No experience but getting Authority

That's the idea!



Here's a funny story (short version). For the past 10 years I've been a project manager on large I/T accounts. A few years ago I won a free hour with a small business coach. I told him the story of trouble I'd had trying to set up a small business, with getting quotes and service from suppliers. I was literally begging to spend money with them and these folks were not returning calls. After hearing me out, he told me I was scaring the crap out of the small business suppliers I was working with and should probably go back to corporate project management. He said, "Your approach is too strong and they don't know how to deal with you." When I finally stopped laughing, it made sense.

The funny part is that in the trucking industry, that very same trait has served me well.

 

Below are the instructions from my states Road Toll Bureau for IFTA reporting. In my state we actually have real people that answer the phone that we can ask questions too. She said we can use anything we want to record mileage. She said in the past that most people were using Pro Miles but now switching to GPS imported files.

Each Vehicle has a Base Jurisdiction, which is the state or province in which the vehicle is registered. Fuel Tax must be filed with each jurisdiction each quarter. Each state or province has a different Rate and those rates change quarterly. Each driver must keep a trip log of how many miles are traveled in each state or province, as well as how much fuel was purchased in each state or province.

So, Red, now I understand why you picked that name and avatar from your previous post.

Give me your BEST PRICE or you'll get my foot **************

 

When I spoke with an auditor in my state that they would accept pro miles or some other type of mileage software ONLY if it were used in conjunction with a GPS. Otherwise, we should use odometer miles on our trip sheets. In talking to them over the years it seems that it is the consistency that is important. In other words, you need to use the same method of reporting on all miles. I will keep using my odometer until I can find something that will work better for me. By the way, there is a company affiliated with qualcom that offers a less expensive method of tracking miles and fuel. I believe it is called Peoplepc or something similar. You buy the unit and pay a monthly fee of about $45 (per truck) and they send you a quarterly fuel report. I think the device costs about $1,200-1,800. It is a little pricey for doing fuel taxes. I spoke with them a few years ago. It is cheaper than a qualcomm.

 

I find base plates and IFTA interesting in that the states implement based on the same rules for all states. In IL, the IRP office is the worst and has all these goofy "rules" and "they are the only state doing it correctly". BS

But the IFTA people are great. They are the ones that told me about the GPS feature and that it is the preffered standard for IFTA. But they understand that this could be an added burden for the O/O so using something like PC Miler was acceptable.

I think the compnay you are talking about is People Soft. As we are adding trucks and can see in the next couple of months that my head will be spinning I started looking at this. Price for install has gone up not counting office software. I am trying different things with Android and iPhones. But these won't give me IFTA numbers. That we will be able to get from our dispatch software at no additional cost.

 

I just got the new Garmin for trucks that tracks miles so I don't have to do anything now. This will be the first quarter I get to use it.

 

I believe that it is People Soft, BigBadBill. I looked at it a few years ago for my trucks. It is something that I might invest in the future. I don't plan on doing anything at this point. They will do the IFTA report and all I would need to do is write a check each quarter. It seems a little pricey for what I wanted. One new owner I knew who ran his authority told me that his state would accept PC Miler miles. When I asked my state, I was told they would only accept PC Miler unless I used it with a GPS.

 

If it's the same PeopleSoft, it's a module of a much bigger resource management package (like SAP). I can tell you from lots of experience in I/T deployments, you really don't want to let them get a hook in you. All their stuff is modular and usually requires ex$pensive customization.

I haven't done any projects in the transportation sector, but I can tell you that when I hear SAP or PeopleSoft as a project manager, I'd rather dig out an ingrown toenail with a dull rusty screwdriver.

 

Well don't hold back man tell us how you really feel about them lol.

 

Don't mention SAP Red!!! I had a friend a long time ago get his Masters in Business and a minor in Computer Science. I thought, what a useless degree.

Back in the early 90's last I knew he was pulling in over $300k as a SAP consultant setting up corporations.

 

Famous last words. If I am not mistaken, electronic devices have been known to fail........just a thought about not having to do anything now.