I've had about enough

This morning, when recounting stories of how our customers have saved money by gaining further knowledge of what their fleet vehicles and employees were doing while away from the watchful eyes of their managers and owners, I actually started to get a little miffed. One of the first things I hear from employees is that fleet GPS tracking invades their personal privacy or that this is just Big Brother watching over them. So, as I was recounting several stories of employee theft of vehicles, payment for jobs, labor, and fuel, I realized that no employee has a right to privacy with company property and that the idea of monitoring a fleet with GPS is the only sensible way for an employer to protect their investment.

The problem I have with employees who cry foul for fleet tracking is that most of these employees have, at best, inefficiencies to hide. At worst, they are stealing and embezzling from the very company that employs them to drive and work on their fleet.  The employees miss the fact that the job is not a right, it is a priviledge to be employed to drive the vehicle they drive.

As for Big Brother, let us remember what George Orwell's book, "Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)", was truly about. In "1984", Big Brother was a tyrannical government that monitored every area of the citizens' lives and forbid them the basic joys of life. There was no place that was free of the eyes of tyranny. This included restrooms, bedrooms, and the like. Big Brother was a forbidding menace to basic freedoms. You can read a synopsis here. 

This is a far cry from an employer, who owns his trucks, cars, vans, etc... and lets employees drive those fleet vehicles to make a living, putting a GPS tracking system on the fleet. Further, GPS tracking for a fleet is actually less intrusive than a number of monitoring activities that are employed throughout industry. Employers regularly monitor workers for their computer use, they monitor using cameras and recorders, they check and double check money in sales registers, and they monitor time cards and employee movement with the use of ID badges.

In the last 6 weeks, I have heard from customers who had their fleet trucks stolen, had employees steal $1,350 from them on a single job, had employees take joy rides between jobs, had employees use their vehicles and tools for personal jobs, and had employees use their fleet vehicles for personal errands.

So, I ask, if this is going on regularly, how should any employer who has a fleet responsibly act? Should they ignore that employees frequently steal time, money, fuel, and more? Should fleet managers and owners assume that people are basically good when the evidence is that employees, when unsupervised, "goof off" and cheat?

I would like to pretend that things were better "back when", but the truth is that this kind of thing has gone on forever. Individuals might be honest, but people, as a whole, steal and lie.

I wish this weren't the case, but it is true. So, the next time someone says that their employer is infringing on their rights by putting GPS tracking on their fleet vehicle, which is owned by the employer, I will probably beg to differ a bit more sternly than I have in the past.

Thanks for reading,

Steven Van Ooyen

CEO - Track What Matters

Locked Doors Keep Honest People Honest?

I remember hearing this statement from my neighbor when I was a kid. For some reason, it struck a chord with me and has stuck with me for at least 2 decades. It is a very true statement. If you think about it, windows are easily broken and most of our doors can be easily broken down with a little force. So, we really aren't keeping the criminals out if they really wish to get into our houses or businesses. At least not most houses and businesses. So, it is the "honest" people that benefit from the locked doors. If thievery is easy, honest people are more likely to take part.

Take simple workplace theft. Each year, billions are lost by businesses on employee theft. This might be as simple as pens and paper clips or as expensive as products that walk out the door. But, consider the theft of time. I had a GPS Tracking customer this week tell me of an employee that was driving his truck on a 200 mile delivery. The truck driver, who wasn't aware he was being tracked with a concealed GPS tracking system, stopped multiple times on the delivery route to take naps. One of the stops cost the company a truck battery. Another stop resulted in the truck's alternator needing to be replaced. The worst part was the driver's shipment was 7 hours late and the company was forced to eat a delivery charge.

This company now knows the truth about this driver's work ethic and they have a choice to make. Do they tell their drivers about the GPS Tracking they are putting on their fleet of trucks? Do they keep their GPS Tracking concealed from their truck drivers until they have been able to understand the patterns they are trying to fight?

Eventually, I think it is a good idea to let employees know that GPS tracking has been installed in the company fleet of trucks, cars, etc... When employees know they are being tracked by the fleet manager or owners, the employees, who we hope are "honest" people, will respond as "honest" people and respect the company's time and property. The other option for the employees is for them not to show themselves as "honest". Either way, GPS tracking will tell you the truth.

Steven Van Ooyen

CTO - Track What Matters

Tracking Employees in Your Vehicles

It was brought to my attention this week that I haven't talked much, if any, about the benefits of GPS tracking for fleets. Well, I can't argue with that. So, let me tell you a story we recently heard.

A local company installed a GPS tracking system and told their drivers about it. Of course, the drivers knew that completely disconnecting the device would send an alert to management. So, they did not dare to do that. Instead, this pair of less-than-highly-motivated employees purchased a large magnet and placed that magnet over the GPS antenna. Unfortunately for these 2 employees, their little scheme failed to disable the GPS unit and it was discovered that the pair was simply leaving the office daily and parking. I hope their card games (or whatever they did to occupy that time) were worth their pentions. Both were 4 years from getting a full retirement.

Anyone who has managed people, white collar or blue collar, knows that employees often look for ways to improve their own situation at the expense of the company. Whether it is employee theft, endless hours of solitaire on the PC, or taking a company vehicle somewhere it should not go, companies lose an unbelievable amount of money yearly do to lack of productivity and theft. One article I found states that employee theft of small businesses totals $40 billion yearly. The same article states that 30% or workers in America will steal at some time in their careers. Wow! Anyone have 3 or more employees?

I've had employees working for me consistently over the last 14 years. During that time, I have never had an employee that was free of the need for supervision. The great thing about GPS tracking is that, for the most part, it can be used for numerous legitimate reasons other than just ensuring your employees are where they say they are. With the added benefits of fuel cost reductions, route verification, mileage logging, and more, loss of morale that might arise from the installation of a GPS fleet tracking system can be completely avoided.

We would all like to think that our employees are upstanding citizens who would never steal or cheat us out of money. If that is true for you, you have beaten the odds. But, chances are, if you knew the whole truth, you might find otherwise. So, we can take our chances or take control.

Take care,


Steven Van Ooyen

CTO