Macro 12 or GPS

Hamshoe - I'm about one of the most technologically savvy drivers out here. However the one device I don't have is GPS. Does that make me a caveman? If your trip planning right (even being a rookie) there is no reason that you shouldn't know, How many miles I have ran, how many more I have to go (along with correct routing) GPS just aids to a driver who is to LAZY to be professional!

 

So why not use the technology if it is available? you use a computer...a cell phone...every other modern contraption...why the fear of GPS?

 

Question: Should you know these things already with out a GPS?
Answer: YES

GPS does your job for you, how awesome is that??? Now you can be even more complacent then normal!!

These are very basic skills that even a entry level school student should know. Just saying!!!

It is your job to always pay attention and if you don't know where your at half the time or where to go then your a wreck waiting to happen.

If you can't manage without a GPS to deliver freight then you probably shouldn't be hauling it right.?

For those that say, I use it to check against my planned routing is a flat out lie, if that was the case and you planned your trips then why even have the GPS, if you know where your going??

You could call me in the middle of my run ask me what my ETA is to deliver off the top of my head I can tell you the exact minute I will be arriving. If your a driver and can't do this then your LAZY and not prepared.

 

I will agree with being able to plan a trip without all the gadgets is good fundamentals...sort of like being taught math without a calculator. But once you have learned the basics...then using technology as a tool is the wise way to go....

I don't consider myself lazy...as a matter of fact I think it is my strong point as representing Swift as a clean cut, polite , customer friendly driver who is never late and takes his job serious.

 

My company uses a macro 20. Basically a driver that has been to a customer before sends a free form message to dispatch with the detailed directions, they then enter it into the database for other drivers to retrieve when going to that particular customer. Every customer is issued an i.d, so all the driver has to do is enter the i.d on the macro 20 and the directions come in within 5 minutes.

 

The only problem, a driver can be getting ready to quit and be totally ticked off, and send a correction for the directions, and send in some real bad ones. Right now where I am at, we have NavGo on our QC, and they work great, to a point. There is also a problem with some companies, a driver can send in new directions, but the office staff does not bother to put them in.

 

this logic says hammers make carpenters lazy, and scalpels make doctors lazy.

a true professional makes use of ALL tools available to him.

 

All Swift trucks are getting retrofitted with the new Qualcomm units that have Maptuit graphical GPS built into them. My truck already has one, and I'll guarantee that once the rest of the fleet has the new unit we will also go paperless logs.

 

Some people use 3X5 index cards to keep notes about customers, best way to get there etc. My GPS has that option for each customer I program in. If it is the first time there for me, I simply type in the pertinent info I want to keep before I leave, while it is fresh in my mind. The next time i choose that customer there is an icon to remind me I have made notes for that location.

Do i use the GPS exclusivly, no. Am I any less a driver because I have one and use it, I don't think so. Use all the tools you have available to you to make yourself more productive, to your company, your customer, and yourself. If you choose not to use any tool, that is strictly up to you.

 

well i will say this i have a gps and i use it to help with turns i also use the micro 12 and now that 23 is back i use it and my atlas i will go by the fuel route that they send me when i get to the con or the shipper then its the gps and micro 12 and 23 time to do its job so dose that make me a lazy driver then