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Fleet management systems have been around a while and have become so complex that it has evolved into Field Resource Management. This article explores 5 reasons why all fleets need at least a basic Field Resource Management system.
The stock market plummeted last week as uncertainty and fear about the economy in the US and Europe spread like wildfire. Another recession, investors feared, could be right around the corner.
Yes, the stock market plunge was disconcerting and downright scary, but there is some good news. Many analysts are expecting gas prices to drop over the next few months. That’s because the same fears that forced a sell-off on Wall Street also brought down the price of oil.
Gas prices usually fall in late summer as families take fewer road trips. But the recent drop in oil should reduce gas prices even further. Experts are predicting the national average of $3.70 per gallon could fall as much as 35 cents per gallon over the next month. US drivers consume about 378 million gallons of gas every day, so a 35-cent-per-gallon fall would reduce daily total US gas spending by about $132.3 million.
“They’ll see a penny or two drop per day next week,” said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy.com, a consumer Web site that tracks retail gasoline prices around the country. DeHaan said the decline will likely start at stations along highways and other busy areas. Those stations need to replenish their storage tanks every day or so, and they’ll get the cheaper gasoline faster than others.
Sunshine Landscape Sees Positive Return on Investment in 18 Days with FieldLogix GPS Fleet Tracking System
Carlos Contreras, at Sunshine Landscape in Palm Desert, CA, manages 15 employees who had been using paper timesheets for years. Carlos always suspected that the timesheets weren’t completely accurate.
Carlos then decided that GPS fleet tracking would help him address these concerns and give him more control over his mobile employees. Carlos selected FieldLogix due to its user-friendly interface, affordable hardware, and extensive e-mail alert features.
Upon installing FieldLogix fleet tracking system, Carlos’ suspicions were immediately confirmed. By using the system’s activity reports, he found that his “honor system” was being abused by his employees. By having an accurate way to measure daily work hours, his overtime costs dropped immediately.
Oil prices dropped to a six-month low Thursday as investors and energy traders grew more concerned that the U.S. economy will enter another recession and that Europe’s debt problems are not closed to being solved.
As oil prices were dropping, the stock market plummeted. Major stock indexes fell more than 4 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost over 500 points. It was the worst day for the Dow since October 22, 2008.
The decline in oil should bring some needed relief to drivers. U.S. gas prices currently remain near three-year highs at a national average of $3.703 per gallon. But gas prcies are expected to drop in the near future.
According to Fred Rozell, retail pricing director at Oil Price Information Service, the recent slide in oil could push gasoline 20 to 35 cents per gallon lower over the next month. “This market is moving up and down, but you could see some sizable declines at the pump if this holds,” Rozell said.
Gas Prices Remain Steady as Oil Prices Drop Below $93 Due to Concerns About the Economy
After news was released of an eleventh hour agreement in Washington to raise the debt ceiling, the markets reacted positively in very early Monday morning trading – for a very brief period. The positivity was fleeting. By late Monday morning, the ending of the debt debacle had no more positive impact on the markets. The stock market reversed and has been declining for the last several days.
The way the markets have traded since the announcement of the debt deal suggest strongly to me that the majority of the selling last week was more to do with the faltering global economy rather than uncertainty over the US politicians doing a deal. There is speculation that the US may still lost its AAA credit rating, and that Europe may be on the brink of a financial meltdown.
Besides the debt problems both here and in Europe, there is also evidence that the US economy is not rebounding as many hoped it would be. Investors are also concerned that consumer spending is down and there is weak demand for oil and gas.
Fleet Tracking System Features – Part One
If your business requires vehicles and mobile employees, and you are interested in finding ways to increase your company’s productivity and profitability, then you should consider investing in a GPS Fleet Tracking System.
A Fleet Tracking System can provide your company with numerous benefits at an affordable price. A fleet tracking system can help the average fleet reduce fuel costs by up to 20%. Most customers typically see a positive ROI in less than 6 months.
There are several factors to consider when researching and selecting the right Fleet Tracking System. Here are some of the fleet tracking features you should be considering in your purchase decision.
GPS Tracking Devices Attached to Toucans Help Scientists Gather Data on Seed Dispersal
There were two main things scientists had to do to set up the experiment, which took place in Panama. First, the scientists had to figure out how long and how many seeds the Toucans would eat in a day. So the scientists gathered fresh seeds from a nutmeg tree and fed them to captive toucans at the Rotterdam Zoo.
Toucans love nutmeg seeds. When Toucans eat, they gulp the nutmeg seeds whole. The outer pulp is processed in the bird’s crop, and the hard inner seed is then regurgitated.
During the GPS tracking experiment, five zoo toucans fed 100 nutmeg seeds took an average of 25.5 minutes to process and regurgitate the seeds.
Next the scientists captured six wild toucans that were feeding from a large nutmeg tree in the rainforest. The scientists attached lightweight backpacks containing GPS tracking devices to the wild birds.The GPS tracking devices recorded the birds’ exact location every 15 minutes and used accelerometers to measure the Toucans’ daily activity level.
A new satellite communication for oceanic flights has been approved by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Now airlines can use the satellite communication to fly through the Polar Regions instead of around them, while still maintaining communication with air traffic control.
Until now, airlines had no way of communicating in the Polar Region besides using a High Frequency (HF) radio, which is so unreliable that airlines decided not to use it because it was too dangerous. Now, being able to fly over the poles, airlines can save time and money. Plus they will produce less pollution.
According to Damien McCormack, director of Aircraft Solutions at SITA, flying over the poles can save approximately 30 minutes to an hour in flight time, depending on the size of the aircraft, flight route and exactly what points over the Poles the plane is flying.
McCormack also said that by saving one hour on an airbus 330, which can accommodate up to 335 passengers, it can account to a savings of 5.5 tons of fuel, which equates to 17 tons of C02 emissions. With a Boeing 747, which can accommodate between 416-524 passengers, saving one hour of flying time would account to saving 10 tons of fuel, which equates to 35 tons of C02 emissions.
A new vehicle tracking survey was released last month in the UK. Results of the study showed that businesses using fleet GPS tracking systems are saving money in several ways. The vehicle tracking survey showed that businesses can achieve measurable benefits in terms of fleet performance, service and legislative compliance.
The vehicle tracking study was conducted by CTrack. The company surveyed over 250 fleet decision makers in the UK. The survey was developed to provide insight into the uptake of vehicle tracking amongst UK-based businesses, how the technology is being used, what benefits are being achieved and what barriers are preventing more companies adopting a vehicle tracking solution. When asked about the primary purpose for vehicle tracking more than a third of the respondents using the technology stated productivity was the main reason, whilst cost reduction, asset management and customer service made up almost half of the answers.
Earlier this year in Muskegon Cunty, Michigan, rumors were spreading that city employees were not working when and where they said they were. A county judge, John Ruck, became suspect after hearing rumors that a handful of city employees were misusing city vehicles and decided to take action.
He rallied enough support and money from the county and the state to purchase several vehicle tracking systems. Ruck then ordered someone to install the tracking systems inconspicuously in the trunk of several county owned fleet vehicles. The GPS tracking systems started gathering information in June.
Court administrators reviewed the vehicle tracking system data for several weeks looking for discrepancies. According to Ruck the process was simple – look at the employee’s time card and where the car they checked out was located.
Then lo and behold, the GPS tracking system data revealed that three county workers were not working while on the clock. One spent several hours at a golf course, another at the gym. Both resigned when confronted about the abuse. A third employee, whose error was not as egregious, is going to be disciplined.
