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A comment on Convoy collapse: Read CEO's memo detailing shutdown of Seattle trucking startup. Parent comment

Re:Convoy collapse: Read CEO's memo detailing shutdown of Se... by paxys on Thursday October 19, 2023 @02:38PM (#37946777)
Businesses like these are hard to "disrupt" because despite all the fancy websites and apps, pricing algorithms, scheduling, reminders, live video feeds and whatever else you can build, underneath it all the success or failure still depends on some guy showing up at your house, picking up your car and trucking it across the country. Unless you can automate that part nothing will fundamentally change.
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Re:Convoy collapse: Read CEO's memo detailing shutdown of Se... by moralestapia on Thursday October 19, 2023 @03:07PM (#37947217)
Exhibit A: TFA
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Re:Convoy collapse: Read CEO's memo detailing shutdown of Se... by moneywoes on Thursday October 19, 2023 @03:37PM (#37947639)
TFA?
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Re:Convoy collapse: Read CEO's memo detailing shutdown of Se... by sethammons on Thursday October 19, 2023 @03:49PM (#37947775)
The [Fucking, Freaking, Fantastic, Fine] Article
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Re:Convoy collapse: Read CEO's memo detailing shutdown of Se... by jcpst on Thursday October 19, 2023 @03:27PM (#37947495)
It goes deeper than that. Even after all the sophisticated systems and automation, a huge amount of logistics is still email-driven, and it seems next to impossible to get account managers, carriers and customers past that.
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Re:Convoy collapse: Read CEO's memo detailing shutdown of Se... by asdff on Thursday October 19, 2023 @04:22PM (#37948202)
I think the expectation is even worse for the car case than anything since so few people bother shipping cars to begin with. But just looking at moving and shipping, even then no one has really beaten the model that Uhaul has created. Have the 7/11 or big box hardware store parking lot and clerk be your brick and mortar and labor force. Have a very basic website match you to pickup and dropoff locations. Buy a bunch of cheap aluminum trailers that won't rust out on you. They will even sell you overpriced cardboard boxes they probably get a ridiculous markup on. I don't think you can lighten this sort of business much more than that, and yet the profit margins still aren't as high as you'd expect from such a skeleton crew of a business. 16% last earnings.
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