There’s More to tracking than GPS

Of course this blog is mainly about GPS tracking technology and business. Since the author has been involved in the technical and implementation side of GPS for years, one could hardly expect it not to be.

But if you’re in business, there’s a lot more to tracking than just mysterious ones and zeros flitting through the “Ether”. Here’s a great object lesson for today … brought to us by a man whose been running the same business since 1945 … yep, he’s in his 80’s, but his forethought and customer service via tracking is more modern that a lot of recent MBA’s.

In 1945, Jules “Toots” Armellini and his wife Sarah began transporting flowers from Vineland, New Jersey into Philadelphia and New York City. They started with one truck and utilized a barn as their terminal … Jules Armellini has always been at the forefront of new technology in floral transportation, he contributed to the design of the first “flower specific” refrigeration units for trailers, was the first to use wooden decking to split the trailer to relieve pressure on the flower boxes and promote air circulation, and was also the first to use satellite tracking to pinpoint the position of all trucks. With a fleet of 150 trucks and a reputation for prompt, quality service, Armellini Express Lines, Inc. continues to flourish. Read the full article here:

“Now wait a minute.” I hear you saying, “Dave, this is just another ‘press release’ kind of article that blathers on about a company using Qualcomm.” Well indeed, Armellini’s trucks do use Qualcomm but that’s not the total business message to take away.

This company’s story is important to you in your business because of the way they became number one. Customers can log in to the company website at any time and track the progress of their orders. If their orders haven’t been made up yet because the raw materials (flowers) are still in the air from South America to Florida, Armellini shows them that. No need for the expense of a voice in customer service to hand out platitudes and BS, Armellini customers get the real info and they get it in a timely manner.

After the orders are made up and on the truck, customers can see the truck location updated every 15 minutes and see how much their invoice will be in time to go to the bank … how many wholesalers can you name who work this way?

I was interested in reading about this company because ‘papa’ Armellini still works in the firm on a regular basis, and it looks from his website picture that he was (like my mom and dad) a World War II Navy enlisted veteran. Now I don’t hold any grudge against officers, and I don’t hold a grudge against the current MBA way of thinking where one farms out all the labor and customer service functions to third parties and the executives just play golf, but I do always enjoy learning about “real” American success stories where the participants are actually known to get their hands dirty. I thought, perhaps, you might like this one too.