no disciplinary action can be taken from telematics tell them to suck your Bic lighter
You are right--they cannot take discipline based solely on information gathered from any technology; however, don't be fooled to think that they won't use that information to go on road and observe you. If you repeat the behavior they can and will take discipline so, yes, they can discipline with the assistance of technology.
I ususally eat in the truck, but don't stop long. Hate wasting daylight. Anyway, I have options for lunch in a resturant if I want. Waiting til it's 30 below and will shut down for full hour at a Subway, and let the diesel freeze up. Then they can have a road call to get it started again. That ought to do it.
We started telematics this summer. We were told that rural guys that needed to idle during break had to OK it with supes. I am a cover driver on a couple of the routes and it is written up in the route notes that it is OK to idle for lunch.
This will be our fist winter on telematics and I'm not asking for permission, if it's cold and I have to sit in the truck for an extended period of time it will be idling with the heater running.
This will be our fist winter on telematics and I'm not asking for permission, if it's cold and I have to sit in the truck for an extended period of time it will be idling with the heater running.
You would think this would make sense but its UPS and nothing make sense. At least not to me?????
Our on-car has 'asked' us to record, at least, 5 minutes. And, let him know why. It shows on some stupid report. The conference call, ya know.
He's pretty cool. So, I oblige.
Its really a non-issue. Just take a your half-hour lunch in the coldest place possible, turn off the engine. Then call in to the center at the end of your lunch telling them you followed their instructions and now need medical assistance because you feel hypothermic. That will be the LAST time they tell you not to idle your car during lunch!
Our on-car has 'asked' us to record, at least, 5 minutes. And, let him know why. It shows on some stupid report. The conference call, ya know.
He's pretty cool. So, I oblige.
In my old 7 cube,I was showing 10 to 15 delivery while idling.No matter what they will hound you for idle time because it will save the company money right away. However, keep your eye on your idle time. I noticed I was always at the top or close to it. I found this odd because I have only 1 stop light on my route and zero traffic. Its all back roads and I never idle when waiting for a dock or even to keep warm as I take lunch at Dunkin Donuts.
So I'm taking heat and the manager is going into the computer and saying well, it took me 1 sec to put my seatbelt on 100 times so I should put the seatbelt on first and then start the car to save a grand total of 1.8 minutes of idle time. I was perplexed as to why it was so high and upset that I was getting nickel and dimed by my manager about this when I surely know I follow the rules. I'm not one of these guys that just lets it run and say screw it.
So, my car gets pulled for a PMI for 3 days. I check the idle time and sure enough it was cut in half! I went from like 70+ minutes to like 33 or 34 minutes. It was the freaking truck! I immediately brought this to the manager's attention still a little tiffed about the 1 sec at 100 stops and he says "good, great, that is wonderful that you noticed that!" and he PCMed it the next day.
For some reason my speedometer doesn't start registering speed for a few seconds even when I'm moving. It like goes up to 35 when you turn the power on but immediately shoots to zero and stays there for a few seconds thus showing the computer I'm idling when I'm really moving.
If telematics is new to you just keep your eye on them because there can be errors that will show. For example, I got 14 record while idling the other day when I never get any and I surely didn't commit this many errors (maybe one here and there by accident but NEVER 14 in one day!). The boss thought it could have been because I used 2 different vehicles for the day and sometimes it will show me in the other vehicle recording while someone else is driving the other one that I had used or will use. Or it could have been that it was my first day on keyless start and I will push the start button on the way back to the truck and stop complete soon after that. Not sure if the electrical running counts as idling to Telematics?
Just keep your eye on it..