Unique Use Cases for GPS Tracking: Monitor Third Party Trucks

GPS tracking solutions are much more than just dots on a map and can be customized to best meet the needs of every business. This blog series will highlight some of the unique use cases for GPS tracking that have been implemented to solve business challenges facing the fleet industry.

The Challenge

We have found that freight/goods businesses that coordinate delivery or pick up at ports, but do not have a fleet of their own, may have an interesting use case for GPS tracking.

For example, import/export TL and LTL drayage transport companies that utilize third party trucking companies to deliver or pick up goods for their customers (known as a broker) can run into issues with billing and customer service. Without the ability to verify truck locations during deliveries or if the amount of wait time claimed is accurate, freight/goods brokers are often forced to settle for less compensation than is truly due to maintain good relationships with their customers.

Settling for less compensation for jobs on a regular basis will severely impact any business’s bottom line. To solve this challenge, businesses can use a GPS tracking solution to monitor third party trucks during deliveries to ensure the most accurate billing possible.

Monitoring Third Party Trucks with GPS Tracking

With GPS tracking, your business has the ability to monitor third party trucks so you can verify time spent on the job site, provide proof of service, and proactively examine long delivery or wait times to ensure accuracy before billing customers. By requiring your third party trucking company to install tracking devices on their vehicles, both your business and theirs will have the ability to monitor vehicle locations and driver behavior on the job.

If your business receives a customer complaint that the billable wait time included in their invoice is questionable, business managers can use a GPS tracking solution to verify how long third party trucks spent on the customer site waiting to deliver goods to ensure billable hours are accurate.

Create Customer Landmarks

Creating landmarks around every customer site that your third party trucks deliver to will allow your business to verify the total time spent at each customer location and other areas trucks were stopped during the delivery.

By viewing a landmark history report, your business will know if trucks were stopped waiting to deliver goods or if drivers were parked taking a break, grabbing a bite to eat at the food truck stands, or performing any other behaviors that should not be included in billable wait time. If it turns out the truck was waiting by the loading dock for the full duration of the logged wait time, your business will be able to prove that billing is accurate.

Improving Customer Service with a GPS Tracking Solution

Not only will having the ability to verify time spent on the customer site ensure that your business is paid in full for work completed, it will also help you proactively verify that your third party trucking company is reporting accurate hours worked.

By using a GPS tracking solution’s data to identify when billable hours are too high before billing customers in the first place, you will be able to assure customers that your business attentively monitors billing accuracy and does not overcharge for deliveries.

By selecting a GPS tracking provider with the ability to customize its functionality to solve your unique business challenges, your business will be able to increase productivity, efficiency, and revenue.