My Prediction About Predictions Coming True
Our good friends over at GPS Lodge published a post last night about "Predictive Traffic" on Google Maps. I have mentioned several times how aggregated data from GPS tracking equipment in cars and trucks, along with other traffic sensors already in place, can save time, save fuel and … bottom line … improve business profits. See:
GPS Adds Up To More ,
GSM-Based GPS Tracking World-wide ,
GPS ROI Using Traffic Sensors — Part 1
For a few examples.
Here’s a real-world example, already accessible on one of the greatest tools available to travelers and business planners anywhere … all free. Thanks Google and thanks GPS Lodge for breaking the news. Go to Google Maps and select traffic.
A Mile Isn’t Always A Mile
Many aspects of business revolve around miles (or kilometers) traveled. For years we have had a useful tool in almost every car and truck called an "odometer". (French odomètre, from Greek hodometron : hodos, journey + metron, measure).
Mileage reimbursements to employees, freight charges to shippers, even approval or denial of expensive warranty claims al\re all based on this simple little row of numbers.,
Believe it or not, in the US there is no real requirement that this device be accurate at all. Testimony at court cases involving miles traveled indicate a generally accepted tolerance of as much as 20% +/-. This can mean thousands and thousands per year. I mean, in what other normal area do businesses accept 4% errors? Want to go to the bank with a $100 deposit slip and hand that along with $96 to the teller and see what happens next? Come on, it’s 2008 already … we are talking about a basic unit of measurement that costs most of us a lot of money here. 4%?
For years many commercial operators have used a device called a Tachograph … on of those registered trade names that has become universal, kind of like Xerox. In Europe. also a heavy Tachograph user, the required accuracy is +/- 4%. When you run a trauck100,000 plus miles per year, that is still a lot of room for error … especially when driving costs go way over $1 a mile.
Why can’t GPS solve this problem? Well, it can help … you can expect accuracy in the +/- 1 % range if you chose the correct GPS tracking equipment. But this still doesn’t get you scientific (or legal) proof that is needed when you are talking about money, employee compensation and even criminal evidence.
I have long been a reader of the excellent trade magazine, GPS World. They feature a monthly column titled "Innovation". There are times, quite frankly,that Innovation is way over my head, but I always try to blow through and get at least the gist of each month’s article. After all, learning means starting from scratch and stretching your mind a bit, yes?
This month’s article is technical and scholarly enough to suit anyone, but it is readable, and very informative. Even though the discussion is technical, this is down to earth business information that owners and executives need to know. Recommended.
GPS Tracking For Theft Recovery Is Good — But There Is So Much More!
Here’s an interesting report from the UK that shows that telemetry, usually GPS powered, is really catching on.
Analyst firm Berg Insight found 2.2 million passenger cars in Europe had an on-board telematics device at the end of last year. Stolen vehicle tracking is the primary telematics application, followed by automatic emergency calling, driver assistance and motor insurance telematics.
“After many years of slow adoption, we now see that the market is entering a growth phase,” said Tobias Ryberg, senior analyst at Berg Insight. “The penetration rate is still below 1% of the total car [registration], so there is a huge untapped potential.” full article here.This is some good news for the GPS tracking market and for insurance companies … and all drivers who, after all, eventually pay the costs of all car thefts when they pay their insurance fees.
And I want to point out something here that the media often misses in these sort of reports … theft recovery systems, such as LoJack and GPS-based tracking systems which can aid in theft recovery as just one of their capabilities.
The LoJack-style systems are based on what is called a “bird dog” in the trade. If the vehicle goes missing police (the only authorized users) can drive around and pin point the location of the stolen asset if, and only if they have specialized receivers in their patrol cars. This is a big hidden cost and potential shortfall. On the plus side, Lojack and it’s technology colleagues do not depend on seeing the sky as GPS routinely does, so they can be used to find a stolen car say in an underground parking garage, which GPS really is useless for.
That being said, why would a person spend a significant amount of money to install a device that will only aid in stolen vehicle recovery? With GPS tracking you get:
- Proven savings on fuel … as much as 15% is common
- Proven savings on safety and even safety-related aspects such as workman’s comp claims
- Proven time accounting
- Proof that the vehicles went where they were supposed to and when
- Real-time alerts for maintenance problems to avoid high repair costs
- With the right system (networkcar.com is one) you can even automate the emissions testing process and avoid all that wasted time.
In short? theft recovery is great, but there is so much more that you can get, even as a private owner, with a true GPWS tracking system. Buy wisely, it’s your money.
GPS Tracking Advertising ROI
There’s a lot of ways to advertise. Many of us say we hate advertising but we all use it and respond to it every day. It wouldn’t only be a dull world without it, it would be a world of paupers, because advertising is essential to business growth … and business growth is what gives you a job and money to spend. (I know that sounds a little basic, but you would not believe how many people these days live in daddy’s basement and have no concept of commerce).
Billboards have long been a very effective advertising media … especially for drivers and passengers on the road, but they have a lot of disadvantages:
- Spoil the view
- Fixed location … pay for an add 24/7 yet only have it seen by many during rush hour
- Difficult to change … sell one add, can’t resell the space for a fixed time.
Enter the mobile billboard. This concept has actually caught on much faster overseas than in the US … these roving billboard trucks are very common here in the Philippines … we aren’t as third-world as some think … or is it that the US is becoming third-world? Hmmm, that’s an argument for another day.
Big advantages here because the trucks take up no fixed space, they don’t have to run 24/7, they can easily advertise multiple client’s products and, here’s what no other form of advertising can do … they give the client detailed time, date and location display data, along with very accurate estimates of ‘eyeballs’ … so calculating the advertising ROI is way more accurate than it has ever been.
Once again, there’s a lot more ways to get an ROI on GPS tracking than many people ever consider.
Are Your Drivers Smarter Than You?
Here’s a theme I have kept alive here at the GPS Tracking ROI blog for years. It’s just as true now is it was 5 or 6 years ago, only more so.
Truckers Slowing Down to Save Fuel
By JAMES MacPHERSON – 5 hours ago
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Coast-to-coast trucker Lorraine Dawson says fellow drivers used to call her "Lead Foot Lorraine." But with diesel fuel around $4 a gallon, she and other big-rig drivers have backed off their accelerators to conserve fuel.
"I used to be a speed demon, but no more," said Dawson, based at Tacoma, Wash. "Most drivers have cut their speed considerably."
Dawson said she’s cut her speed by five to 10 miles per hour to save money for her company. Many independent owner-operators have slowed even more, she said.
"My fiance is an owner-operator and he’s been crying a lot about the price of fuel," Dawson said. "He’s been slowing way down."
Truckers and industry officials say slowing a tractor-trailer rig from 75 mph to 65 mph increases fuel mileage by more than a mile a gallon, (my emphasis)a significant bump for machines that get less than 10 miles per gallon hauling thousands of pounds of freight. Even sitting still with the engine idling, a rig gulps about a gallon of diesel every hour.
"We just can’t afford it," Dawson said of diesel as she was topping off her fuel tanks at a Bismarck truck stop…. read the whole article about why you are spending too much on fuel.
Just recently I was cleaning up my hard drive when I came across a sales letter I sent to a potential client back on the day crude oil prices first hit $60 a barrel. I told the client I wanted to help him before oil hit $70 a barrel. Those were the days, eh?
I well remember the "double nickel" 55 mph nation-wide speed limit. I pray that won’t happen again. But on the other side of the coin, most people in big rigs or sports cars just run too damn fast … that’s all there is to it.
So smart people might give a thought to slowing down sensibly, instead of waiting until the day the government issues another decree.
You can save substantially by just slowing down 10 lousy miles per hour. An extra mile per gallon id well worth it, even for a private car …worth it big time on a heavy truck.
You can install GPS tracking and save 15% to %30 overall … I used to guarantee these saving when I sold systems and I never had to refund anything. If it was worth saving 15% at $2.00 a gallon, isn’t it worth a lot more to save 15% of $4.00 a gallon? And here’s a tip … the US dollar … which is the currency of international oil, is weak as a rotted out shrub … oil prices are going nowhere but up).
We have several reputable companies who advertise their GPS fleet tracking equipment and services here on GPS ROI tracking, (check over there on the "Recommended Sites" section, I only allow advertisers I feel have reputable GPS tracking products and services) and there are many others out there as well. Whatever you do, do something now before diesel hits $6 a gallon … and it will, rest assured.
Are You Wondering Why Your Product Won’t Sell?
RFTrax Rail Asset Tracking Certified for Use in Hazardous Environments
RFTrax receives UL Certification approval for technology offering rail shippers real time monitoring and alerting to meet hazardous Gov requirements.
RFTrax, a wholly owned subsidiary of Fairfield Industries, announced that its Asset Command Unit (ACU) has received Underwriters Laboratories (UL*) 913 Intrinsically Safe Certification for operation in Class 1, 2, and 3, Division 1 hazardous locations.
….
“With this certification, chemical, petroleum, and LPG shippers can now take advantage of the ACU’s powerful wireless monitoring, tracking, and reporting capabilities, which can deliver significant bottom-line benefits,” said John Felty, national sales manager, RFTrax. “Not only does the ACU offer critical, real-time information on the status of a tank car and its contents, but it can also improve overall car management for cost savings, faster turns, and avoidance of penalties.” Read more here.
As many of you know, I sold GPS tracking products for years. A top reason why many, many sales in the industry are lost? Manufacturers of GPS Tracking products refuse to do the cost benefit analysis, and frankly, expend the effort, to certify their products with standards that other transportation-related devices have to meet.
It’s called "cherry picking’ or going after the low-hanging fruit. We’ll sell our products to exterminator companies and beer distributors, but when it comes to the big names in the transportation industry, carrying the highest value an most hazardous cargo, we’ll play golf and let someone else take the time and make the effort and investment.
Kudos to RFTrax. At least one company gets what has long been required in the GPS Tracking industry. Other companies who may have also expended the effort are welcome to contact me, I’ll be happy to feature you, too. For those who haven’t certified your product … sad.
58 Minute Lunch or 3 Hour Lunch — What Can GPS Tracking Tell You
If you run a business where you pay people by the hour you naturally have a concern or two about their lunch breaks. It’s a real drain on your resources and profit margin if you let employees get away with taking too much time for lunch. If the employees are on the road then, of course, the issue is doubly hard to manage, because if they aren’t in the work place, how will you know?
A while back I installed a GPS Tracking System for a fellow who had a small fleet and one of the things he wanted to know he could get a handle on was time and attendance .. lunch hours and unauthorized breaks in particular.
After the units had been installed on his trucks and a few week’s worth of data had been collected, the client and I sat down for a training session to learn what he could learn from his new GPS tracking data. here’s what we found just in checking the times and places his drivers were taking their lunch breaks:
The 58 minute Man: One loyal and long-term employee was very consistent. Over the course of at least three weeks he never took a lunch break longer than 58 minutes. Indeed, you could virtually set your watch by this guy. A great worker indeed. yes, except for one little thing we happened to note. This fellow’s work area was on the south side of the city from his home … the clients he visited averaged a good 10 miles from his home. But each and every work day, fair weather or foul, the guy would leave his work area and rive 10 or 12 or 14 miles out of the way across the city to his home … and then 58 minutes or so later, leave his house and drive another 10 or 12 unnecessary miles back to his first "after lunch" stop. Six days a week, an average of say 20 miles each work day, that’s at least 120 miles each and every week that this guy and his truck were not working for the company. regardless of what the IRS says, this was at least $120 dollars per week of cost to the company they were getting zero return on … that’s about $6200 per year this "58 minute man"was costing the company in non-productive mileage. Not to mention, of course, the extra half hour to an hour that he spent in wages traveling back and forth to his wife’s kitchen. The GPS unit in this guy’s truck cost the company less than $600 installed, and pointed out more than 10 times it’s cost in totally unknown expenses in less than a moth. How is that for a Rate Of Return On Investment?
The Three Hour Man: Next we looked at another employee who showed a very odd pattern of behavior. Monday through Friday his work pattern looked very detail and profit oriented behavior. Nearly a model employee. But every Saturday this fellow was working through the normal lunch hour until 1 or 2 in the afternoon and then stopping, for an average of three full hours at a location that the owner didn’t r4ecognize as one of the company’s clients. After a little detective work my client discovered that the address where the strange, long lunches occurred was the house of the worker’s mother. Yep, every Saturday afternoon he was stopping by and spending the afternoon with his mom,before driving back to work and clocking out. A factor that made this even a bit more astounding was, the Saturday work was at time and a half, so each of these Saturday "lunches" with mom was costing the company about $90 extra dollars in wages … money they got absolutely no return on. Let’s say this guy worked 50 weeks a year … that looks like about $4500 in excess labor charges caught, in three weeks, by a $600 investment.
So, what sort of lunches are your folks taking? Still think that GPS tracking is an expensive luxury and that you can’t afford it? based on these true stories and many others I have seen, you can’t afford not to equip your vehicles with GPS tracking … the potential for ROI is excellent.