We’ve had Trackers fitted for 8 or 9 months and up to now we’d been left alone, it seemed as though they were as good as their word and had them fitted solely for security reasons. However in the last couple of weeks both myself and my colleague have noticed that we now get calls essentially telling us where we are and what to do next rather than seeing how we are getting on and asking for an ETA at xyz.
I’ve got nothing to hide but it’s ■■■■■■■ me off a bit, we both feel that it’s as if we’re constantly being watched and that they are going to start making all sorts of promises about what we are going to be able to do without knowing if we’ve had our breaks or are due one shortly.
Anyone got any bright ideas that might fog the picture a bit. Or is it just a sign of the way things are.
Big brother is watching so turn your phone off that tends to throw a spanner in the works, at one place i was working they constantly phoned to see where you were so i turrned the phone off and told them that they knew where iwas all the time through the tracker, result no more phone calls adding to my stress
8wheels:
Anyone got any bright ideas that might fog the picture a bit. Or is it just a sign of the way things are.
The exact same thing happened with the company I do (did) a bit of spare time for, they had the trucks tracked for security but has now escalated into “yes we can see where you are but are you due for a break yet”!
Look on the bright side, they’ve decided there’s another load and picked the closest vehicle without hassling everyone by ringing them all up to see where they are.
i got chased up once about why my truck was parked up miles from my base.
then i reminded them it was getting the brakes fixed and they’d told me to take it there 2 days earlier.■■■ n elbow spring to mind.
8wheels:
We’ve had Trackers fitted for 8 or 9 months and up to now we’d been left alone, it seemed as though they were as good as their word and had them fitted solely for security reasons. However in the last couple of weeks both myself and my colleague have noticed that we now get calls essentially telling us where we are and what to do next rather than seeing how we are getting on and asking for an ETA at xyz.
I’ve got nothing to hide but it’s ■■■■■■■ me off a bit, we both feel that it’s as if we’re constantly being watched and that they are going to start making all sorts of promises about what we are going to be able to do without knowing if we’ve had our breaks or are due one shortly.
Anyone got any bright ideas that might fog the picture a bit. Or is it just a sign of the way things are.
i wouldnt worry,its like our t.o bod said,we didnt need iso-trac to tell us the drivers who take the ■■■■,we already knew .
its a new toy for them,theyll get bored with it eventually,my office doesnt ring,you just see the iso-trac screen light up when there checking your where you are .
Interesting, can’t believe they work or else no tracker fitted vehicle would ever get recovered. Maybe we could get one on sale or return an share it between the pair of us
Maybe I’ll just take breaks on site or near petrol stations. Or in the Blackwall Tunnel
Hi people!
I fitted these products for the last 10 years.
I now still fit them but are driving as well just for one company.
I am afraid you cannot get away from them, also the technology is such that gps / gsm jammers are not as useful as they were due to the can interfacing and Vdo taco interfacing that is becoming commonplace.
This means your transport manager knows how much rest driving and duty time you have had and have left before you get back to base to download your card. (bet you wish you still had that analogue taco now don’t you!)
Also I need to stress that:
A. Gsm/gps jammers are illegal as it is a transmitting device.
B. if your tracker does not work, they will phone the tracking company who looks at the raw data and we can tell due to the storing and forwarding of data when the gps/gam jammer gets turned off.
C. When someone like me shows up in a loading bay and tell you I am here to look at your tracker and it suddenly starts working… Hmmmm
It’s the way of the world I am afraid, every transport company needs to get every driving hour they can out of us, so we can get that extra load in to hopefully make money and keep us in jobs…
You need to get yourselves unionised properly and support your steward and each other, good union agreements take into account what trackers can and cannot be used for.
Divided and alone you are easy pickings, one at a time you are picked off and the other blokes say and do nothing, get the sack and they fight over who’s having your truck before you’ve cleared your kit out.
You need a gobby bolshey sod for steward though, one who can’t be bought.
bigvern1:
Don’t worry about it…If you’re up to no good, then worry.
+1 weve had em for near 3 years suppose it depends on the office bods , if we get on with the job and dont fanny about (too much ) we get left alone
That’s the rub, I’ve done 5 years on the firm the other driver 30+
I’ve never done a private job, (except for running a couple of bits home) Don’t take the ■■■■ and hang around more than I have to, we are not a transport company and as such it is a struggle to get basic items such as straps and bulbs etc. to keep in good order.
The job is not straightforward, there’s often access issues or other peoples crap equipment that won’t start to deal with but it’s a rare event when we can’t manage. The job gets done without too much fuss, we’re not badly paid and I think we do a good job for the company yet all of a sudden we’re getting close scrutiny.
I have no problem with them looking up to see where I am so they tell a customer without having to bother me but I just feel that there is an unnatural interest in us.
I thought it it was just my mob who phoned their drivers to see where they were, even though there is a great big 48" flat screen up on the office wall telling them exactly where we are. I got a new truck last month and they have fitted a TomTom tracker come satnav as a trial to see if they are any good. Its linked to the digi tacho and truck ECU so can give them real time fuel data, harsh braking events, excessive idling, even tells them if you go round corners too fast!!! They expect that it will cut around £60k per year between fuel and repairs if its fitted to the entire fleet. But we have never been trained on how to get the best out of the trucks so without training i feel like its a waste of money. Big Bro is certainly watching over us though, but if you’ve nothing to hide, you’ve nothing to worry about IMO.
Not always a bad thing, they’ve sorted the p155 takers from those that get on with the job . It’s funny cos the ones that moaned the most are the ones that got back at 3 (too late for another run but early enough for an early finish) whether they had 5 drops or 25. Theu’re also the same peeps that have now taken some of the workload off the rest of us .
Management have now started to use the more advanced features, now we’re getting a bonus based collectively on MPG, idling, speeding and harsh braking & acceleration, which is better than the bonus we used to get based on the sales office performance, £80 last year .
As a company they’ve highlighted huge wastage, such as unused vehicles, we had a van at Orpington that was soley used for getting the warehouse staffs morning butties, we’ve been crying for a van for years for Lincs run, we’ve now got that van . Across the company 3x7.5t, 2x12t, and 3x18t vehicles have been de-leased, with some inevitable redundancies , not popular, but in these lean times you can’t argue with those savings.
2 staff have been sacked and successfully prosecuted (not our depot), based on stock checks, cctv and the tracker gave away where the stock was been taken, it also tells when the taillift has been lowered, made the police inquiries very easy.
we have had them fitted to our (the firms) transits over 200 of them ,many do not work properly ,badly fitted resulting in problems with the lights etc ,Tracker have been back twice now to fix them
someone got a blocker on ebay but it does not work , another disconnected theirs and got a written warning
me i am not bothered as others have said ,i get on with my work and get left alone
We’ve had trackers for 5 years, no probs,no irritations. They leave us alone to get on with it, mostly using it
to plan ahead. They only phone to find out when we’re taking breaks.
As it happens,as far as I can tell mine hasn’t worked for a while, at any rate it doesnt show on the
office screen.
MADBAZ, didn’t know it could track tail-lift ops as well!!
I don’t know about other systems but Masternaut can, subject to vehicle wiring it knows which cab door is open too! as one agency got to find out when he’d taken a mate along.
When I worked for Panic Transport, mine was the only truck without one.
I questioned why to my TM. He said to me. Do I NEED to fit one for your truck?
Sometimes it’s nice to be trusted.
bigvern1:
When I worked for Panic Transport, mine was the only truck without one.
I questioned why to my TM. He said to me. Do I NEED to fit one for your truck?
Sometimes it’s nice to be trusted.
I’d like to think that’s why they haven’t bothered fixing mine
.
.