Can a small truckload carrier from Mt. Zion, Ill., succeed where some very big companies have stubbed their toes?
We’ll begin to learn the answer on Sept. 6, when the United States Freight Exchange Inc. goes live on the web

at www.usfex.com. The site will offer load matching for $19.95 a month and $9.95 per transaction.
Jeff DeVore, president of USFEX, is also vice president and director of operations for truckload carrier Straight Line Express, also of Mt. Zion, and is well aware of the matching sites already in operation.
“That was one of the reasons we started our own,” he said.
DeVore said he and his two partners, also officers of Straight Line, spent hours each morning chasing down loads that had long-since been taken and spending upwards of $800 a month in the process.
“Our service is in real time. When a load is taken, it’s gone from the screen within one minute,” he said.
Besides load matching, USFEX plans to offer what DeVore called an “informational platform.” For example, he said, USFEX has partnered with ALK Technologies, makers of PC*MILER.
Is he wary of following so many others onto the Internet to offer services to truckers?
“We think the timing is right,” said DeVore. “The industry has shaken out.”