The Billion Dollar Trucking Problem That Can’t Be Solved
This was a really boring post about how to track your pickups. We’’ll get to that. But first…
As I started writing I realized tracking pickups is a problem in trucking no one has solved. Uber solved this issue with the taxi industry with their game-changing map with the moving cars. Why hasn’t this issue been addressed in a similarly large market?
The problem: Pickup Time Estimation.
Knowing the an ETA helps you make decisions. This is the single most useful feature of rideshare apps. It’s important to know if you have enough time to finish another beer before you need to leave. In much the same manner, business owners/warehouse employees/sales people want to know if they will make it home in time for dinner. Or are you sleeping on the couch again? An accurate ETA for their truck would be helpful. If it’s only 5 minutes, you’ll likely stay. If it’s 30-60 minutes, maybe you won’t stay. Further, you can make an informed decision about the cost of that (over)time to your business. What costs more: overtime or shipping a day late? It’s a tough decision to make when without the arrival time.
How is this handled right now?
If you want to track your pickup, here are the current methods:
Pickup the phone and start dialing.
Shoot an email
Send a text to your broker*
*The easiest way still takes 3-5 minutes MINIMUM...Why?
There are 2 people who can predict a pickup time: The driver and the dispatcher. They are both surrounded by layers of gatekeepers, insulating from these exact calls which only slow them down and thus slow down operations (pickups). Here’s a diagram:
Never had an art lesson. Crazy, right?
If I get a text to check on a pickup I am picking up the phone. Ideally, I can get to the dispatcher directly who can get this information (from the computer or a driver) within 1 call transfer. But, sometimes you can’t get the local terminal directly. You might have to go through customer service, who calls the dispatcher, who calls the driver, who guesses.
What if?
What if we skipped all of this wasted time and energy and were simply able to view the computer’s estimated arrival time on a website or app?
Is this patentable?
An algorithm could pull in the relevant information to calculate an ETA instantly:
{# of stops before pickup} x {avg time/pickup} + {current traffic} = ETA
What about this?
If the above ETA is past your close time, the system automatically alerts all involved parties. The benefits are many!
No calls, texts or emails
No waiting on hold or transferring
If a shipper needs to stay 15 minutes they can make those arrangements in time since they know the driver will be there
The carrier is more efficient, misses fewer pickups, freight moves on time...everyone is happy.
Why Hasn’t This Been Done?
There is no single unifying system that can speak all the different languages of the different systems. Carriers have different legacy software systems. Brokers’ systems are another set. Then shippers have a range of different systems. That said, a great candidate would be Project 44. Integrating EDI info, pulling in dispatch information and then google maps, this is doable.
How about it P44?