By Greg Bartlett

Two of the largest line items in any small business budget are vehicle cost and labor. When small businesses put employees on the road, there is no guarantee that the employees are putting in a full eight hour day. A vehicle tracking device can help insure that the workers are where they are supposed to be when they are supposed to be.

When installing a vehicle tracking device, two choices are available to a small business. The devices can be installed covertly or overtly. A covert installation will deny the operator the knowledge that it is there. An overt operation will have the device in plain sight and the vehicle operator will be immediately aware of its presence. In most small business applications, an overt installation is preferable since the owner of the business wants his employees to know that the movements of the vehicle are being tracked.

Many small businesses, security companies for example allow the technicians to take their vehicles home at night. The normal agreement with the company is that the vehicle is to be used for company business only.

A vehicle tracking device installed in the company vehicle permits the company to monitor the use of the vehicle and insures that the vehicle is used only for company business. The tracking device will provide the data needed to reduce vehicle maintenance and fuel costs by eliminating unauthorized usage.

Employees in the service sector commonly work without any supervision. This lack of supervision embodies a feeling of trust in the employee, however it also can lead to abuse by the employee. An employee can “skim” time from the company by taking longer lunch breaks than is allowed by company policy. The employee has the potential to arrive late to a job assignment or leave early. Should the employee arrive late and the job run over the normal working hours the employee could charge for overtime. The utilization of a GPS tracking device insures the company that the vehicle is where it is supposed to be when it is supposed to be there.

The initial cost of installing a vehicle tracking device onto a company vehicle is recovered in a short period of time. The increased efficiency of vehicle usage is provided by the knowledge of the technician that his location can be monitored at any time of the day. The knowledge that his location can and will be tracked insures that the employee is on the job when he is supposed to be and remains on the job for the amount of time that he is supposed to be there. For more information about GPS technology, call Rocky Mountain Tracking, Inc at 888-242-0500.