This has got to be illegal!!!

xracer

Well-Known Member
We had a driver in our center, who runs things by the book, that the management team seems to be constantly watching over. I think that they may have stepped over the line this time and it seems to me that there has to be some law that was broken. The aforementioned driver while on route found a personel GPS device concealed inside of an unmarked package loaded upon his truck. When he returned to the center he approached the center manager and confronted him by saying that he thinks he may have found something that belongs to him. The center manager just sort of looked at him, smiled and said thanks while he took the GPS unit from this driver. I think that this underhanded activity has to be more than just unethical but illegal and I would appreciate any comments on actions that this driver could take to defend himself against this and any other actions that supervision would decide to pursue..
 
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Anonymous Coward

Guest
DIAD4's have GPS in the already. Ask the OMS to look at DCS, in one of the drop down menus there's a option called GPS enabler.

Do your job and don't stop at one of your girlfriends house and you'll be ok.
 

tieguy

Banned
xracer said:
We had a driver in our center, who runs things by the book, that the management team seems to be constantly watching over. I think that they may have stepped over the line this time and it seems to me that there has to be some law that was broken. The aforementioned driver while on route found a personel GPS device concealed inside of an unmarked package loaded upon his truck. When he returned to the center he approached the center manager and confronted him by saying that he thinks he may have found something that belongs to him. The center manager just sort of looked at him, smiled and said thanks while he took the GPS unit from this driver. I think that this underhanded activity has to be more than just unethical but illegal and I would appreciate any comments on actions that this driver could take to defend himself against this and any other actions that supervision would decide to pursue..

sneaky yes. Illegal no.
 

dannyboy

From the promised LAND
They used to have it concealed in the trucks years ago, now they can use your diad. Why use something you could find if they can use something you carry every day.

Back years ago they had a little "black box" that automotive could hook up to your package car overnight that would tell them everything you were doing in the car, speed, direction, how hard you were braking, how hard you were speeding up, if you used your turn signals, horn, how many times you backed up etc etc. Then they matched it to your delivery records and had a pretty good indication of what you did that day, without a management person tagging along. You would never know it was there, so you would run your route just like you did every day, and not like when management was with you.

While not a trust builder in my opinion, it is not illegal. On the upside, they can not use it as grounds to fire you, but it could (depending on what they find) get them to watching you very closely.

Just do your job well each and every day and you will never have to worry what the idle minds will think of next.

d
 

wily_old_vet

Well-Known Member
X-One other quick question. If the GPS was inside of an unmarked pkg how did the driver determine it was a GPS unit? Isn't it against policy to open pkgs on route?
 

tieguy

Banned
The more I think about this the more something does not sound right.

Why would the center manager put the unit in an unmarked box in the car? He knows the driver is going to find it.

If he was trying to track the drivers movements then he certainly had better options than to place a gps unit inside a box on his shelf.
 

wornoutupser

Well-Known Member
X,
We have seen the black boxes in Central Florida in the past but I have not seen one in many years. I hope that it stays that way!
 

DS

Fenderbender
About 10 years ago we had a few of those boxes in our center.They said they were trying to save fuel.They gave us all printouts the next day color coded by how long you spent at each stop.Nothing changed in my area.But a few routes were changed because of drivers crossing paths too often during the day.Only to go back to the way they were after the men with the black boxes left.
 
S

speeddemon

Guest
I would have stopped the truck and called Homeland security and tell them I found an unlabeled package containing electronics in my truck. That would have been the last time that would have happened.
 

handrail_hank

Active Member
I had a gps placed in my car about ayear and a half ago just before they relooped our centers and Implemented PAS/EDD. I was told by a sup the day before it was to see how I was running my route and how they were looking to make changes in the way I ran the route.
 

over9five

Moderator
Staff member
Disgustingly dirty and underhanded!

But, its their truck and they can put whatever they want on it.

Remember this, and tell every driver in your building about it. Then remind everyone when they take the ERI. Theres a question concerning "openness and trust".
 

xracer

Well-Known Member
OK a little update here, I found out that I was slightly misinformed and it was not concealed in an unlabeled package but was in a container that appeared to be a small briefcase with a label stated that it was the property of UPS on it. Upon returning to the center the driver first went to the mechanic and told him that he found this in his truck and thought that it may be a tool that was left in his truck. The mechanic looked at it and told him what it was which is when this driver confronted the center manager about it and then went next to the phone and called our BA and also the Pres of our local. The next morning the BA contacted our center manager to discuss this to which he was told that it is just a tool that the company is using to help the drivers to reduce miles on their route. The little black box appeared without notice on another drivers truck today, sure that it will eventually make its way around the entire barn. Not to sure that I like the idea of it being on my truck but there is nothing that I do during the day that can be construed as dishonest or stealing from the Co. (imo) so let them track me all day if they like. I told the other drivers that came to me worried about the black box that as long as they are not doing anything wrong, staying on area, and not taking extended breaks they have nothing to worry about..
 

dannyboy

From the promised LAND
IF you really want to have some fun, give it to an independent trucker that is headed for the west coast, then to Fla, then to New York. By the time they get it back, it will have close to a million miles on it.

d
 

handrail_hank

Active Member
We started using brand new diad 4's this past week. The previous diad 4's we used for only a few months. (still relativly new).I was told that these new one's have the gps installed in them. Of course, we were told that this feature was strictly for pinpointing the exact location of a driver so that the nearest driver could be dispatched to an On call air pickup. Sounds like UPS spent a lot of $ for GPS capabilities . They must really be expecting a large number of on call air request to come in. Raise your hand if you believe this!!
 
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