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Thoughts on GPS tracked work vehicles

hickslawns

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
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Ohio
Curious as to public opinion on GPS tracked vehicles. Reasoning for tracking these vehicles as I see it:
Track idle time to control fuel consumption
Track drive time to ensure most efficient driving routes
Track costs in order to properly bid jobs
Keep employees honest on lunch breaks or non scheduled stops
Reduce theft as a result of "Moonlighting" or using company vehicle for personal jobs.
Track engine hours for service intervals
Reduce liability for slip and fall claims on snow sites by providing proof of stops to service accounts with time and date stamping
Potential reduction in insurance costs- GPS doubles for theft prevention/recovery
Track time on specific job sites for billing purposes AND to track municipalities for tax reasons. (We have to pay into different municipalities for hours worked within these cities/villages. Why pay them unless the vehicle is stopped at our geocached job site?)
Most of these reasons save the company money which enables raises and equipment upgrades.

Downsides as I see them:
Cost, although it is truly much more affordable than it used to be.
Privacy. I wouldn't want someone tracking my every move. On the flip side, if I am doing my job, I have zero worries.

Curious as to opinions. No wrong answer. I want to weigh all opinions prior to moving forward. I will leave my opinions out as long as I can until I see some responses. I don't want to skew opinions or lead anyone to an answer. I will state this: Although I see many positives and few negatives, the one negative (privacy) I see is very worthy of consideration against implementing GPS.
 
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brock ratcliff

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As an employer, I say it could be very beneficial.

As an employee I would hate them.

The only downside I could see from your perspective would be that you might over-analyze the system. You could drive yourself nuts watching every move made, and in turn make your employees very uncomfortable by asking for explanations on a daily basis. Uncomfortable employees tend to make a less productive environment. Still, a question or two on occasion lets them know they are never completely out of sight. For anyone that has employed many folks, you KNOW the ones you actually trust are typically the ones that damage you the most... That's been my experience at least.
 

MK111

"Happy Hunting Grounds in the Sky"
Supporting Member
6,551
66
SW Ohio
Phil since you are paying the wages I see no problem. If a employee has a problem with it then they are the problem.
Oh boy here it comes.
 

Buckmaster

Senior Member
14,362
191
Portage
As a business owner, I would be thinking about payback vs. expense. Second, who's going to moniter and analyze the data?

Some major carriers use it in Logistics where time is money.
 

Ohiosam

*Supporting Member*
11,707
191
Mahoning Co.
I don't see a problem. However to limit confusion I'd give every employee that uses a vehicle a written policy for its use. Considering that your employees probably work goofy hours there should be some flexibility so they can take care of minor personal issues. Ie stop at the bank, or a store but not go to the tittie bar.
 
I see both sides
All to soon I bet a lot of companys will be traking us

OH and I know first hand about it
Not my company truck
But when I was working
My boss had the company cell phones we had to carry , set up so he could see the GPS data online

One of the guys that worked for us was canned for taking a 2 hour "Break" at a bar when he was suposed to be working on a house 2 blocks away

Not sure of all the details
But the boss made a big deal of it

John
 

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
As an employer, I say it could be very beneficial.

As an employee I would hate them.

The only downside I could see from your perspective would be that you might over-analyze the system.

Yes, yes, and yes. I understand the reasoning behind them and my company would be a perfect candidate for given we are permitted "reasonable personal use". However I'm a professional and feel that this kind of monitoring is a serious violation of my privacy. Rather than use it all times, using it when a problem has presented itself makes more sense to me. That has been done here in the past and it worked out for the company.

As for monitoring it, you fret bad enough over all the other stuff in your life. This would just be one more thing for you to get worked up over.

I don't see a problem. However to limit confusion I'd give every employee that uses a vehicle a written policy for its use. Considering that your employees probably work goofy hours there should be some flexibility so they can take care of minor personal issues. Ie stop at the bank, or a store but not go to the tittie bar.

Agreed. If you do monitor them, be up front about it and set clear boundaries. Like Sam said, odd hours require innovative thinking. Giving them some leeway to handle things that may come up while on the clock won't do anything but help both sides.
 
Along with what the others have said, there will always be those who try to buck the system and get away with things and those that work hard and are loyal from start to stop. For those that are loyal and hard working I would imagine they wouldn't care one bit, but to those who are out for themselves will be the first to complain about big brother. It's your business you are trying to run and if you think this will help increase productivity and help you decrease waste in the form of time and gas then go for it. Who knows, the added savings could be passed on at some point in the form of bonuses or pay raises. Those hard working loyal employees would really appreciate that.
 

RedCloud

Super Moderator
Super Mod
17,381
193
North Central Ohio
I have been one of those tracked employees for the past 2.5yrs so I will give you my thoughts on it when I get a little more time. We are tracked on many things some good some bad and some that just plain could save your ass in more then one way.
 

hickslawns

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
39,721
248
Ohio
As an employer, I say it could be very beneficial. Agreed

As an employee I would hate them.Agreed

The only downside I could see from your perspective would be that you might over-analyze the system. Fair statement. You could drive yourself nuts watching every move made, and in turn make your employees very uncomfortable by asking for explanations on a daily basis. Uncomfortable employees tend to make a less productive environment. Still, a question or two on occasion lets them know they are never completely out of sight. For anyone that has employed many folks, you KNOW the ones you actually trust are typically the ones that damage you the most... That's been my experience at least.

I agree with all of this. Truthfully, this is not so I can sit at home and watch my guys on a computer. I don't have time for this. This is more about accountability (IF needed), fuel savings, vehicle maintenance monitoring, and providing our customers with information when requested. There are times when the guys forget to write things down. When I ask it is often a week or month later. Would be nice to go back in and see they were at a specific account for xx amount of time on date xyz. Same goes for snow, lawn mowing, etc. If I felt employees were dicking around on the clock they would not be around. Many of my guys have been with me at least a couple years up to 5+ years. My issues are more on my personal feelings. I truly would hate knowing I was being tracked. If I had nothing to hide though. . . . I guess I could deal with it. Providing proof to our insurance company when we are named in a slip and fall accident in the winter would potentially pay for this as well.

Buckmaster- Costs are minimum. $40 setup per vehicle. $30/mo per vehicle. Minimizing idle time on engines, and maximizing efficiencies on driving routes would pay for this. We drop $35-40k/year on fuel. A 5% reduction would be $1800-2000. I am not thinking of placing this on every vehicle. Mine won't have it. Dump trucks don't see enough miles/hours to justify it. Landscaping trucks generally go to a job and sit parked. Our main mowing truck and two main parking lot sweeping trucks would benefit the most. They put on the most miles. Because we are on locations after business hours often, it would be nice to be able to report exact times when we are on a job or not. What if a business was broken into on a night we were sweeping? Be nice to show what time we were in/out. I feel this could also aide in tracking times on jobs for bids or to know when it is time to increase price or leave prices unchanged. If Mrs Johnson is holding up 2 employees for 15min of chat EVERY week, then it is time to drop her or increase her bill. We don't do a ton of residential work, but it does happen at certain accounts. Hate to lose the customer relationship, but if it means you are losing money at an account weekly, then it is time to move on or move the price up.
 

RedCloud

Super Moderator
Super Mod
17,381
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North Central Ohio
Like I said in my other post, I have had the pleasure of being monitored for the past 2.5 years in a company van.

From an employer view it has many benefits to this system. You can track idle time and find the guys who suck the most gas by sitting somewhere and running the heat in winter or AC during the summer. Our system is setup so that if a guy sits idle for more them 30mins. a day an email is sent. We also have an email sent to our supervisor if we stay in the same spot for an hour. Would allow you to average fuel costs from one year to the next and after a couple years you would pretty much know what your fuel cost for the year would be. Account for your employees whereabouts at all times. I know your trucks are marked but you would be surprised how many old ladies call in and say they seen one of your guys tear up the neighbors lawn or what not. Now you can look at the route and times and see that it wasn't your truck thus not having to spend time trying to get with all parties and possibly spending money and time fixing something your guys didn't do. It can also check your speed so if your guy gets a ticket and he claims he was only doing the speed limit you can pull that up as well and see and even show him he was doing 15+ over lol. Another thing it could do is allow you to better direct your guys. You can see if this guy or that guy is closer to the next job and send the closer crew. Many advantages to an employer.

From an employee point of view. Depends on your employees to be honest. I have never had an issue being tracked and if I need to swing past the post office or bank or whatever else all I need to do is let my supervisor know before doing it. This way they can say yes or no you can't go and if I am allowed to go and they do a route audit it will be noted and I will be fine. Have I heard any co-workers complain about it? Yes, I have. Usually because they got yelled at for being someplace they didn't have permission to be at or getting to many speed alerts. We have a 5mph over the posted limit and if you go 6mph over the system sends an email back to your supervisor(speed alert). Like I said, it all really depends on the employee. If they are always screwing around and not where they are suppose to be then they will have an issue with this system and give you all kinds of grief from even mentioning your going to do it. They will give you all kinds of BS why it is a bad idea. If you have guys that don't have anything to hide then it will be fine and never hear a peep about it from the get go.

If you do decide to do it, I would tell NOBODY what trucks they are or are not in. Keeps everybody honest that way. If they think they might be being watched then they will be more productive and spend less time standing around gabbing or what not. Just be upfront and let them know you don't have time to sit there and watch what they are doing every second of everyday and that you just want to see what costs are being incurred so you can better budget for future months/years so you can keep them employed and keep them in steady work.

As far as maintenance on trucks just come up with a spread sheet for inspections. I can email you a copy of ours so you can see it and tailor it for your needs. Just need an email account to send it too.
 
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Huckleberry Finn

Senior Member
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135
They eat batteries for lunch, especially in the winter. The last thing you want before a snow storm is to have to replace a battery.

It makes sense on your equipment that is off-highway for billing purposes, ie mowers, sweepers, bobcats, but for your trucks, IMO there is not a clear advantage if you trust your guys. Let's say you have records to see that your guys are on site but travel 6mph over from site to site...you don't care, but then one of them wrecks and kills someone...subpoena later and why did you knowing let your employee consistently travel above the speed limit?
 

RedCloud

Super Moderator
Super Mod
17,381
193
North Central Ohio
Have you ever had a gps monitored vehicle Huck lol. Why on earth would he want to use it on mowers lol. Most commercial lawn equipment has an hour gauge I'm sure. Besides, if it eats batteries it would be that much worse on a small battery like in a mower. As long as it is wired correctly I don't see it causing much issue with a vehicles battery. If that was the only thing running in our vans we would be fine. What kills or batteries are the power inverter.
 

hickslawns

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Ohio
Have you ever had a gps monitored vehicle Huck lol. Why on earth would he want to use it on mowers lol. Most commercial lawn equipment has an hour gauge I'm sure. Besides, if it eats batteries it would be that much worse on a small battery like in a mower. As long as it is wired correctly I don't see it causing much issue with a vehicles battery. If that was the only thing running in our vans we would be fine. What kills or batteries are the power inverter.

Correct. If vehicle is off, there is no draw and GPS location is shown as last stop before turning vehicle off the way it has been explained to me. Wire it into the fuse panel so it is turned on when ignition is turned on.

GPS on mowers? I guess I am not following. I see it on combines. This I get.

Redcloud- Thanks for the offer on the maintenance spread sheet. We have maintenance log books I made using spread sheets. Where the GPS monitoring would be real handy for maintenance is hours. Miles are not real indicative on sweeper trucks. Many of these trucks run 8-10hrs per day but only rack up 20 miles. Not as much an issue for us with our driving between jobs, but if you see a mall truck which the mall owns and never leaves the property. . . .easy to see how an hour meter is a more accurate measure of service intervals than an odometer. Some of the GPS systems will plug into the trucks harness though. These systems offer alerts when an engine or transmission code flashes or brake code or whatever other code comes up. Helps to give a warning or heads up to me if my operator forgets to tell me. Fixing problems when they are small can save mega repair bills later.
 

RedCloud

Super Moderator
Super Mod
17,381
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North Central Ohio
JD Link or JD Worksite...putting a gps on a mower isn't something that I dreamed up.

And yes...

Didn't think you dreamed it up but I don't see the point on putting one on a mower. Now if it was a backhoe or a skid steer or something of that nature and it didn't have an hour meter on it then maybe I could see it as those are higher priced pieces of equipment and going to cost more then a couple grand to replace.
 

RedCloud

Super Moderator
Super Mod
17,381
193
North Central Ohio
Correct. If vehicle is off, there is no draw and GPS location is shown as last stop before turning vehicle off the way it has been explained to me. Wire it into the fuse panel so it is turned on when ignition is turned on.

GPS on mowers? I guess I am not following. I see it on combines. This I get.

Redcloud- Thanks for the offer on the maintenance spread sheet. We have maintenance log books I made using spread sheets. Where the GPS monitoring would be real handy for maintenance is hours. Miles are not real indicative on sweeper trucks. Many of these trucks run 8-10hrs per day but only rack up 20 miles. Not as much an issue for us with our driving between jobs, but if you see a mall truck which the mall owns and never leaves the property. . . .easy to see how an hour meter is a more accurate measure of service intervals than an odometer. Some of the GPS systems will plug into the trucks harness though. These systems offer alerts when an engine or transmission code flashes or brake code or whatever other code comes up. Helps to give a warning or heads up to me if my operator forgets to tell me. Fixing problems when they are small can save mega repair bills later.

Could always do what we do if we fail to report an issue with a vehicle or don't take it in for an oil change. Just for example: if we don't take the van in for it's scheduled oil change and the motor blows up we can be held liable for it and we could be made to pay the price for replacement and in some cases the person can also be fired on top of paying for it. If you make them more liable for things and put some of the responsibilities on them then they will either be paying for replacement parts or take care of the equipment. I'm not saying nail them to the wall for every little thing and I understand things just break sometimes but if it is neglect on their part then they should be held accountable for it.
I could see a huge advantage for seeing the codes as they happen and taking care of the issue asap. If I was you I would put them into the equipment if it fits into your budget and can be done with little down time. Far more advantages then disadvantages for you as the owner. Some guys may not like it but hey, they aren't paying the repair or replacement cost now are they. They don't like it you can show them the way to the door.
 

Shoulder Blade

Junior Member
195
0
For several reasons I think its a bad idea.

From a morale, even a roi stand point I don't think it makes sense.

You may be better giving the 1,200 to your foreman or guys in some sort of incentive program, (they probably feel under paid anyways).

My buddy tried the "repairs will be deducted from check" bullshit once. He backed off that one really quick.
 

RedCloud

Super Moderator
Super Mod
17,381
193
North Central Ohio
For several reasons I think its a bad idea.

From a morale, even a roi stand point I don't think it makes sense.

You may be better giving the 1,200 to your foreman or guys in some sort of incentive program, (they probably feel under paid anyways).

My buddy tried the "repairs will be deducted from check" bullshit once. He backed off that one really quick.

There have only been a few guys held to that. It was extreme misuse of tools or should I say purposely damaging them and the engine oil not being changed for several thousand miles over and having an engine blow up because of lack of oil. That's why I said not to nail them to the wall for every little thing. Yeah, it sucks to have that held over my head but I also know the chances of them having me pay for something that breaks is slim and none as long as I follow the rules. As long as you follow the steps then they can't blame you and make you pay for anything. Screw up and I don't see an issue with making a person pay for replacement or repairs. It's no different then letting a buddy borrow a tool or equipment and they break it. Wouldn't you want it fixed or replaced at their expense and not yours? I know if I borrow something from somebody and it breaks I replace the broken part or replace the entire thing. Just the moral thing to do. Shouldn't be any different for an employee borrowing the companies equipment to do work should it? You know how much money a company could loose in a year just in the workers negligence in taking care of their equipment? I don't but I could only imagine. It has to be outrageous and if it's a small business it could put that company under real quick.