- The Department of Labor (DOL)
- The Department of Transportation (DOT)
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration NHTSA
- State traffic lows
- Better Business Bureau (BBB)
- Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA)
Reduces Fuel Cost
What is the biggest expense of one trucking company? Well, we all know that fuel is the biggest expense. The trucking industry consumes 13% of the total fuel that is purchased in USA, which is $130bln annually.
Since the fuel is the biggest expense, the trucking companies are searching for a solution to reduce the fuel cost by integrating fuel cards which will produce data that can be analyzed by the truck driver and his truck.
Source: www.fuelandfriction.com
Benefits of GPS tracking we can actually see when we integrate the data of the fuel cards with the real time fleet tracking system data.
In this way, we can see the consumption of each truck based on mileage and the gallons of fuel that are paid for that truck.
Having this information will give you the opportunity to see if some of your trucks have a higher consumption based on similar routes on same mileage.
- A semi truck needs more than 25,000 gallons of fuel annually
- In 2015 the average annual price of the fuel was $2.82
Now we can do the math. 25,000 x $2.82 = $70,500 spend for fuel for one truck. Even small reduction of the fuel cost can save you thousands of dollars.
Controls the Truck Maintenance
Every vehicle needs on time maintenance, especially the commercial vehicles. The Class 8 trucks are spending a lot of time on the open road and if that vehicle is not properly maintained and ready to give the 100% of the strength while transport it might get trapped in the middle of nowhere miles away from the nearest repair shop.
Source: www.thenextweb.com
Real time fleet tracking will open the opportunity to make a maintenance calendar for the trucks and protect the company from unexpected repairs. The small repairs can be performed by the truck drivers in the place where the defect occurs.
Also, I want to point that the money that you will pay for that major repair together with the towing cost will not be the only expense for you. You will lose a lot more money because your truck is not moving. The trucking companies are making money only when the trucks are on the road/driving.
Real time fleet tracking works in a way that gives you the option to create a maintenance plan for every truck separately based on the engine hours, driving performance, previous repairs.
Source: www.itbrief.co.nz
- Maintenance plan scheduled by the real time fleet tracking will increase the safety of the freight. Driving a semi truck not maintained properly is like a ticking bomb ready to explode at any time. Only a small malfunction of the truck can cause catastrophes on the highway.
The OSHA regulations exist to protect the truck drivers and by keeping the truck well maintained you will ensure your drivers are protected.
- GPS tracking will also reduce the downtime of the trucks which will be your way of increasing the productivity of the trucks and by that the company profit. Major defect on the road means that your truck will get trapped in a repair shop few days together with the freight that needs to be delivered on time.
Idling Elimination
For the trucking companies idling is one of the top 10 enemies and one of the reasons why most of the companies can’t increase the profit. Don’t be one of these trucking companies that are not able to find the expenses that are killing their profit.
Every drop of fuel that is wasted without purpose cost you money. Idling time is wasting a lot of fuel if you are not able to control. According to Ford Motor Company with 1 hour of idling, you will spend the same amount of fuel if the truck was driving 25 miles.
Source: itbrief.co.nz
The cost of diesel fuel varies and that is nothing that we are able to control. However, we can control the idling and by that, we can save money on fuel.
With using real time fleet tracking system the fleet manager will be able to spot the trucks that idle in the moment and contact their drivers to stop the idling.
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Maybe in first it will be annoying for the drivers but with time they will learn to avoid the idling time. Depending on the fleet size idle reduction can save you thousands of dollars on a monthly base.
Also it is always a good thing for all of us to protect the enviroment and respect the anti-idle laws and regulations of US Environmental Protection Agency, EPA.
Labor Efficiency
Real time fleet tracking will open the possibility to look deeply on your truck drivers behavior and by that their efficiency. Except the idling, you also will be able to monitor the speed and the hours of service for each of the truck drivers.
When you have the starting time and the ending time it is very easy to calculate the driving hours. The actual hours of service separated by a truck driver will give you the precise data that you can work on. No matter what is your payment practice: hours or mileage it would be easy to make correct calculation.
Source: www.readytrucking.com
This will ensure that the drivers are paid by their efficiency. I need to say that the real time fleet tracking is not used just to eliminate the negative actions but also to ensure that the truck drivers who have perfect driving behavior are rewarded.
Ability to separate the driver on categories will help you focus on each category as needed. The truck drivers who have bad driving performance can be exposed on training to improve their driving performance and the drivers who have great driving performance can be rewarded to serve as an example for the other truck drivers.
