GPS Tracking – Newly-Installed GPS Tracking Devices Reveal Slacker Truckers
In a tight economy, anyone lucky enough to still have a job is probably being asked to tighten his belt and keep his nose to the grindstone.
It doesn’t seem too much to ask, especially in a municipality, which operates off public monies.
The mayor’s attempt to run a tight ship in Dyersburg, TN almost ended up with a sinking ship. GPS tracking devices were installed on city vehicles, to see if departments could be run more productively. What the vehicle tracking reports revealed was embarrassing gaps in service, laziness and wastefulness.
People in the GPS tracking business are always extolling the benefits of their vehicle tracking devices. One application is in small business. GPS tracking can greatly increase efficiency. Vehicle tracking receivers capture satellite signals and determine an object’s location exactly, within feet or inches of accuracy. GPS tracking updates position every few seconds or minutes, depending on the vehicle tracking device. With that GPS tracking data, a business owner can “see” where any vehicle is, its direction, speed, and every stop.
In a business sense, GPS tracking can also reveal where employees are wasting time, and therefore money.
In Dyersburg, Mayor John Holden shared the results of a recent GPS tracking report with his council, saying that he was “very disappointed” in a random sample of vehicle tracking activity. Because of the economy, city administrators asked employees to work smarter, reduce costs and eliminate waste. A number of trucks in the street, water, sanitation and sewer departments were fitted with GPS tracking systems. The GPS tracking reports showed that several trucks were sitting for hours, burning gas and idling, and some drivers who should have been out on a route were making no stops at all.
GPS tracking reports were pulled randomly for different vehicles at different times, the major said, so the vehicle tracking data should be considered a snapshot sample of what’s going on throughout the department. According to its GPS tracking system, one truck logged more than 100 miles and made only two stops. The vehicle tracking system showed another truck was parked in the shop, with the engine running, for more than 50 minutes, before the employee punched out of his shift.
Holden said the GPS tracking reports made him angry, because the city has constituents who call and ask for service and the staff puts them off, saying they are too busy. GPS tracking is going to be a tool to cut out that irresponsible behavior, Holden said.
It doesn’t appear that anyone lost their job over the GPS tracking sting. But several employees were made aware of the vehicle tracking program and given a stern warning to shape up. The GPS tracking story is sure to come up again at job review time, said a councilman.
As a result of the vehicle tracking, the city changed the way supervisors route drivers. And the city expects to add a few more GPS tracking units to its arsenal to expand the vehicle tracking program.
Some city managers feared they would be criticized for using GPS tracking to “spy” on employees.
“It’s our job,” said the mayor. “That’s why we were elected.”
Tags: Dyersburg, employees, GPS Tracking, laziness, Slackers, Spy, Truckers, Vehicle Tracking
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