this post was submitted on 13 Mar 2024
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The article is talking about lorry drivers making trips for work though. I am not sure I understand the need for the drivers to conceal their location while they work?
But otherwise I agree.
Potentially to skirt driving time limits?
Many lorry drivers are paid by the trip. If they get stuck in traffic, they are losing money. They are also required to take regular breaks, to avoid fatigue. If they jammed the GPS, then the company can't prove they didn't take their break, and worked through, to make up time.
It also allows for disallowed detours. "Sorry boss, I was stuck in traffic for over an hour". In fact they went for a pub lunch, on the clock.
Hm yeah in a working context its different, but still, why would they need to be tracked, other then MAYBE logistics (which lorry drivers would be), so yeah, gets muddy
Some insurance companies require tracking devices on commercial accounts. One of my clients it's required to use them as part of their policy.
Isn't the man calling to ask where they are, when they need to know, good enough? Unless it's been stolen what's to be gained by spooky spying?
When you have a fleet of 500 vehicles all over the place at various stages work. Calling each one isn't really practical.
Managing fleets of vehicles is greatly helped by knowing where the vehicles are.
I don't see how it's "greatly" helps at all in practice.
Worst case you have routes which drastically fluctuate in driver demand and you're sending drivers to cover multiple routes a day, and hiring more drivers is probably the better solution.
Calling drivers seemed to be really practical before GPS existed, at best you can argue it's more efficient for the boss.
You need less workers to track other workers. Instead you have devices that you pay for one time instead of a salary in theory. I'd guess the bean counters have looked at it and figured it saves money in salary and also in other ways.
I know that UPS was (and I assume still is but I have not l been with the company in about 15 years) big into telematics. I remember one of their biggest safety concerns was backing and they knew how many times you did it and if you did it before or after you parked. If you backed over a certain amount of times per day or if you did it once after parking and turning off your package car, you'd be in with management being questioned about it.