Tracking systems are taking the market by storm. First it was cellular phone tracking; now vehicle tracking is all the rage. The global positioning systems available today allows one to navigate to anywhere in the world to the accuracy of a step! So combine the idea of tracking and finding a location and we have gps tracking systems.

Tracking a vehicle is as easy as putting a chip on it, the driver doesn’t even have to know, and then activate it and the location will appear on the computer screen that has been connected to it. These connections are done via satellites that orbit the earth the space. When a gps device is activated, signals in the form of waves are sent to the satellite, all the coordinates of the vehicle is mapped and sent back to the computer screen in seconds, you can even get a live feed of the car if your gps device is that advanced.

Think of all the possibilities, law enforcement bodies have found this to be great boon as now suspect criminal activities can be tracked, in the two variations of attaching the device one is a magnetic strip that can be put near the engine and the other has to be installed in the vehicle at a time prior to driving, this has been used to monitor many suspects and has also resulted in capturing without the police actually having to tail the suspect and waste fuel, time and energy.

All one has to do is download the particular software required, initially downloads and softwares were expensive but now these are also available to download for free on certain websites so you can pick and choose and fine tune your software to suit your tracking needs. Note also that tracking without permission unless in the case of law enforcement bodies is a crime. It is simply an electronic means of stalking.

Parents who have teenagers new to driving find this tracking system a boon to them, they can now worry a lot less and know the child’s whereabouts at any particular time. Now in addition to tracking something, the gps device does all the usual things like noting your points of interest and giving you coordinates and instructions to any destination in the world.

There are many options to select from when it has to do with tracking devices, you can choose to monitor whatever is being tracked from your cell phone and subscribe accordingly to a package that suits you or use your laptop if you intend to gain more details. All cellular phones these days require the providers to enable the ability of tracking at minimum of 100 meters, before long vehicles will also have to come preinstalled with a tracking device.

Looking at X-Tra Delivery

When shipping companies first start up, they are all pretty much equal. Their success, however, can be determined by whether they can keep up with current technologies and stay competitive in their industry. X-Tra Delivers is a shipping company that provides a good example of this issue.

Outlining the Company

Now considered to be one of the most prestigious shipping and delivery services in New Mexico and Arizona, X-Tra Delivers Ltd. began operations in 1967 under a different name. Extra Deliveries originally specialized in moving large passenger luggage from one airport to another and shipping large packages for the USPS. They were only open for business for about 20 years the first time because they were squeezed out by larger companies like UPS.

Problems Galore

The small fleet of only eight trucks made it difficult for the company to keep up with demand. Before the more efficient delivery services arrived, keeping up with demand wasn’t a problem. The problem surfaced when the larger fleets arrived with their lower costs and faster shipping times. Extra could not compete with this. Although they did not have the technology that they have today, the larger fleets were naturally more adept at providing better service than Extra could ever hope to provide with such a small fleet.

In 1983, Extra Deliveries went out of business and an era of large fleets came into being.

In 1992, founder Thomas Dillons’ son, Jacob, decided that he would bring his father’s dream back to life. This was the beginning of X-Tra Delivers. He began with a small fleet of just 16 trucks and ran them each on their own dedicated stretch of highway. He felt that, by doing this, he could keep the trucks moving without needing to refuel. These dedicated routes would also eliminate extra miles for the other trucks and overlapping routes. However, the problem was much bigger than he originally realized.

In the beginning, Jacob found it easier to let the drivers keep track of their own time and their own fuel consumption. However, as the reports began to show many inaccuracies that kept reoccurring, he began to see that these inaccuracies were costing him money. Customer service began to suffer and he was receiving an increasing number of complaints regarding the efficiency of his drivers.

Jacob did not want to run a business that was failing; however, it was suddenly easy to see why his father’s business had gone under.

Solving the Problems

The company struggled for six years. During that time, went through multiple drivers, the price of fuel continued to increase and the company felt lucky to make any profit at all. Jacob quickly realized that the company would never survive if he did not make some needed changes quickly. A GPS vehicle tracker placed in each of their trucks would allow them to start tracking fuel consumption, idling times, stops and starts, and speed traveled by the drivers. Having better control over their drivers and the vehicles would allow them to increase their efficiency and productivity.

X-Tra’s delivery trucks had vehicle trackers installed in them that required no interaction from the driver. They were fully automated and relayed information directly back to a computer in the office. The precise location of a truck and driver could be pinpointed on a map at any time and that information used to create the fastest and safest route to the next stop. Communicating this information with the drivers created a new kind of efficiency. Fuel costs and delivery times went down, and customer satisfaction increased.

X-Tra Delivers – Their Found Benefits and Cost Savings

Mapping the best route to a customer allowed for reduced fuel consumption.

Electronic time-sheets allowed for a reduction in labor costs due to the systems ability to verify the hours work and differentiate between personal time and company time.

Mapping systems let a driver avoid traffic jams and getting lost.

Viewing a drivers current location allows a dispatcher to give a customer an accurate ETA.

Security improved and the company was able to help police locate stolen vehicles or packages if necessary.

Covert GPS tracking devices are easily available almost everywhere nowadays, and because the technology has got so much better and the cost of manufacture has got so much cheaper, they are within the reach of most ordinary folk.

Because of this, the numbers of units being sold has risen dramatically over recent years, and the number of companies offering covert vehicle tracking services has risen as well. It’s no surprise then that more and more individuals and companies are using covert GPS vehicle tracking as a way of discovering if their spouses or employees are cheating on them.

Spouses That Cheat

In years gone by, if you were having an affair, your only worry about parking your vehicle outside a motel room for the afternoon was that someone you knew would see it there are and tell your husband/wife. Today however, things are much more high-tech and it’s increasingly common that a simple do it yourself GPS tracking system has been hidden in your car somewhere. If that is the case, every journey you make, every stop you make on your trip, and every time your car is parked for an extended period of time (such as outside a motel room for the afternoon), is logged and can be viewed, printed out, and used as evidence against you.

Lets just think about that for a minute – if you want to track your spouses behavior, you can know precisely where their vehicle is when they say they are ‘at work’, or that they are ‘going on a night out with the girls/guys’ – and this can be done for a little more than a cell phone costs!

It’s quite a scary thought, and it does go wrong sometimes, there are instances’ where the spouse is not cheating, but has been subjected to covert GPS tracking vehicle. When they have found out about this, relationships have ended because of the lack of trust, so I would advice you to be very careful if you are planning to use covert GPS vehicle tracking to confirm your suspicions, it’s far better to use it to get firm evidence for a divorce case say.

Employees That Cheat

Hands up if you have never sneaked any time off when you should have been working – not many of you then!

If you have a company vehicle and you do extend you lunch break regularly, or go shopping in work time, then don’t be surprised if one day you are found out. Some companies treat this theft of time as seriously as they would treat theft of company property, and it is hard to argue why they shouldn’t.

Because they can now know exactly where their vehicles (and lets not forget that they are their vehicles) are at all times, some companies have seen dramatic increases in activity since employing GPS tracking fleet management specialists, and dramatic decreases in overtime payments to employees as well – some larger companies are saving tens of thousands of dollars every month since they had these systems installed.

It is estimated that it will take six to twelve months for a GPS fleet tracking system to pay for itself, through increased productivity and reduced expenses. It can pay for itself almost instantly though if a company vehicle is stolen and the system is used to successfully recover it.

First, a few notes about the Magellan ColorTRAK GPS. It is so amazing that it has an internal lithium battery back-up that keeps the memory active for 10 years! That is a really long time! The Magellan ColorTRAK GPS is also scraggy and has a waterproof construction so you don’t have to worry it dunk into the water.

GPS for truck tracking is relatively new and have shown very good effects. It has been proved that tracking of your vehicles will keep your overhead down. For example GPS Tracking can eliminate the need for having your truckers fill out driving logs. The mileage tracking will allow fleet managers to observe vehicle performance and maintenance from the convenience of their computer.

GPS tracking is the term given to the process of being able to locate the exact location of a receiver on earth. Today, the devices can be very small. They are often used for a variety of purposes, and truck tracking is what actually remains as the most popular and widespread uses of GPS.

Today, mobile communication devices are becoming much more technologically advanced and offer more than the ability to just carry on a conversation. Cell phone GPS tracking is one of those advances. With GPS technology now more commonplace in many new cell phones, this means that the location of anyone carrying a compatible cell phone can be accurately tracked at any time. So GPS tracking is an excellent tool to use and take advantage of throughout our lives.

Tracking systems reduce vehicle costs by putting a spotlight on speeding employees, who waste fuel, cause excessive engine wear and drive up insurance rates. Vehicle tracking systems will also remind you when it is time for preventive maintenance, like oil changes, helping you keep your vehicles on the road and making you money.

GPS tracking systems are continuously offering something new and amazing for your use. Some also included the feature that allows you to track your own car via the Internet. GPS tracking systems are also great solutions to track the vehicles should it be stolen. In the near future we should expect most new vehicles to have GPS equipment. That will reduce the huge costs that is now associated with the transportation sector. Trucks and the cargo they carry are stolen and the cost estimates now show that the figures are not millions of dollars but billions of dollars. Every year.