New Convoy App For Truckers

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/23/technology/convoy-sees-itself-as-the-uber-of-local-trucking.html

Interesting concept for owner operators.

Unfortunately they're just trying to get into the brokering business:

Convoy began its service last year with the goal of giving local truckers — who specialized in jobs that could be completed in a day — a more efficient way to connect with clients who needed goods shipped.

Local trucking is a heavily fragmented industry, populated by small operators, many of them with 10 or fewer trucks. Matching truckers with clients is typically handled by brokers, who do much of their work by phone, said Dan Lewis, the chief executive of Convoy, who has worked at Amazon.

So now "there's an app for that" instead of making a phone call. In the end, same basic difference.

Investors were drawn to the company by the prospect that Convoy could collect a toll on a large industry.

They're just going to insert themselves into the existing system as a broker with an app. There's about 75,000 of those already and all of the serious brokers have been doing it electronically for many years. It's not going to help owner operators or larger companies make more money and it's not going to change the freight rates. Like they said, it's an opportunity for them to jump in as middlemen and collect a toll.

Perhaps I read it wrong. I see it as an app that replaces the broker. While the developers get a fee it will be minimal. The driver interacts with the shipper directly. Be interesting to see if it catches on Uber style.