and called it BillyBurgers, and at the same time talked the McDonald's vendors into supplying only him, leaving McDonald's out of the picture.
The best original million dollar idea is probably this one:
The Million Dollar Homepage
Real about it here:
Wikipedia entry for The Million Dollar Homepage
greg334
Veteran Expediter
The funny thing about Ford is a lot of his ideas were not his own, much of the ideas came from the people who worked for him.
The assembly line was born out of safety and production needs but wasn't his idea at all.
Olds was the first to put an assembly line in a plant long before Ford thought about it.
What he did do to better the production system was in tool and machinery design, much of them were custom for that specific location and purpose at Highland Park.
What made Ford money wasn't the production of the Model T but the sales of the car. He had tight control over the sales system of the cars up until the '40s, and he would dump cars on to dealers and tell them to sell them or else they lose their franchise. It was a dirty business to be in because the company even in hard times demanded your quotas to be sold and charged you regardless if you sold the car or not.
The assembly line was born out of safety and production needs but wasn't his idea at all.
Olds was the first to put an assembly line in a plant long before Ford thought about it.
What he did do to better the production system was in tool and machinery design, much of them were custom for that specific location and purpose at Highland Park.
What made Ford money wasn't the production of the Model T but the sales of the car. He had tight control over the sales system of the cars up until the '40s, and he would dump cars on to dealers and tell them to sell them or else they lose their franchise. It was a dirty business to be in because the company even in hard times demanded your quotas to be sold and charged you regardless if you sold the car or not.
Yeah, I think he got a 1590 or something like that on his SAT's, but his father's input sure didn't hurt. And his mother was on the board of directors of a bank, I think. The whole family were well versed in finance, politics, law and business.
Theodore John Kaczynski is a better example. He shipped packages all over the country. When he became rich and famous, well famous anyway...ah infamous; he offered to endorse and be a spokesperson for the U.S.P.S.
On second thought, maybe Teddy isn't a good example either.
arkjarhead
Veteran Expediter
Col, I couldn't understand what you were saying and I don't think I'm the only one. Since when did **** poor spelling and horrible grammar make you cool? You make yourself look like an uneducated idiot. I have a hard time thinking that's true if you were actually a Col. in the US Army. Just a thought.
Ahh, I spose it coulda went over your head. So, lemme redo the example.
Lets imagine Bill Gates (as an example) or, the Subway sandwich chain (as an example), when they started out with intermittent shipping or jes a few sanwich shops, an you helped them with their transportation needs when no one else would. I'd imagine you could grow WITH them in a LONG TERM relationship. Quite possibly, not all their business, but, i'd guess enough for you to get by on.
All i'm saying here is....it's difficult to be successful in this business jes for the fast buk. And, there will always be start up companys that need some help, and not ALL of em will stay small.
Lets imagine Bill Gates (as an example) or, the Subway sandwich chain (as an example), when they started out with intermittent shipping or jes a few sanwich shops, an you helped them with their transportation needs when no one else would. I'd imagine you could grow WITH them in a LONG TERM relationship. Quite possibly, not all their business, but, i'd guess enough for you to get by on.
All i'm saying here is....it's difficult to be successful in this business jes for the fast buk. And, there will always be start up companys that need some help, and not ALL of em will stay small.
It's not what ya know it's who ya know,If ya run a shipment for a company and ya do a good job for a fair or even cheap price.The owner may remember ya if he needs more of his product moved and he may want you to do all his shipping,ya never know.I still remember the few repair shops i used on the road that didn't take advantage of me,the fast buck thing the col is refering to.My small fleet uses repair shops that worked with me in the past,i wil go outta my way to put money in there pockets when i need a repair.I think the trap expedite companys fall into is praying on the urgentcy and hitting them hard cause there in a underwater postion.Like a trk repair place charging ya triple cause they know your on a load and gotta have the service.I know we can't have a list or forum for postive trk repair experiences on the road,however i always take note of the garage or service center the poster speaks positive about,if it's negitive a heed the warning and ask alot of questions before i go there sometimes ya don't get the hole story or a very one sided one from the spurned driver-owner.
Many hauling loads on Uship are illegal haulers . Somebody on a personal trip with a pickup will haul a load cheap for gas money . Another example is somebody bought or sold a vehicle on e-bay and bids cheap to haul a vehicle on the empty trip . I have read plenty of horror stories from people that shipped through U-ship . One had his property auctioned off by a storage yard after his illegal hauler had his load and truck impounded . I read another report of a damaged boat being abandoned at a truckstop by the Uship hauler . There are legal haulers on Uship . They formed their own forum where members must have valid prof of authority to join .
And there in lies why I don't use them. Way too many people on both sides that have little or no clue of the transportation business. Working with the clueless in this case usually equals lost revenue and a potentially damaged reputation.
I have used them a total of 8 times to get home.with my last carrier..since the economy went south way too many bidders driving the price down...almost impossible to get a load, people don't answer you back, takes too long to set-up...I gave up on it....that said I had no problems at all with them....always paid and even a couple tips!