5 Reasons Your Business Should NOT Use GPS Fleet Tracking

GPS Fleet Tracking Isn’t Always the Right Choice

Time for a confession. Here on the ClearPathGPS blog, we talk about GPS fleet tracking as if it would benefit every single business. But if we’re being totally honest, that’s more of shorthand than the whole truth. Obviously, there must be some companies out there that, for very specific reasons, would be better off not equipping their fleets with GPS tracking. 

So, we thought about what those reasons could be. A few came to mind right away. If the descriptions below sound like your company, you should not—repeat, should not—learn more about GPS fleet tracking. And you definitely shouldn’t ask to see a demo.

1. You know your drivers are all perfect angels on the road.

Respect! We’re not sure how you did it, but you managed to hire only people who’ve never once gotten into the slightest trouble on the road. No accidents. No tickets for speeding, rolling through a stop sign, an illegal lane change… nothing.

If anyone who drives your company trucks did have a tendency to speed, slam on the gas or brakes, or take corners like a maniac, you’d want to know, and a GPS tracking system would alert you. That’s why other businesses in your industry sign up for it. Unlike you, they have to worry about things like cutting costs when it comes to auto insurance rates spiking, their trucks wearing out prematurely, and needing constant repair. They need these alerts, so they can coach their staff to be more careful and potentially improve their bottomline. .

But hey, that’s their problem, not yours. Even if a GPS tracking system did send you data on how your drivers were handling your vehicles, it would only confirm what you already know. They all drive perfectly, all the time.

2. Your employees all have photographic memories.

Again… respect! Bringing on an office staff with photographic memories was a great move, even better than hiring only employees with blemish-free driving records. 

Sure, having a GPS tracking system with a live map of all company vehicles makes it easy for those dispatching to know where every field tech is from minute to minute. And because the map shows how long each tech has been at their current job site, your office team can even figure out which techs will likely wrap up soon and be ready for their next appointment.

Of course, all this assumes the team we’re talking about doesn’t have a photographic memory. So that rules out your company. We can’t really sell you on the benefits of having a live view of your entire fleet in the field. You’ve already got that. (Well, unless one of your dispatchers calls in sick.)

3. You're in no hurry to grow your business.

More money, more problems. Right? Many businesses get caught in the trap of always trying to add more customers, more orders, more revenue.

And yeah, for those never-satisfied-type companies, GPS fleet tracking can help in lots of ways. It can help them route techs to job sites more efficiently, which means they can squeeze in more orders. Also, when customers are happy because the service tech arrived quickly, they tend to write nice reviews about the business, which can lead to even more customers.

But what about those companies happy with where they are right now, and not looking to grow? A GPS fleet tracking system, especially a great one, is only going to bring trouble. Repeat customers. New customers. More orders. And worst of all… growth. You’ve been warned.

4. You enjoy the time spent reviewing timecards and overpaying your employees. 

Some professionals put those little Zen gardens on their desks to help them relax. For you, maybe relaxation at work comes from manually inspecting your field employees’ timecards and then confirming their accuracy by reviewing other data, like the number of jobs they did each day, the distance between those job sites… that sort of thing. Plus, it’s even more exciting when employees add in extra time at jobs and you get to pay them more!  

If this sounds like you—and hey, we’re not here to judge—the last thing you want is a GPS fleet tracking solution. Those apps record all these details automatically. They’re great for streamlining the payroll process. They can even let you quickly generate a billing report showing a customer exactly when your techs arrived for the job and when they left. In other words, these GPS solutions could take away your entire process of relaxation.

On the bright side, though, let’s say you did stop manually reviewing piles of timecard paperwork and instead let a GPS solution manage your timecards for you. You’d have less paper on your desk, which would leave more room for one of those tabletop gardens.

5. You like to keep your customers guessing.

Another major selling point of GPS fleet tracking—for some businesses, but not all—is that it helps a company keep its customers up to date on when they can expect the service tech to arrive. Some customers like that.

But maybe you’ve built your business by appealing to a different market. Maybe your customers like the mystery of not knowing when their tech will show up. Maybe you even ask your techs to shout “Surprise!” when the customer opens their door at whatever-the-hell time it happens to be.

Equipping your fleet with GPS tracking units, giving your office staff a real-time map that shows where every vehicle is… those things are only going to tempt your dispatcher or office manager to squeal when a customer calls, just for fun, hoping to get a hint about when to expect the service tech.

But you’ve built a unique business model, one that depends on not knowing these things. Giving your staff all this information on an app they can easily sneak a peek at on their computers and phones? It could undermine all your hard work. Stay away from GPS fleet tracking.

Consider this a public service announcement from your friends at ClearPathGPS.     

At ClearPathGPS, we are focused on helping our customers improve their operations and bottomline. Our top-rated GPS fleet tracking solutions provide real-time data insights and tools needed to more effectively manage the vehicles, people, and assets businesses send into the field everyday. Can ClearPathGPS help your operations get better results? Let’s find out – request a demo or contact us today!