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By Greg Bartlett

One of the great problems for businesses with delivery vehicles is knowing when a product or package will arrive. Delivery drivers will run a scheduled route, but they don’t always choose the shortest route or the most fuel efficient one, often sticking with familiarity over efficiency. Even worse, while very rare, sometimes vehicle delivery drivers will make unexplained stops and equipment can easily fall off the back of the truck. A vehicle is likely to breakdown. One of the solutions to these problems is GPS tracking systems, which have become more and more commonplace in the last six or seven years.

Global Positioning System (GPS) is a technology that’s moving heavily into the mainstream, and not just in giving driving directions. GPS fleet tracking systems use this satellite driven technology to record (or directly broadcast) the position of a vehicle in latitude and longitude at designated times. When this information is fed back into the dispatch office, it can be used to route in-town deliveries in a timely manner, or be used with traffic analysis to give fuel optimized routes. Because most delivery vans get under 20 miles per gallon, and most large delivery trucks get even less than that, fuel economy matters today when $2 gasoline is considered a bargain.

One of the first uses of GPS fleet tracking systems was with UPS and Roadway Package Systems. Both of these companies used GPS for route selections and to track the positions of specific trucks. With Roadway Package Systems, the first semi-trucks equipped with the tracking system were used for high priority and high value cargoes. What they discovered was that the tracking systems could pay for themselves in two years in reduced fuel costs, and it became standard on all of the trucks in their fleet as they were upgraded or replaced. Now, that the cost of this technology is more affordable, it can pay for itself in as little as one or two months.

You don’t have to be a major company to get significant benefits from a GPS tracking system. Most food distributors now use them to track the moving of products to convenience stores and super markets. They are also starting to move ‘down market’, with auto glass replacement services and contractors delivering construction supplies. One important side effect of telling drivers their trucks are GPS-enabled is that they tend to slack off less – deliveries get made faster, because the excuses of “I got held up in traffic” or “I couldn’t find the exit…” can be confronted with direct evidence that they took time off with the clock running. This can improve operational efficiency greatly.