Uship?

Anybody ever use Uship?
It was recommended to me.
Very difficult website to figure out.
Looks like you list your item and get offers or bids?
Any alternatives to them that you might have used?
I need some shipping/LTL advice.
Pallet. 550 lbs. Calif. to Minn.
Thanks

I have used them many times...but not lately. My latest attempt was a failure. You list your load and all it's details. It is not difficult. Bids will begin and the first several will be ridiculously high. I never understand where these come from. Decline those. If you are lucky, somewhere down the line you will run into a guy deadheading back from a trip. A good business guy who has been paid round trip and is coming back empty will work you a pretty good deal. I have had other guys tell me they would rather run empty. Watch out for the sketchy ones. Check references. I liked it back in the day but haven't had much luck with it lately.

Lots of LTL brokers out there.
schneider ltl; unishippers; freightquote; just to name a few.
None of them actually haul the freight.
But most if not all will give you a lower price than calling the LTL company directly.
I work for a LTL company and get an employee discount and can get a better price by calling a broker because their discount for volume shipped is so great.

The best advise I can give you is to be very specific and truthful when you order the service.
Things like is it being picked up delivered at a farm; resident; or a place with a loading dock.
Is a forklift available to load or do you need a liftgate.
Is someone always available during business hours or do you need an appointment.
The basic service quote is business to business with at least a forklift.
Anything else is a added charge. And while you can negotiate the added charges before you order the pickup once they pickup your stuff you are at the mercy of what the LTL wants to charge and will be forced to pay whatever they want to get your stuff. And with the broker getting 70 and 80% discounts you will be flabbergasted with extra charges if they are some.

Another thing is insurance for damages. The basic quote covers 10 cents per pound.
So your 500 lb item is worth $50 to the LTL company even if it is an expensive item.
Unless your item is undamageable steel at least ask about insurance.
That or put it in a crate and mark it fragile do not stack on.
Tape a plastic cup on the top of the crate to show if anything was stacked on it.
Take a picture of the item before it leaves the shipper just in case.

Remember we move millions of pallets a year.
And your family heirloom is just another pallet to us.

Fastenal Logistics works from their location to their location. The process is direct and pre paid. From their website. Jim

Fastenal Logistics does not ship across the continental divide.
They will ship things around the west.
They will ship things around the east.
But they will not ship things from out west back east or vise versa.

And Fastenal is not always direct.
We haul a lot of stuff for Fastenal.
You drop it off at a Fastenal place and they call us for a pickup.
The LTL company I work for will haul it and deliver to the Fastenal place where you pick it up.

Yes if they have a truck with space going your way they will haul it.
If not they are just another broker contracting with a LTL company.

What Fastenal does give you is a local business with a forklift to ship and receive your pallet.
This avoids the extra charges I spoke about in my other post.

"Ridiculously high" was not exactly my experience trying to use the site. I received bids all over the map, with no rhyme or reason. Turns out they're from "brokers" who don't even own a truck. Their line is always "we have trucks in your area ready to take your load." They're just throwing bids on everything hoping to hook a fish. You're liable to end up with a guy showing up in a half ton pickup with a car hauler to transport a 14,000lb tractor 800 miles.

To finish my statement, I just never got a response from anyone through uship that I was comfortable with.

I listed it there this morning. The guy who is sending it said not to take the first offers or bids. Wait a bit. Price will drop.
I set the pickup window for 5 days and drop off window for 2 weeks after pickup.
Is that long enough? I can still change dates.
Sender is a business with a forklift to load it. I spoke to a business close to my house yesterday. They ship and recieve a lot of stuff there - dock and forklifts. They said I can ship it there and they will call me.
They lifted a 4000 lb machine off my trailer last year. I had it all rigged for a simple lift. Set it right back down on another man's trailer. Took less than 5 minutes.
They said No charge but I slipped them $25 cash for their coffee/donut fund.
I hadn't thought about insurance. Thanks for that.
Will post an update when I find out more.
Thanks to all!

My experiences with Uship have all been good overall. You will find the longer the window carriers have to bid, the price will go down substantially. You will first get bids from guys throwing out ridiculously high numbers but if you are patient and have the time to wait the price will go down. I have had shipping quotes drop over 100% esp. LTL loads as the carries can piece together multiple pickups. The more flexible you are on shipping dates, pick up times and you can supply loading and/or unloading the better the prices you will get.
Good luck.

I had an Oliver 1550 utility hauled from Mass. to my place in VA a couple years ago thru USHIP,bids started high then came down.Took the 2nd lowest bid as he sounded more able to get the job done.Ended up costing me $900 which I thought was cheap there was $130 in tolls for the hauler to pay.Real nice older fellow with a good rig,did an excellent job for me.

Whoa Ultradog
Lets get one thing straight.
You asked for advise on shipping / LTL shipping.
Uship from what I know is not a LTL shipper.
It is a place where a guy with a truck and trailer can bid on jobs.
You get who ever bids on the job.
Might be someone legit. Might be Bubba with a pickup.

I was giving you advise if you go the LTL route.
IE; Yellow freight; Old Dominion; Estes; Fed Ex; Ect.
The places I gave will give you an instant firm quote for a licensed insured carrier to haul the pallet.
You tell them the pickup date (could be later today; during the week) and they will tell you when it will be there.
Your shipment is about a 4 day shipment.
For a added fee you can even buy expedite service where they put you ahead of others and guaranty the delivery date.

I gave you this advise so now you can get a quote and a baseline of what you are working with.

Bluelane freight.com very reasonable, go on there website and put the information in and you will have a quote with in 24 hrs.

I have three boxes at about 50 lbs each that need to go to Ohio from Utah. Let me know if the guy you get for your load would like to stop by and haul these as well. Everyone could win!

Cedric, your geography must be off a bit. I am basically Ultradogs neighbor, he lives about 10 miles from me. The state of Ohio is about 700 miles from here and would add most of that mileage to a return trip to California. Not real economical for 150 lbs of freight. You are probably looking to get your 3 boxes shipped on the cheap. Just FYI UPS will ship a 50 lbs box, I am not sure what the cost would be, may not be within your budget.

UPS shipped 50+ lb boxes for me , around $45 each.

Get prices to ship by LTL terminal to terminal. In your case sounds like the business is full fledged with loading dock and forklift.
On your end the trucking company will hold it for you to retrieve at the nearest terminal.

About three years ago I crated up an antique cabinet about as big as a standard pallet.
Shipped it from Michigan to Florida.
Used Yellow FRT. from business with dock to my home where I could drag it out and wrestle it to the ground was about $100 more than if I drove 40 miles to the terminal and picked it up at my convenience.

I used It twice. First time I got a Deere 4010 shipped from sw Kansas to central missouri for 600 bucks. Told my wife I wouldnt drive a Honda Civic that far for 600 bucks. He had a long 25 foot gooseneck and a heavy duty pickup. All kinds of crap on the trailer he was on a milk run. Next I used it to ship a case 455c dozer and the Deere tractor again (combined weight 30000 or so) cost me 800 to ship about a 4 hour drive.

The thing about Uship is the lowest bidder the lowest responsible bidder . I have had clowns bid on jobs and never show up at the shipper It is easy to get money back but few bidders can actually do the job or they will take the job with no logistics to do the job. They don't pay attention to weights and are often underequipped . But eventually some one will take your job. How many tires they blow out is not your problem.

I've seen a lot of people use them over time, but I didn't have the best experience the one time I went with them. I think uship is basically just a "load board" that lists everything that needs shipping and companies bid on them. More or less the way the entire industry already works as far as I know, but on a lesser scale. I've used a company called A-1 Auto Trans for vehicles, equipment, & freight shipments in the past with no complaints so that would be my rec.

King of Freight employs hundreds of brokers and brokerage of freight is all they do.

https://kingsoffreight.com/

They have just had to add another 200 or 300 brokers and are looking for much more office space so they are doing something right.