What is the App some brokers require on your phone?

Based on what I read drivers deadhead quite often. Do you guys believe macropoint is necessary or became necessary because of driver's failure to update brokers? Or customers?

 

It's a service that customers want. As a carrier or driver you are a service provider. You provide what customers want or others will and they'll take your business. You can order a measly bag of dog food off the internet and track it from the day it leaves the warehouse until it gets to your front porch door. FedEx, UPS and USPS all offer this service as a matter of routine. Once somebody first offered it years ago everyone else had to follow suit. It only stands to reason that people paying the freight $$$$$$$$$ on truckloads or even LTL's are going to want that same exact kind of service. The internet makes it cheap and easy.

 

Too many of the loads requiring it. I could not afford to refuse them all the time. Since I got on ELDs I don't care as much any more, just uninstall it when done with a load. The downside of it it may be that If there is a high value load one can only hope that the data is secure and not in hands of some pirates wanting to steal the cargo.

 

I can not wrap my head around O/O refusing this. Especially after taking a load they know requires it. The reason that load pays a bit more is because it has extra requirements, follow your contract or don't do the load.

Of course I would go get a cheap $50 walmart phone, put whatever tracking on your contract requires. When the load is done simply turn the phone off until a new load requires it. No need to track "me", but the load is still tracked.

 

That would not feel so bad if they put some cheap enough GPS emitters in their cargo instead of requiring the use of your private phone. I don't like it simply because I feel that it is a prelude scene to a chipped society realm where people have little chips incisioned in their necks. I am not a friend of Facebook either.

 

I agree. 15 yrs of LTL and just came on to OTR about 1 month and a half ago. I downloaded Micro point not knowing any better. Once broker told me that he saw me at a truck stop in a certain city. Called my dispatch and asked how broker knew that. He explained Micro point and I quickly deleted the app. He wanted to track me and still call me! No thank you. They need info, broker could call me. When they ask that they can’t find me on the micro point app cause it’s showing off, I tell them I don’t have storage for the app. So that took care of that.

 

I've been using macropoint for several years now whenever anyone has asked me too. I find some of the truck stop counter stories about it hard to believe as it's never been a problem for me. I don't think anyone cares where you go or what you do. People have work to do who has time for nonsense? When I stop to take a whizz no-one has ever called me up and asked what I was doing. Most of them they don't bother you once you accept it. Doing one right now that I have not heard a peep from BNSF in the past 2 days I have had their load on the truck. I texted the broker when I was loaded and that I was on schedule and he said thanks. Once in a while one of them wants macropoint and to talk every few hours. Well, that's your job and what you signed up for.

 

Yeah, I've had that one crop up on me a couple times. I just told them that requirement was a dealbreaker for me, thanks for your time. In both cases the broker immediately backpedaled and gave me the load anyhow. There's times where standing on principle is more important than any single load.

 

From what I have seen they just try you to see if you will fall for it. I have never accepted it when they send it to me. Never lost a load because of it. I just shoot them an email when I get loaded, one enroute occasionally, and one when I arrive for delivery. Even the ones who claim it is mandatory still give me loads.

 

I run a business. If my client requiers to place an app to track their load than so be it. Now if your selling yourself short and doing this than it's time to hang your keys. It's really not that serious.