There was a time when I never would have bought anything I had to drive more than five hours to go and get, but the Internet has changed all that. I once drove five states away to buy a used car, because it was exactly what I wanted.
I wish I had all that drive time back, but that’s what it took to get what I wanted, so I enlisted a buddy’s help and we bombed across multiple interstate freeways to get the car and bring it home. Our livers probably lost a couple of months’ worth of lifespan to that trip, but at least we have some good stories to tell.
I’d do the same for a used boat, too, if it was exactly what I wanted, but I found a service that takes all the work — and stress on your liver — out of the process. It doesn’t remove all the worry, but it greatly reduces the workload. In other words, the boat that arrives at your door may not be as shiny as it was online, but at least you didn’t have to burn a couple of days of your life traveling to go get it.
The uShip service connects customers and shipping companies that bid on your shipping job. Submit your shipping job by filling in a few boxes and a user information form, then everyone from independent shipping companies to leading freight carriers bid on your job. Like other Web-based services, the system has a feedback mechanism to rate your experience. Transport companies can bid for online fixed price, spot market, and auction-based transactions.
I was surprised to learn that the company isn’t new. It’s about 10 years old, with some 638,000 registered transporters and 2.9 million registered users. The service can help broaden your search out of your state if you are willing to buy a boat sight unseen on the Internet. That could go either way, but it’s nice to know you have one more arrow in your quiver.
The stories you have to tell at the end of the experience might not be as good, but at least you won’t waste any time on a traffic-choked freeway.
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