You may think trucks rarely have things stolen from them due to their sheer size and obvious presence. You’d be wrong.
The United States trucking industry experienced a reported 592 cargo thefts of cargo in 2018. These thefts average $142,342 in stolen property per incident. Full truckloads constituted 74 percent of those thefts. Most occurred at parking locations that weren’t secure.
Many trucking companies invest in GPS tracking systems to not only keep their assets safe but also save on fuel and enhance employee productivity. Look at these numbers from a survey by Teletrac Novman of more than 2,400 global fleet professionals:
Approximately 77 percent of fleet professionals are using telematics (vehicular technology) for vehicle tracking.
Fleet organizations that utilize telematics technology have seen a detectable increase in time and cost savings. They’ve also noticed a decrease in excessive speed and harsh braking since 2017.
An estimated 43 percent of organizations that have implemented telematics report reduced fuel costs, and over 25 percent document fewer accidents.
There are two different kinds of vehicle tracking systems: active and passive. Active, the most popular, collects and sends data in real-time. Passive obtains data that can be retrieved at a later time. They are sometimes combined into a single system. Active systems are typically priced higher but often offer more advantages, making them more cost-effective.
Applicable Advantages
GPS tracking systems for trucking companies offer some big benefits. These include enhanced safety and security, reduced costs and improved customer service. Let’s examine each of these advantages.
Safety and Security
Unfortunately, as outlined earlier in this blog, truck drivers aren’t exempt from theft. Tracking systems allow drivers, dispatchers and other company personnel to pinpoint the exact location of a stolen truck. Therefore, it makes it easier for recovery, possibly reducing the amount of damage. Investing in a system is much cheaper than buying a new truck!
Being able to know the exact location of a truck involved in an accident allows for a quicker response. Dispatchers can communicate with drivers to proactively inform them of traffic jams and accidents, road construction and inclement weather. Data obtained from these systems also notifies company personnel about potentially hazardous driving habits. Consequently, they can address them through additional training.
Controlled Costs
According to a study by the Aberdeen Group, companies that use GPS tracking systems save 13.4 percent in fuel expenses. That results in a lot of reduced costs! As we mentioned in a previous blog, the recent national average for gas is 12 cents more than a year ago.
GPS tracking systems also help drivers avoid excessive idling, which produces unnecessary emissions and wastes about six billion gallons of fuel annually. A dispatcher can use a truck’s location and the surrounding area to notify its driver of a route with less traffic congestion, thereby reducing idling.
Did you know that having a GPS tracking system on each truck in a fleet can reduce insurance costs? Some insurance carriers offer discounts of up to 25 percent or reduced premiums for trucking companies that have them installed. Carriers can even employ the data from GPS tracking systems to provide evidence of a truck’s whereabouts if requested by a customer or in the case of fraudulent litigation.
Streamlined Customer Service
Wouldn’t it be beneficial for dispatchers to be able to provide a more accurate timetable of pickups and deliveries for customers? GPS tracking services give them the capability to do that down to a period of just a few minutes. Live updates for dispatchers enable them to decrease response times through real-time mapping. In addition, this data offers reliable and verifiable proof of services.
ELD Compliance
One other area in which GPS tracking systems benefit trucking companies is electronic logging. As you probably already know, a 2017 federal mandate required trucks to be equipped with electronic logging devices, or ELDs, to record hours of service (HOS). Most GPS tracking systems facilitate electronic logging and eliminate the need for a paper trail.
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