The next wave of things to come may be even more devastating to dinosaur companies like YRCW/Holland.
Please don't fault me or doubt me for bringing this up because there is already a basis for this.
I have brought up on other threads and was dismissed and shot down for bringing this up, but there is already an example of this that has taken place.
Here we go: Uber Freight is in its infancy at the moment, BUT after its initial rollout in Texas, it opened its market share up in Arizona, Chicago, and a few other locations on the 3rd of August 2017. This along with Google's "Convoy" will in the long run revolutinalize the industry in ways many old timers can not grasp. Sure you want to dismiss it right now, but let me highlight what they have done to the taxi and livery industry for a moment.
In 5 short years they have completely reinvented that industry! Sure at cut throats rates, but gentleman the technology they introduced and the way that it works is light years ahead of the current model that the trucking industry operates under.
The vast majority of loads garnered by both owner operators as well as dinosaur companies such as Holland are third party generated. Shippers go through brokers to find the cheapest and fastest carrier now.
This is where the technology that these two companies come into play.
Matching available space with available lanes at near instantaneous time is something today's brokers are unable to accomplish. For one they still operate under an antiquated system even with all the upgrades just like the vast majority of trucking companies do.
Rideshare for instance matches riders to drivers through a smartphone and algorithm that for those who have never experienced it have a hard time understanding. The technology that these two powerhouses have will enable the same in the freight industry. It already has where it was beta tested, and the owner ops get paid out within days instead of weeks.
Dispatch is instantaneous compared to what is currently in place in the industry. The AI and algorithms are able to do the job at a pace no human could ever achieve.
The key to the game in trucking be it O/O or a corporation like YRC is keeping the wheels turning while attempting to keep overhead costs reduced.
The reality of today is that everything is on demand same day to next day in LTL, and for long haul matching loads with reduced dead head as well as trucks heading in the right direction with available space has always been a challenge.
While crossdock operations continues to have a place for the present, the model of break bulk and crossdock is antiquated as it is inefficient overall and labor intensive.
It requires large workforces that cuts into the bottom line, it allows for damage to occur at an alarming rate, and overall it is something that worked well in the past due to the limitations of technology, but in the 21st century where I can wait no longer than 10 minutes and in some markets 2 minutes to be matched up with a ride somewhere by simply putting in a request in an app on a phone anywhere in the world where it is available only shows that continuously believing that how we do things today will carry into tomorrow will survive.
I know some will complain that jobs will be lost and that the Unions will be effected as well, but if you have not already figured out even these models are antiquities in so many regards as well.
Shippers care less about the Union or how all the politics involved surrounding it and labor. They want instant service, just as riders grew tired of the antiquated service and model that taxies and livery delivered.