Leveling the field: Enterprise-grade logistics power for shippers of all sizes

By Alec Getschow, Vice President of Sales at Uber Freight

Nearshoring. Intensifying trade wars and whipsawing tariff policies. Global economic slowdown. Ongoing military standoffs. Increasing cyberattacks. From the back room to the boardroom, supply chain volatility remains top of mind and can tip the scales for businesses of all sizes.

Today’s supply chain leaders expect to operate in this constant state of volatility. They understand the imperative to move beyond supply chains that are merely flexible and resilient to disruptions. Now, they must forge antifragile supply chains and transportation teams that grow stronger because of them.

Enterprise transportation teams rarely navigate this complexity alone. Many adopt managed transportation strategies, outsourcing some or all of their logistics operations to a strategic partner. In doing so, they reap significant cost savings, reducing transportation spend anywhere from 2% to 10%. And the benefits go beyond the cost: These partnerships drive operational efficiencies, better service levels, and real-time visibility. They provide expertise in network optimization and continuous improvement initiatives to ultimately help insulate their supply chains from risk. 

But historically, managed transportation has only been accessible to the biggest shippers with the biggest budgets. That has left many shippers—the ones without the size and scale of the enterprise—to face the same market challenges, but without access to resources that foster supply chain antifragility. There’s a sense of urgency to build contingency plans and avoid disruptions. 

No shipper left behind: Modern logistics for the rest of the market

For those managing growth and/or grappling with volatility, we want to make it easier to tap into proven expertise, AI-powered technology, and scalable solutions. At Uber Freight, we’re committed to democratizing these services that have traditionally been available only to enterprise shippers, so fast-growing businesses no longer have to navigate this rapidly changing world alone.

As VP of Sales at Uber Freight, my team and I partner with fast-growing shippers to help them identify the best solutions, technology, and expertise to support their supply chains’ increasing complexity. My passion for helping these businesses thrive is rooted in deep personal and professional experience. 

I grew up in Wisconsin in a family that ran a mechanical contracting business, so as a kid, I saw firsthand the unique challenges that a fast-growing business encounters every day. After college, I served six years in the U.S. Army, followed by 15 years in sales leadership at C.H. Robinson, with 10 of those years dedicated to emerging and fast-growing shippers. 

Often in this industry, the most advanced logistics technology and expertise is reserved for the largest shippers that have transportation spends in the high tens of millions. Even to use essential features like optimization, shippers typically have had to pay up and meet astronomically high freight spend thresholds. 

At this point in my career, I know deeply the realities of businesses with varying resources and technology readiness. I’ve met with shippers in nearly every state (haven’t made it to Hawaii, Alaska, and Wyoming) and industry—consumer packaged goods, automotive, chemical, retail, food and beverage, manufacturing, energy. More than 20 years and thousands of conversations later, I know that all shippers, regardless of their size and transportation spend, face equally complex supply chain challenges.

When it comes to navigating these challenges, enterprise shippers have options. They have the scale, capital, and resources to invest in building or buying technology. They have the means to hire the expertise required to manage today’s complex supply chains. They can negotiate competitive rates directly with carriers, or they can fully outsource their transportation needs. 

It leaves behind the emerging and rapidly growing shippers. As their businesses grow, so too does the complexity of their logistics operations. Their teams are often stretched thin without the tools or expertise they need to keep up. They don’t have the resources, need, or desire to build their own transportation management systems. 

So they stitch together point solutions—without massive internal resources—for procurement, quoting, tracking, and payment in a logistics technology market that is fragmented and convoluted. Without a TMS or cohesive technology stack, they’re left piecing together operations across spreadsheets and emails, which can lead to inefficiencies, reactive decisions, and higher transportation costs in the moment and down the line.

This is where Uber Freight is changing the game

For example, the team at Leaf Home, a home improvement solutions provider, used to be one of those stretched too thin. The team of three managed a growing supply chain through a patchwork of spreadsheets, systems, and by-hand processes. They had no carriers. No TMS. No real-time data for fast decision-making. As Leaf Home grew from 28 locations to 260 micro fulfillment centers, a scalable, comprehensive solution and supportive partnership became imperative. With Uber Freight, Leaf Home streamlined its processes and lowered costs by 20%, without adding headcount. Proof that great teams need great tech. 

Uber Freight simplifies the experience by bringing it all together in one unified platform, paired with access to a full suite of modal options. By eliminating the need to manually connect disparate tools, we help shippers operate more efficiently and shift from reactive decision-making to strategic, streamlined execution. 

The power trio: Unlocking people, technology, and capacity for your strategic growth

We saw this shift coming—shippers needing more resilient, tech-enabled logistics solutions to navigate even more volatility—and that’s why Uber Freight acquired Transplace in 2021. In doing so, we combined the best of both companies: Uber Freight’s digital freight technology and innovation with Transplace’s deep transportation management expertise. 

Uber Freight is opening up access to its enterprise-grade managed transportation services—the ultimate combination of people, technology, and capacity—to shippers of all sizes to help them navigate the ongoing and increasing volatility in their already growing supply chains. This partnership opens up access to Uber Freight’s full suite of dynamic capacity solutions, transportation management expertise, and all-encompassing logistics technology.  

The AI-powered Uber Freight TMS is a modular, scalable platform that evolves with your business. This one platform gives you the flexibility to add new functionality or integrations that scale with your business and protect your investment long term. 

Our transportation management teams have helped one in three Fortune 500 companies. They’re ready to bring what they’ve learned from managing and scaling those Fortune 500 supply chains to you. They’re also the superusers of Uber Freight TMS and will leverage this comprehensive technology to manage all of your freight operations, all in one place. 

Uber Freight manages nearly $20 billion in freight. With this scale, shippers of all sizes can now access competitively priced capacity from one of the industry’s largest carrier networks across truckload, less-than-truckload, partial truckload, drop-and-hook, intermodal, ocean, air, cross-border shipping and customs, and parcel. That means one partner, one platform, and one team managing all of your carrier contracts across modes—backed by more than 25 years of transportation data and insight.

This solution is ideal for growing shippers that lack the in-house resources or budget for advanced technology and are still navigating manual processes and fragmented systems. You can also choose the level of support you need, whether that’s just technology, or Uber Freight’s technology and people, or Uber Freight’s full-service solution of people, technology, and capacity. 

Point solutions create fragmented technology stacks that only deepen the industry’s fragmentation—our unified platform changes that

Democratizing managed transportation is not a revolutionary concept. But the reality is that not all providers have been able to offer this perfect equation of people, technology, and capacity. Other providers talk about end-to-end support, but when you dig in, they’re missing critical components. They might offer technology, or capacity, or some degree of transportation expertise — but rarely all three. 

Some providers offer great transactional technology or quick access to capacity, but lack seasoned logistics teams. If your managed transportation provider hasn’t weathered multiple market cycles, how will they help you prepare for the next disruption? Other providers may have experienced operators, but how will they help solve your business challenges today if they’re still operating on platforms built more than a decade ago to solve problems from more than a decade ago?

Switching providers or systems midstream costs more than just money. It wastes time, drains your team’s focus, and forces you to constantly rework how you operate. Worse, it robs you of the strategic insights and long-term value you can gain from a true partner to keep growing your business.

Even some of the largest providers in the market promise easy onboarding and seamless scaling, but they still operate in silos, relying on spreadsheets, email, and disconnected systems. The moment your business needs to shift, you’re back to sourcing new providers, migrating to different systems, and layering on complexity. That’s not streamlining to me. That’s slowing down at the expense of your team’s and your business’ success. The industry hasn’t made it easy to grow and scale on one platform—it has only deepened its own fragmentation.

Companies that will win are already working on their next move

Supply chains are being tested. Leaders are forced to react fast. The Uber Freight team is helping shippers respond strategically in the moment while building long-term resilience. 

With the evolving tariff situation, shippers are preparing to navigate cost increases, inventory disruptions, and numerous logistics complexities. Uber Freight is helping shippers confront this volatility head-on through proactive planning, sourcing diversification, and scenario modeling, so they can stay agile and maintain continuity amid shifting trade dynamics.

We’re helping our customers adapt in real time. Today’s volatility demands more than reactive decision-making. It requires flexible, tech-enabled logistics partners that thrive in disruption. 

By joining Uber Freight, you can be flexible and choose what you want to focus on next, be it tomorrow’s trade policy change or a five-year plan. We’re bringing these capabilities to growing shippers at an unmatched value, giving you not only enterprise-level logistics performance and resilience from day one, but also technology and expertise built for teams that are ready to take their supply chain to the next level. Seize your competitive advantage now. The companies that will win are the ones already working on their next move. 

Learn more about Uber Freight’s managed transportation services or get in touch for a free consultation.