Rocky Mountain Tracking

By Greg Bartlett

Although many people may think that fleet tracking could never apply to them, they could never be further from the truth. While fleet tracking is usually provided to companies that have a large number of vehicles in distribution, this is not always the case. Also, if you choose to use one of the vehicles that come from these companies, it will be good for you to know how your actions are being monitored, so that you can drive safely and carefully. Many rental car companies have lost vehicles through bad drivers or thieves that manipulate the system. Often, these businesses are unable to find the lost machinery and they lose a lot of money. Fleet tracking is the answer, to help you know where your vehicles are at all times.

GPS & Fleet Tracking

GPS tracking is a relatively new technology that is continuing to see more uses as more individuals understand the science behind it. Basically, you start with a small device that you can attach to your car, plug into your computer, or even just carry with you in a pocket. That device, when turned on, emits waves that transmit to a series of satellites that circulate the earth. These satellites are able to determine the location, the time, and often even the speed of the item that is being monitored. This information is sent to a set of computers that are then analyzed by technicians, who then pass this information on to the necessary parties.

One of the most recent high-profile uses of this technology was during the World Olympics, where the locations of all the athletes were processed and recorded. This was done to make sure that they arrived at their destinations safely and on time, and was often completed by attaching the tracking device to the vehicle of use. This allowed the technicians to monitor the distance that each athlete needed to travel, to verify that they would make their events on time. This also gave the police the opportunity to keep an eye on each of these important individuals.

Fleet tracking will continue to grow in importance as its uses become more profound. Whether it is used to track high-profile criminals, or important businessmen, this type of GPS technology will never be the same as it once was. You can consider using GPS and this new tracking technology to keep your vehicles safe and on time.

By Greg Bartlett

For most people, the holidays bring excitement, joy, and memory-making moments, from reuniting with friends and family to shopping for the perfect gift to planning dazzling holiday menus. For some, however, the holidays only magnify the struggle to pay the bills and put food on the table. All around the country, struggling families rely on companies like Food Lifeline to help them feed their families. During times of economic downturn, the companies receive even more requests for assistance, and they are constantly looking for ways to cut operating costs in order to put more money toward the business of distributing food to needy families. GPS vehicle tracking provides one opportunity for charitable organizations to reduce their expenses and make sure as many folks as possible have food on their tables during the holidays.

GPS & Meail Delivery

GPS vehicle tracking allows managers to keep an eye on fleet vehicles such as delivery trucks as they make their rounds. Many models also provide information such as speed, direction of travel, and fuel consumption. By monitoring this information, food banks can ensure that drivers are taking the most efficient routes and using as little fuel as possible to reach their destinations. They can also see if trucks are left idling during deliveries or whether the drivers turn off the ignition. Armed with this information, managers can instruct drivers in ways to conserve fuel by taking more direct routes and by turning off the engine while the truck is being unloaded.

Determining more efficient routes for delivery trucks can reduce the cost of maintaining fleet vehicles by forty percent. Reductions in idling time and other fuel conservation methods such as not exceeding the speed limit can cut costs even more. GPS vehicle tracking offers an efficient way to help food bank workers conserve dollars so that they can be put to more important uses such as purchasing food and supplies for families. It can also ensure that packages make it to their intended destinations. In the event of vehicle theft, GPS vehicle tracking can give authorities the ability to pinpoint the truck’s location and increase the odds of recovery significantly.

This holiday season, food distribution charities such as Food Lifeline expect needs to be even greater than in past years. With the help of GPS vehicle tracking, they can make sure their resources are put to the best possible use, so that more needy families can focus on enjoying one another rather than wondering where their next meal is coming from.

By Harriette Halepis

Handing out cans of soup to the homeless has gone high-tech with a little help from GPS tracking systems. Food banks across the United States have begun to track food donations using GPS trackers in an effort to make food delivery more efficient.

Food Banks & GPS

While canned foods and frozen foods are certainly welcome in any food bank, many food bank managers are trying to provide healthier meals for those in need. By collecting unsold fresh meat from butchers, vegetables from farmers, and other healthy staples from community members, food banks have discovered a way to help diminish hunger in a healthier fashion.

The only problem is that delivering fresh goods within a large city such as New York City or Chicago can prove to be difficult – this is where GPS tracking comes in. By mapping efficient routes, making sure that all people are reached, and tracking the speed of delivery trucks, food can be quickly dispersed throughout large cities.

This type of food plan is already in place in many large cities, and it’s proving to be a very fast way to send healthier foods to the downtrodden. The rest of the world seems to be on a raw food, local food, slow food kick, so why shouldn’t people who need food the most be able to live healthy lives? Well, with the help of GPS tracking technology, a healthier life (no matter what your income may be) is now possible.

There it goes down the road.  All of your personal belongings in a moving van.  And, didn’t you just meet the ones who are moving your precious things a few days ago?  Did you think to check them out?  How about that moving company?  Are they reputable?  So many questions and now you are stuck.

Moving? Take GPS Tracking, too!

But, before you get into this position, you should make use of a GPS Tracking device.  How will this help you?  Here is some good advice:

Track Movement

Just before you finish packing up your prized belongings for a move across the state or country, you should include a GPS Tracking device that runs on battery power into one of your boxes.  Or attach it to a piece of furniture in an inconspicuous location.  Now you are ready to track all of the movements of that item and the rest of your personal property that is in the moving trailer.

Track Location

Along the way to the final destination, you can track your property via GPS Tracking.  With a hidden GPS Tracking device safely hidden from view, you can know where the moving truck is located and how long that they have been in one location.

Track Direction of Travel

Is the moving truck headed in the right direction?  Are they taking a different route?  If so, why?  Now you check up on these details with a cell phone call to find out what is happening.  It might be a simple detour because of a crash, or it might not be.

Track Speed

Is the truck driver violating speed limits?  If so, this is placing your property at risk.  Speeding causes accidents with sometimes devastating consequences.  You can peek in on how the driver is doing and track his speed at the same time.

You can get some sleep with GPS Tracking devices are in use.  Your personal belongings are safe and you can check up on them at anytime of the day or night, thanks to the battery powered GPS Tracking units.

Rocking Mountain Tracking has the best line-up of GPS Tracking devices to meet any need.  Take a look at their products and options for the best fit for your business.  You will find knowledgeable sales persons in helping you get the best unit to meet your requirements.

By Greg Bartlett

Today as I drove home I stopped at a traffic light behind one of those trucks which has the note asking, “How’s My Driving?” To be honest, I have never called in and answered that question, and neither has anyone else I know. Managers are, naturally, concerned with how their employees are driving. They have safety concerns and practical concerns. Are the drivers being reckless? Are they speeding? Are they taking inefficient routes? Are they wasting company resources?

Managers need to and can find out how their drivers are doing. Maybe not from all the other drivers, like me, who don’t call in answer to the “how’s my driving” question, but through GPS trackers. Now companies can find out the speed of their drivers, note when they stop and start, see any circuitous routes taken, and discover any idle time spent on the clock. Managers can find out for themselves how their drivers really are driving.

One company noticed 20% fuel savings when they began using GPS trackers to monitor their drivers. By monitoring speed, location, routes, idle time, and engine performance through GPS tracking, that company saved $8,000 in two weeks and cut their monthly costs by $950. Yearly savings will probably exceed $200,000. Another company saved $73,000 during its first year of using GPS monitoring.

Drivers may not always appreciate having managers know about every donut stop they take, but they will probably welcome the increased efficiency of having better maps and more direct routes available. With GPS trackers, managers can find the fastest and best ways for drivers to travel, saving time, resources, and frustration for both the driver and the company.

By using GPS trackers to monitor routes, managers can optimize fuel consumption, increase efficiency, and save company time and money. Furthermore, the company can find out for itself just how safely its employees are driving. Speeding drivers can be warned to slow down and those who drive recklessly can be alerted to be more careful. The company can ensure that its drivers are not endangering other drivers and will be saving money by having safer drivers.

So you, as a manager, can answer the “how’s my driving” question for each of your drivers without following them around, riding with them, or waiting for other people like me to inform the company about driver activity. Just use GPS trackers to monitor your drivers, increase safety, boost productivity and efficiency, and save company resources.

By James Neely

Every business is looking for an edge over their competition. This is especially true since economic times are difficult and making money is more challenging than it has been in a very long time. If your business utilizes vehicles or equipment that is used out of doors, then you should consider adding a GPS Tracking system to each of these units. Here is why:

Beat Your Competition with GPS

How it is done. These GPS Tracking systems allow you to accumulate and display information with regards to the location and use of your vehicle or equipment in real time. Not only that, but you can monitor direction of travel, speed and distance as well. This is the starting point of a very reliable, competitive advantage for your business. Read on to learn more.

The ‘why’ answered. With the ability to track the information above, you gain a competitive advantage by managing logistics in a very close way. This means keeping costs low while enforcing compliance on the part of your employees in the use of company assets. Time is money, and a reduction in the amount of time it takes to complete routes means a savings to you while an increase in customer satisfaction. Today it is more important than ever to watch every penny, and these systems will give you the tools that you need to accomplish this on a highly detailed level.

Applying the advantage. We have already discussed how and why, now for the application to your business. If there is one word that captures the essence of what the GPS tracking systems will provide you that would be ‘control.’ You will find that with these units installed and functioning for you, they will give you the ability to control your assets while delivering information applicable to verification.

Benefits of the systems. Because of the tracking abilities, you will be able to maintain solid management and knowledge of the location of your assets. If they are ever stolen, then you will be able to provide instantaneous information to the authorities to the whereabouts. In addition, insurance premiums will go down as you reduce the risk to the insurance companies. Other ancillary benefits include a safer community and roadways as well.

There are no losers when GPS tracking systems are placed into service. Make sure you are on the winning side and have your competition struggling to keep up.

By Greg Bartlett

In a recessive economy more and more companies turn to lean manufacturing processes. Many of these lean processes require that an absolute minimum of either raw materials or product be kept on hand in warehouses. The timing of deliveries and pickups is critical to the profitable operation of the company. To ensure this GPS tracking and logistics go hand in hand.

GPS technology can be installed in the trucks that deliver the raw materials to the factory. Should the amount of raw materials on hand reach a minimum level, the utilization of GPS technology ensures that the delivery of the materials will be made at a certain time. When the minimum level is reached, the logistics company knows that the needed material is on a specific truck and where that truck is.

Deliveries of finished goods from the factory to either regional distribution centers or the wholesaler are facilitated by the use of GPS technology. Many logistics companies utilize a technique known as cross docking. This technique removes goods from an inbound trailer and distributes the goods directly to an outbound trailer without ever stocking the goods in the warehouse. The proper coordination of inbound and outbound trailers can only be accomplished by knowing where the trucks are at any given time. GPS tracking ensures that the location of the trucks is always available.

The technology of GPS tracking has advanced by leaps and bounds. The physical size of the transmitter has, through the use of advanced electronics, been reduced in size while longer battery life and reliability has increased.

This reduction in size and long life means that a tracking device can be inserted directly into a pallet of goods. In this case, it is not the truck carrying the goods that is being tracked but the goods themselves. The ability to track the specific product ensures that the product is not lost in trans-shipment. Unfortunately goods do get lost in warehouses. The inclusion of a tracking device in the pallet of goods ensures that the pallet is never lost.

GPS tracking and logistics are an ideal marriage. The logistics company or department can through the use of tracking devices accurately know where trucks and or product on trucks are at the click of a mouse. The rapid and accurate delivery of goods or product ensures that production schedules are met and that sales goals for retail stores are met. The only accurate way to know where a truck is is through the utilization of GPS technology. For information that can help your company get on track with GPS, call Rocky Mountain Tracking, Inc today at 1-888-242-0500.

By Greg Bartlett

It seems that a week doesn’t go by without an accident involving an 18-wheeler making the headlines. The drivers of these trucks, as well as other professional drivers, are often very skilled and have years of experience; however, in a failing economy, many are forced to take on loads for less money or to make more deliveries in order to make ends meet. GPS tracking of professional vehicles would improve highway safety by enforcing the pre-existing laws and regulations governing how far and for how long a driver may operate his/her vehicle.

This is not to say that the driver’s of these vehicles are at fault for the accidents. Often it is the average commuter who is not paying attention and cut off these road behemoths. The wide-spread institution of GPS vehicle tracking devices would help to ensure that the drivers of these rigs are fully alert and better able to respond to their surroundings and the often erratic behaviors of drivers. The laws that are in place are effective, but too many drivers are forced to carry “back-up” logs when time is short.

These forged logs are used to make up time lost due to repairs, or when a driver cannot afford to abide by the laws. As the number of hired drivers has gone up, more and more these are used because the owners of delivery companies are unwilling to pay hourly rates and force the drivers to break the law in order to make unrealistic delivery times. So not only would we be protecting the safety of all road users, we would also be protecting the rights of these workers who often go unnoticed and are rarely unionized.

Under the current system, if a driver appears to be tired or their log book shows that they have driven for too long they can be ordered to rest for an eight hour period before they are allowed to travel again. GPS tracking would simply give investigating officers more accurate information to make their decisions. It would still be within their discretion to issue a ticket or a warning.

This would be a simple program to implement, and one that would not financially hurt delivery companies too badly. In fact, the cost of monitoring their vehicles may be offset by the savings in insurance they receive.

If you agree that professional vehicles should be tracked to improve highway safety write your congressional representative and tell them. If enough of us make enough noise this use for GPS fleet tracking could eventually be passed into law.

By Greg Bartlett

Many businesses that operate fleets of vehicles have found that there are many benefits to having GPS tracking devices installed in their vehicles. Some of the more progressive companies have found a way to make this a benefit to the driver and help the company out at the same time. Several companies have started to employ “driver service representatives” to aid drivers in avoiding problems associated with severe weather and traffic delays.

Drivers whose vehicles are equipped with a GPS vehicle tracking system can be rerouted from a central hub at the need of the company. This has long been a known benefit of having GPS in fleet vehicles. Today, several companies are adopting the policy of allowing drivers to call in when they are in a traffic jam and have a driver service rep help them get rerouted around it and out of the delay. This helps the driver and the company by assuring more deliveries are made on time.

Another facet of the driver service rep’s job is to monitor the weather ahead of any vehicles he/she is responsible for and to let drivers know when they may be heading into a trouble area. In winter, certain stretches of road, including interstates, have been known to become impassable during a snowstorm. When a driver service rep monitoring road conditions learns that a vehicle is headed toward a stretch of road that is closed or impassable, he/she can contact the driver and reroute him/her around the trouble spot before the shipment is delayed. The same principle can be applied in spring and summer in the event of severe storms or tornado activity that can cause transportation delays.

Many companies have long used GPS tracking devices to optimize their fleet routing for fuel efficiency and to monitor driver speeds. These methods work well for saving money. Today, many companies are finding that the ability to reroute fleet drivers can pay off and help the drivers as well by having employees monitor vehicles and aid drivers in avoiding traffic delays that could cause a shipment to arrive late and cause problems with a customer.

With this type of two way communication between drivers and the dispatchers, more drivers are likely to find that the benefits of having the GPS fleet tracking devices on board far outweigh any concerns they may have about the boss watching their every move.

By Greg Bartlett

Bicycle courier’s days are hectic. They have to deal with automobile and pedestrian traffic all day long, but the day of a dispatcher for the courier service is even more hectic. With upwards of 100 riders circulating at a given time it can be a very frustrating process trying to decide which one should alter their route to pick up a last minute package. GPS tracking devices installed on the bicycles or in the messenger bags could simplify the process.

With near real-time updates, the dispatcher would be able to see exactly where each rider is and assign new tasks based on the most efficient use of resources. Some companies send riders out on pre-designed routes and are unable to reach their riders until they return. But by incorporating GPS tracking technology and two-way radios there would be no need for the courier to return to the depot between runs.

This would save on time as well as improve the safety of the employees. GPS tracking promotes safety by cutting out extraneous travel through busy downtown streets and by limiting the amount of “call-outs” the rider must respond to. A call-out is a dispatcher request for location of the rider.

There is also the matter of stolen time, which GPS devices can address. If a messenger has been stopped for too long in one location or has deviated from the assigned pick-up/delivery route the dispatcher will be able to see that information on their screen. Steps can then be taken to address the issue with the individual or the entire team if the problem is not isolated.

One final advantage of GPS tracker is that it provides an immediate, and verifiable, record of when riders deliver packages. For courier services that provide a timed-guarantee this will be the protection from the rare customer who doesn’t want to pay. It may be a rare occurrence, but these are the things that can hurt a company’s reputation. Be sure to safeguard your good name.

To recap, for the cost of one portable GPS tracking unit per bike and a corporate subscription to a tracking service you will receive the following: efficient, up to date information on where your assets are, improve employee safety and productivity, and the ability to provide accurate time lines for when your messengers will pick-up or deliver. The choice seems clear that this can help take a bike courier company to the next level of competitiveness.