Palmetto Saves $7,500 on One Truck!

If your GPS tracking system isn't easy to use, you won't use it!  However, when your tracking system is easy to use, and can be customized to meet your needs, you will realize fantastic savings!

Consider Palmetto State Transportation.

Palmetto State Transportation, in Greenville, NC, wanted to be certain the GPS tracking system they purchased would meet all of their needs.  Partnering with Track What Matters, the team at Palmetto was able to determine their needs by testing with a single unit.   Track What Matters implemented their requested features to make certain the system would work for them. 

When Palmetto installed their first unit, they discovered that one of their trucks was idling for over 6 hours a day!  At the time, diesel was at $4.79 per gallon.  With an average consumption of 1 gallon per idling hour, that's a cost of $28.74 in wasted fuel every working day.  By simply talking to the driver and making him aware of the situation, Palmetto has been able to reduce the operation cost of that single vehicle by approximately $7,000 net per year.   Since then, they have equipped the rest of the fleet.

Steven Van Ooyen

Chief Technology Officer

** $28.74 * 22 working days * 12 months per year = $7,587.36

GPS Tracking to reduce labor costs for fleets?

I've talked to more fleet managers and company owners than I can count.  Though fuel costs are a big issue for all, labor costs have been a bigger issue than I had originally imagined.  GPS Tracking of company vans and trucks allows these company owners and managers to virtually eliminate costs from unauthorized employee activities.  GPS Truck Tracking allows employers to know where their people are, when they arrive at their destination, and when they leave. 

Let's consider a few examples:

1. One of my favorite customers owns a catering company.  For a long time, she has suspected that one of her delivery truck drivers was wasting time and burning more fuel than was reasonable.  So, she added GPS Tracking to her truck.  The first day after getting her GPS Tracking unit installed, she was able to monitor her driver stopping at home for 30 minutes while on delivery run.  Imagine if that happens every day in a 5 day week.  That's 2.5 hours per week.  If that driver makes just $10 per hour and you expect 50 weeks of work, that means that employee could cost $1,250 annually.  So, once the problem was corrected, her investment in GPS Truck Tracking was recouped in about 5-6 months.  Figure in fuel savings on top of that, and the ROI is complete in about 2-3 months. 


2. Another customer was having issues with one truck driver that had a fuel bill that was 4 times the cost of the other trucks in the fleet.  The driver's actions were costing the company as much or more than $11,000 each year.  In this case, GPS Tracking paid for itself in the first month.  The same GPS Tracking solution ensured that the timesheets from this employee and the others are now correct.  (ok - this is a fuel issue, but it was incredibly crazy)


3. An HVAC company I talked to was having issues with employees  reporting time incorrectly.   GPS Truck Tracking allows the owner to know when the employees are done with their day.  He suspected that he was losing at least 2 hours a week for each employee.  At a rate of $35/hour, that works out to $3,500 per year per tracked vehicle.  Being able to verify the time the employees leave allows for a savings that recoups the GPS Tracking costs for a year in less than 3 months. 

These simple numbers show why every company with a fleet can benefit from GPS Tracking of their trucks, cars, vans, etc...  The process is simple and the payoffs are potentially huge.  With every fleet owner I have talked to, none feel that they are losing money from paying for GPS Tracking.  I can't think of any other industry where that can be said.

Trust your instincts about your company's employees, they are probably correct.

Steven Van Ooyen

CTO - Track What Matters