GPS Fleet Tracking

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Energy-Miser

Energy-Miser

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Maryland
I would like to put this out for discussion. Is it worth the cost for a small company? Does it intrude too much into the life of the employee? I am hoping to hear pros and cons from both owner and employee perspectives. e/m.
 
stickboy1375 said:
IMO, you either trust your guys or you don't... if you dont, then looks like you have other issues to worry about..
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So you think they are not necessary, period? I am not saying they are or they are not. I don't have them on my vehicles, but would like to hear the pros and cons. Thanks for your response. e/m.
 
There was a thread about this a month or two ago.

Some people say that you don't want to know every little thing your guys do. You have to accept that they will treat you right and make money for you. Any little "side trip" for coffee or to look at a new stereo is on your guy's mind while he does it, so he makes it as brief as he can. A man who is given small amounts of freedom at his job is more likely to strive to keep that job. It's a win win.

You should be able to tell if an employee is completely abusing you. It should be obvious. You don't need GPS to catch those guys.
 
jaylectricity said:
There was a thread about this a month or two ago.

Some people say that you don't want to know every little thing your guys do. You have to accept that they will treat you right and make money for you. Any little "side trip" for coffee or to look at a new stereo is on your guy's mind while he does it, so he makes it as brief as he can. A man who is given small amounts of freedom at his job is more likely to strive to keep that job. It's a win win.

You should be able to tell if an employee is completely abusing you. It should be obvious. You don't need GPS to catch those guys.
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I tend to agree with you. I don't think that an employer needs to track every move that an employee makes, it does not feel right. I have not seen one of these systems up close, so I don't know what the exact services offer. I imagine that it can be set up to collect as much information as is prudent. At any rate, it will be tricky. If there has been a thread on this already, then I will search and find it and read what's out there. Thanks, e/m.
 
I have never considered it, but maybe, and this is a maybe, it could help in billing customers for the time spent on their job.
 
480sparky said:
I have never considered it, but maybe, and this is a maybe, it could help in billing customers for the time spent on their job.
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That's a thought. Although just today I had an email from a customer (property management for which we had done a service call), asking why they had to pay for 1/2 hour trip to the supply house. I wondered how she knew that (since the job was done at one of their rental units and she was not there to see my guy go out to get the part). I looked at the work order ticket and saw that my guy had written there cleary "Half hour trip to supply house". You can't win ! e/m.
(my 100th post!)
 
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There has been another thread on this. I would do it for the billing purpose only and it would make the time cards more accurate. I have lost a trucks worth of my own time by not remembering where I was at.

Saw one advertised that fits on a key chain for about $200 and you download it at the end of day. Due out after the first of the year.
 
I have worked at a company that does have them on the trucks

just be aware that it gives you a TON of date and a tone of data takes a lot of time to go through.

we had GPS on our nextel where I work now and we dropped it.

it just depends on how you want to spend your time - going over reports and busting your guy for taking a coffee run
 
Energy-Miser said:
That's a thought. Although just today I had an email from a customer asking why they had to pay for 1/2 hour trip to the supply house. I wondered how she knew that....

I looked at the work order ticket and saw that my guy had written there cleary "Half hour trip to supply house". You can't win ! e/m.
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The answer is easy. "You have to pay for the trip to the supply house, because YOU needed a part that was uncommon / unique. It's cheaper for our customers this way. I cannot stock every conceivable item on a service van. If I did, the cost to do your job and any other would be much greater."
 
I still find it amazing that when I go to someone's house for a service call, they just cannnot comprehend the fact that I can only carry 0.0001% of all electrical products ever manufactured on my truck.

To explain this, I ask them if they have every seen an electrical supply house. They usually answer 'yes.' And I respond, "Now, those warehouses are not measured in square feet, but in acres. And even they cannot stock every conceivable part."
 
I had a guy call about his lights flickering I went out and found his panel needed replaced,a fire in the utility room was put out with a garden hose soaking said panel months later corrosion had set in, I sent a man out the next day and he was done in 4 1/2 hours I billed for 6 that included my time. The customer complained about the additional time I told him that was my time for comming out the first time and he said "I thought you guys did that for free"
 
Energy-Miser said:
I tend to agree with you. I don't think that an employer needs to track every move that an employee makes, it does not feel right. I have not seen one of these systems up close, so I don't know what the exact services offer. I imagine that it can be set up to collect as much information as is prudent. At any rate, it will be tricky. If there has been a thread on this already, then I will search and find it and read what's out there. Thanks, e/m.
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If you are using the GPS for fleet billing, route and call optimization then it could be an economic improvement on your bottom line, but you should run the economic model. If you are using it to "track" your employees then it is not an economic boon. Having said that, the disclosure to your employees that their movements are tracked will give them a self-imposed incentive to use their time efficiently, especially if you tell them that it is perfectly OK to make limited amount of "side-trips" to pay a bill, etc. It will help you to weed out slackers though.....:rolleyes:
 
ptonsparky said:
There has been another thread on this. I would do it for the billing purpose only and it would make the time cards more accurate. I have lost a trucks worth of my own time by not remembering where I was at.

Saw one advertised that fits on a key chain for about $200 and you download it at the end of day. Due out after the first of the year.
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Did your guys have a culture shock, or did they take it ok?
e/m
 
LawnGuyLandSparky said:
The answer is easy. "You have to pay for the trip to the supply house, because YOU needed a part that was uncommon / unique. It's cheaper for our customers this way. I cannot stock every conceivable item on a service van. If I did, the cost to do your job and any other would be much greater."
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And that's the honest truth. e/m.
 
weressl said:
If you are using the GPS for fleet billing, route and call optimization then it could be an economic improvement on your bottom line, but you should run the economic model. If you are using it to "track" your employees then it is not an economic boon. Having said that, the disclosure to your employees that their movements are tracked will give them a self-imposed incentive to use their time efficiently, especially if you tell them that it is perfectly OK to make limited amount of "side-trips" to pay a bill, etc. It will help you to weed out slackers though.....:rolleyes:
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Someone said (in this thread a little earlier), that if you can't trust your employees then you shouldn't be in business or something to that effect. You don't agree with that sentiment? e/m.
 
Rewire said:
I had a guy call about his lights flickering I went out and found his panel needed replaced,a fire in the utility room was put out with a garden hose soaking said panel months later corrosion had set in, I sent a man out the next day and he was done in 4 1/2 hours I billed for 6 that included my time. The customer complained about the additional time I told him that was my time for comming out the first time and he said "I thought you guys did that for free"
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Yeah and yet if their attorney bills them 1 hour for a 10 minute phone conversation, they will rush to pay it off. e/m.
 
It works both ways, while you can monitor your fleet and even track mileage, you also may not want to know some things… One of my men who is a very big producer, but he only works about 6-7 hours a day including lunch and (2) fifteen minute breaks. The GPS clearly shows him at home (he lives an 1.5 hours out of town) at quitting time on most days. This guy gets more done in a (6) hour day that any 2 other men in the company gets done in a (8) day. He also gets area Forman’s wages plus some, and makes a lot more then most other foremen. So what do you do with the information that he is stealing 5-10 hours a week (make sure you read ‘hours’ as ‘dollars’)?

So far the only good thing that came out of it, was I am saving about 20% (about $2,000) on my overall fuel bill. They all think I am watching, after I fired one service man who had a habit of taking 3 hour lunches at a strip bar, but I already knew he was up to something by his billing; the GPS just confirmed it and was good back up for firing him. The story got out and it kind of worked in my favor.

As for my big producer, he could not care less whether or not he is being tracked so I tried putting a time clock on the job, so he has to punch in and out. The funny thing is, now his time cards all show 8 hours, but he is still at home (1.5 hour out of town) at quitting time. I had to do the math and just let it go, even though it bothers me because I am supposed to “trust him, or get out of the business”…right? …. Because it feels more like bend over and take it, or just get out of the business.

As for the “you have to trust your guys”, well that is just naive idealism and SPIN. People are still people, and just becuase you sign their paychecks, it does note make them trustworthy.
 
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ITO said:
It works both ways, while you can monitor your fleet and even track mileage, you also may not want to know some things? One of my men who is a very big producer, but he only works about 6-7 hours a day including lunch and (2) fifteen minute breaks. The GPS clearly shows him at home (he lives an 1.5 hours out of town) at quitting time on most days. This guy gets more done in a (6) hour day that any 2 other men in the company gets done in a (8) day. He also gets area Forman?s wages plus some, and makes a lot more then most other foremen. So what do you do with the information that he is stealing 5-10 hours a week (make sure you read ?hours? as ?dollars?)?

So far the only good thing that came out of it, was I am saving about 20% (about $2,000) on my overall fuel bill. They all think I am watching, after I fired one service man who had a habit of taking 3 hour lunches at a strip bar, but I already knew he was up to something by his billing; the GPS just confirmed it and was good back up for firing him. The story got out and it kind of worked in my favor.

As for my big producer, he could not care less whether or not he is being tracked so I tried putting a time clock on the job, so he has to punch in and out. The funny thing is, now his time cards all show 8 hours, but he is still at home (1.5 hour out of town) at quitting time. I had to do the math and just let it go, even though it bothers me because I am supposed to ?trust him, or get out of the business??right? ?. Because it feels more like bend over and take it, or just get out of the business.

As for the ?you have to trust your guys?, well that is just naive idealism and SPIN. People are still people, and just becuase you sign their paychecks, it does note make them trustworthy.
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Simple answer is you fire him. One bad apple spoils the bunch,do you think the rest of your crew does not know what this clown is doing,this could be the reason for the others slacking.I worked for a shop that had one of these glory boys who could do no wrong in the owners eye because his numbers were always good he did as he pleased and everyone knew and most resented it and it showed in slower performance especially if you were on his job guys had no respect for the owner they had the attitude if Joe can do it I should be able too. It hit the fan during a slowdown of work when the owner went out to this guys job site and found almost nothing done yet over 200 hours charged against it.What he was doing was running three jobs and billing forward as he would get close to max hours on one job he would start to bill to the next it worked until he had no job to bill ahead.My rules are simple 8 hours work for 8 hours pay.
 
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