No trucking uber alles

One of our editors jumped into an Uber vehicle in Chicago recently and was reminded of the biggest challenge facing the trucking industry. The driver, a 50-year-old male, had just begun driving for the company. Before that, he spent decades driving a tractor-trailer. He got his commercial driver's license while in the Army and made a living at it until recently. He said he left trucking because he was the single parent of a six-year-old daughter, who he wanted to see grow up. While he had reservations about his earnings potential with Uber, "it beats driving a truck," he said.

By the way, anyone who wants to see how truckload spot pricing works should just try to hire an Uber in a densely populated city like Chicago during morning rush hour. At those times, the passenger faces a phenomenon known as "surge" pricing, where the fare can be 2.5 times the normal off-peak charge. As a result, what should be an inexpensive fare to the destination can turn out to be quite costly. Yet if you need transportation, that's the price you'll pay.

Sound familiar, shippers?