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Uber Freight’s Growth Trap

Uber Freight added $450 million in revenue but still posted a loss. We break down why.

Nebojsa Lindic, Paul Jaroslawski · November 6, 2026 · 6 min read

TGIF. Uber Freight’s CEO called Q3 her strongest quarter yet, but its $1.76 billion in revenue still came with a $33 million operating loss.

Plus:

Freight’s Bubble Trouble
One Truck, 24 Military Loads
Thieves Target Trusted Carriers

💡 QUESTION OF THE DAY:

Uber Freight added $450 million in Q3 revenue year over year, but its carrier payments increased by $_____ million.

🍳 WHAT’S COOKIN’ IN FREIGHT

🫧 Freight’s Bubble Trouble. Freight stocks joined Thursday’s broader selloff, which AP reported was led by companies tied to AI data-center construction. The S&P 500 fell 4.4%, while the Nasdaq dropped 5.5%. Forward Air fell 11.27%, Saia 7.34%, XPO 6.16% and C.H. Robinson 4.13%, according to John Kingston’s market recap. Cummins and Hub Group were at 52-week lows. Separately, Craig Fuller warned that an AI data-center bust would be “catastrophic” for freight demand and the U.S. economy. GXO’s latest results show the industry’s exposure: technology and consumer-electronics revenue rose 19% year over year in Q3, largely driven by data-center activity.

🪖 One Truck, 24 Military Loads. CDS Transportation Inc., a California carrier declaring one truck, was awarded 24 military loads on September 28, according to Rob Carpenter’s November 4 analysis. SCACs are the four-letter carrier identifiers used to bid on the Army’s freight. Carpenter reviewed 1,079 approved carrier codes and 2,322 military freight awards. He identified 82 groups of related codes that received 54% of the loads. CDS shares an address, phone number, email, and officer with California Delivery Service, which declares 36 trucks. Carpenter suspects that a related fleet hauled the shipments. The award records identify the winning carrier code, rather than the truck that physically hauled each load.

📧 Thieves Target Trusted Carriers. Cyber-related schemes accounted for 52% of stolen-load investigations reported to Highway in September, compared with 46% involving direct theft and 2% involving carrier ownership changes, Highway COO Brittany Graft said at the Women in Trucking conference. She described criminals accessing carrier inboxes and rate confirmations, deleting the original messages and arranging pickups under the carrier’s identity. Criminals may also offer carriers thousands of dollars for access to their business identities and established broker relationships. Highway reported that its systems blocked 670,230 fraudulent inbound emails and 119,022 fraudulent or spoofed calls during Q3.

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Where Uber Freight’s Growth Went

Uber Freight reported $1.758 billion in Q3 revenue, up 34% year over year, but still posted a $33 million segment operating loss.

“Uber Freight delivered our strongest quarter since I joined, posting great revenue, volume, and profitability gains,” CEO Rebecca Tinucci wrote on LinkedIn.

Her post opened with a phrase she said she uses at home and at work: “Two things can be true.”

Tinucci reported 36% higher U.S. and Canadian brokerage volume despite relatively flat industry freight volumes. Across the business, net revenue per load improved about 8% year over year, while loads handled per employee per day increased about 10%.

“We’re growing while improving margins and productivity,” she wrote.

The Cost of Growing

Uber Freight’s quarterly filing shows revenue increased by $450 million year over year, while carrier payments increased by $434 million. After accounting for cost changes, the segment’s operating loss narrowed by $7 million year over year.

The company was closer to breaking even than a year earlier, although its loss widened from the previous quarter.

FreightWaves reports that the business has posted positive earnings only a handful of times in its history.

A Lighter Shade of Red

Uber Freight’s Q3 operating loss shrank 18% year over year but grew 38% from Q2. Image Source: **X (John Kingston)**

Tinucci addressed the remaining operating losses directly:

“We're making steady progress towards profitability, too. Adjusted Operating Income improved 18% year over year, even after spending $17 million on improved employee liquidity programs and other targeted investments.”

That’s 18% less money lost, not 18% more profit. Still in the red, just a lighter shade.

The Third Leg of the Stool

Freight was the only one of Uber’s three reporting segments to post an operating loss in Q3.

Mobility, its ride-hailing segment, generated $2.362 billion in segment operating income, up 27% year over year. Delivery generated $1.057 billion, up 30%.

FreightWaves noted that Uber Freight was not mentioned on its parent company’s earnings call.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi nevertheless backed the division on X: “Logistics is going to be our 3rd leg of the stool.”

He acknowledged it had been “a long road,” praised the team’s execution and said the business was back to growth.

Tinucci closed her own update with an acknowledgment: “At the same time, it is only more clear to me how much farther we have to go.”

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🌎 AROUND THE FREIGHT WEB

⛽ Diesel Heads Down. Thursday’s pricing update projected overnight diesel price cuts averaging 31 cents per gallon nationwide. Illinois stood out with a larger projected decline of 40 cents per gallon.

🗳️ New Congress, Same Crackdowns? ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello expects driver-enforcement crackdowns to continue despite the midterm results. He also doesn’t expect a significant rebound in capacity.

🎄 FMCSA’s Holiday Priorities. Carriers checking FMCSA’s X feed for updates on Motus fixes are getting Christmas tree tour updates instead. Maybe the registration system needs tinsel to make the feed.

⚖️ New Prime Faces $5M Suit. A husband-and-wife trucking team sued New Prime and one of its drivers over a rear-end crash in Wyoming, alleging permanent injuries. The civil cover sheet lists a $5 million demand.

🚂 Just Kidding About Rates. Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena called his suggestion of charging merger opponents an extra 3–4% “a little humor.” The railroad released the video after federal rail regulators rejected its attempt to keep it confidential.

👓 Prime Vision. Amazon plans to deploy 5,000 smart glasses for delivery drivers this year, showing directions, gate codes, and pet warnings. No word on whether they help you outrun a Chihuahua.

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