the online shipping marketplace

uShip is excited to announce the launch of uShip Local Moving, a better way to bid on and book local household moves. Beginning March 19, 2008, uShip will change the way local household moves are handled on the uShip marketplace, which will benefit Service Providers and Shippers alike.

When a shipper lists a local household move in your service area, they will be presented local companies and rates and given the opportunity to send an exclusive, pre-paid booking request for their services. These booking requests are:

· Secured with a pre-paid deposit

· Only made to one company at a time

· Guaranteed solely for the Service Provider requested

· Exclusive, which means the move is not listed on the open uShip marketplace

· Available for a Service Provider to accept for only 24 hours

If you enter your local moving rates and cities you service in My Rates, you will be able to receive local moves booking requests.

If a shipper declines to send any booking requests, their local household move will be listed on the uShip marketplace like any other shipment. However, local moves will now be bid on by Service Providers based on an hourly rate and the number of movers required.

Both of these changes will help you win more jobs and bid in a more efficient and accurate way.

If my rate is $65 per hour, how much does Uship charge me?

·         Available for a Service Provider to accept for only 24 hours

We have 24 hours to decide, but a shipper has months to decide on a bid. What's wrong here?

Actually Truenorth, that's not quite true. Shippers only have as long as you say so to decide on a bid - you are free to make your bid expire in 2 hours if you wish. We encourage service providers to place bids with tight expiration dates as that often sparks shippers to accept bids quicker than if you place bids with very long windows.

Furthermore while TSP's can bid on dozens or even hundreds of listings at once (ie, their bids are not exclusive), in the new local moves system prepaid booking requests by shippers are UNIQUE...meaning that no other TSP has a chance to bid on or view the listing until you have acted within 24 hours. If we made the window much longer and TSP's did not act, it would be unfair to the shipper (as well as all other TSP's) as they could go days w/o getting other bids or even having their listing viewed. The system favors TSP's who act quickly and decisively when they receive booking requests.

tjfdidit - percentage fees do not apply to local moves and your hourly rate will not affect how much you are charged...we are charging a flat fee based on the number of bedrooms. See uShip fees link in the Booking Request learn more page.

TrueNorth - the 24 hour deadline only applies to Booking Requests made by a shipper.  You have 24 hours to accept or reject it but then exact timing will be negotiated between you and the shipper who you will be able to contact directly if you accept their booking request.  These booking requests are basically guaranteed jobs because they are only sent to one Service Provider at a time and the Shipper has paid a deposit just to send you the request.  So their is really very little reason not to accept them...just check their range of possible dates when you receive the request and see if that works with your schedule.  See link above for more details about Booking Requests.

After looking at many of the Q/A and Bid Details on local moves, it looks like there is still some confusion as to how it works.  Your bids on local moving jobs are based on your hourly rate, number of movers and any truck fees and that is it.  Your bid will appear as a flat rate in the listing details page but you are only bound to your hourly rate, number of movers and truck fees...the actual charge to the customer will depend on how long it actually takes to complete the move plus any truck fee minus any deposit the Shipper paid which is equal to the uShip fee.

I hope this clarifies a few things regarding local moving on uShip.

I am nervous about hourly rates.  What incentive does the mover have to work fast?  It seems to be in the mover's favor to work slowly if there is not a fixed rate.

Further more, the movers on Uship in my 30004 area have few or no feedbacks to judge from.  This does not give me any confidence in their abilities to do the move in the same time on a hourly rate as for a fixed rate.

 Be Safe

This is a message to all the people that are using this site to ship something

USE A DOT COMPLIANT CARRIER ONLY

Its the Federal Law that anyone that transports ANYTHING for any kind of PAYMENT MUST be a DOT COMPLIANT CARRIER. It doesnt matter if its as small as a BREADBOX or as large as a ARMY TANK the CARRIER NEEDS to be

DOT COMPLIANT

Ask for their INSURANCE COMPANY INFO before your shipment is picked up to protect yourself from loosing your item and call the company to check its a good POLICY, some have been know to make FAKE POLICY PAPERS UP.

I am a Verified Motor Carrier By Stop Illegal Trucking dot com

http://www.uship.com/moving/articles/investigating-moving-companies/

Moving an entire household is stressful enough without having to deal with a disreputable moving company. When hiring professional movers, time spent investigating a company can save you a lot of money and heartache. You should know that the movers you hire are credentialed, insured, and experienced.

Before considering a moving company, ensure they are legally registered as a mover. The Department of Transportation requires all household moving companies to have USDOT or MC numbers. All legal movers should provide you with these numbers, which you can verify on http://www.safersys.org. At this site you can search by company name or USDOT number to make sure that your mover is credentialed to provide household moving services.

In addition to being registered with the Department of Transportation, all household moving companies are required to carry a minimum amount of liability and cargo insurance. Coverage varies from mover to mover, so be sure to ask for each company's specific policy.

A moving company should be able to provide you with written proof of their insurance coverage, called a Certificate of Insurance. Confirming a mover's insurance is easy: just look them up on http://www.safersys.org or call the insurance company listed on the certificate. You should also be able to purchase additional insurance from the moving company, which is highly recommended.

http://www.safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/CompanySnapshot.aspx

http://li-public.fmcsa.dot.gov/LIVIEW/pkg_html.prc_limain

http://ai.volpe.dot.gov/hhg/search.asp

!!Protect yourself and your property!!

Did you acquire and VERIFY the validity of your chosen Carrier's FEDERALLY MANDATED DOT & MC #'s as per the UShip User Agreement?  

http://www.uship.com/user_agreement.aspx

Note: Did you know that NO active "MC #" = No COMMERCIAL insurance? 

OOPS !!!!!!!

 INTERSTATE" transport requires an ACTIVE "MC" number! You verify it at the Government's "REAL TIME" web site: http://li-public.fmcsa.dot.gov/LIVIEW/pkg_html.prc_limain

 Still don't understand? Read this:

http://forums.uship.com/Topic46915-14-1.aspx