Qualcomm Charges

[TeamCaffee]

Ours is $35 now but goes up when the new systems go on the truck. They are too high now. We get those calls all the time. I understand the the new units can track trucks better and more accurately then the old ones do. I hope so, we have lost loads because of inaccurate location of our truck.

Joe the new unit is $35.00 right now which includes the truck GPS. Scanning is available on the new QC but not turned on. At a later date this may be activated and we will then scan our bills directly into the company and no more TripPak.

I like the ability of the new scanner to get .wav files as I think this will help communication between us and FCC in the future.

I am sure I would not be willing to pay anymore for the GPS feature. I do like the idea of scanning our paperwork in and not having to use TripPak. I would also like the ability to scan our Canadian and HazMat BOL's into the company and not have to email them when there is a problem.

 

[greg334]

Wave files?

Why?

 

[TeamCaffee]

It is a FedEx Custom Critical thing and another way of direct communications. Virginia has done a few of these on the Driver Tech we tested and we have had a couple on the new QC.
In the future in-cab training may be done this way instead of having to come to Green. There are lots of neat ways this can be used and is being tested to save money for the drivers and also for FCC.

 

[greg334]

OK, I misread what you meant, too much sun here.

It's like that Qualcomm system I saw last year. It had some neat features on it. The unit didn't use a wav file but an entire flash file that was pushed from the company to qualcomm to the individual units for interactive training. Pretty neat but still not cutting edged according to Qualcomm.

 

[LDB]

QC's are FAR too expensive when you cut to the chase. A couple of years ago I called QC direct and inquired about a 3 truck system. I was told it would be about $14.83 per week and if I wanted to add the feature that would send a message to my cell phone like what Panther does it would add about a buck a week.

Bottom line, every company severely overcharges the O/O for the QC.

As to your questions, I personally wouldn't want either gps or scanning if it meant significant additional costs on an already severely overpriced system.

 

[Scuba]

We have 2 GPS' and the ability to scan and print.
From what I have heard the GPS in the Quallcom is very slow at recalculating routes and I have yet to meet a solo who likes electronic logging.
With all of the modern electronics out there and text messaging isn't there some way that all info could be sent through a cell phone and miles tracked by a built in GPS chip in the phone?

Hello i love the ele logs i am solo and i have learned that you gain driving time with the ele log

 

[Jack_Berry]

QC's are FAR too expensive when you cut to the chase. A couple of years ago I called QC direct and inquired about a 3 truck system. I was told it would be about $14.83 per week and if I wanted to add the feature that would send a message to my cell phone like what Panther does it would add about a buck a week.

Bottom line, every company severely overcharges the O/O for the QC.

As to your questions, I personally wouldn't want either gps or scanning if it meant significant additional costs on an already severely overpriced system.

leo, does qc do all the work and report to the carrier or what?

have you discussed with your carriers? how did they respond?

 

[ebsprintin]

John,

I have not seen the truck nav system, but even as a vanner I might be interested. Reason being. Dispatch should be able to see even before the load comes to me that an address is bad. I get my load, try to load address in gps, but no match, so I'm on my computer going through my map program, and google earth trying to find something that will give me a heading. When this fails, I'm calling dispatch who has to start the same process and the clock is ticking. Maybe this system can help that?

I can be an hour away from where the qc says I am located. If the truck nav system improves that then I'm all for it. I am paying bucks for the company to not know where I am.

As for scanning. Give me an email address, and I will get my paperwork there through my own system.

eb

 

[Dynamite 1]

we use a blackberry with push to talk with gps tracking. has a dispatch program in it, [ prompts for accept, arrival, pod, loaded info ] mini qc on a phone, kinda. works pretty good so far. a few push to talk issues. but it was the phones. while service is sketchy in areas i dont believe it any more than anyone else. and its only 12.50 a week. it does what you need and the portability is great. it has a bunch more stuff on it but just have not played with it yet.

 

[davekc]

I agree with Leo. For the most part, they are a profit center for the carrier if they are charging 25 to 35 per week.
If a large carrier has say 1000 trucks and they are skimming 20 off the top per vehicle, that is a extra 20k they are scooping up per month. If they are doing that many trucks, they are likely paying the lowest available fees to Qual-comm.

With that said, the teams benefit from the paperless logs, (not likely singles), and some accounts require the use of one to haul their freight. Most of the ones with that requirement are higher paying customers verses the standard fare.

My personal preference is that if required, price them accordingly without the foolish upcharge.

 

[layoutshooter]

I agree with Leo. For the most part, they are a profit center for the carrier if they are charging 25 to 35 per week.
If a large carrier has say 1000 trucks and they are skimming 20 off the top per vehicle, that is a extra 20k they are scooping up per month. If they are doing that many trucks, they are likely paying the lowest available fees to Qual-comm.

With that said, the teams benefit from the paperless logs, (not likely singles), and some accounts require the use of one to haul their freight. Most of the ones with that requirement are higher paying customers verses the standard fare.

I don't know how much it costs carriers to administer Qualcomm in house. I am sure they have costs above what they are charged by Qualcomm. I do believe that most carriers are overcharging for the service but that is just my feelings. If that is correct then someday, some carrier is going to lower their charges to the drivers and will then have a good draw for drivers to look at them. Competition.

 

[davekc]

Several truckload carriers are charging in the $11.00 to $12.00 range. No specifics on what capabilities are offered outside of tracking.

 

[TeamCaffee]

Someone has to pay to have the QualComm installed. What happens when the new truck gets the QualComm installed and quits the next day? Who covers the cost of this?

Who pays for the cost of the QualComm when a truck leaves a company and cuts all the cables and mails it back and does not have escrow to cover this.

We have escrow to cover the costs of the QualComm and the unit being destroyed. How many people leave a company before they have enough in the escrow account?

There are tons of hidden costs with the QualComm such as is the unit being leased or has the company outright purchased them. How much does each unit cost?

 

[layoutshooter]

Someone has to pay to have the QualComm installed. What happens when the new truck gets the QualComm installed and quits the next day? Who covers the cost of this?

Who pays for the cost of the QualComm when a truck leaves a company and cuts all the cables and mails it back and does not have escrow to cover this.

We have escrow to cover the costs of the QualComm and the unit being destroyed. How many people leave a company before they have enough in the escrow account?

There are tons of hidden costs with the QualComm such as is the unit being leased or has the company outright purchased them. How much does each unit cost?

There is no easy answer to be sure. Those who leave before they have the escrow to cover costs should be billed for them. Those who damage equipment should be billed. Those costs should not be passed on to those of us who are doing it the right way. I am not saying that they are being passed on, just saying that they should never be.

 

[jelliott]

The only way to charge that would to have the original omni tracs and have them paid off.

New units run $1800-2200. So much depends on the life span of the unit. So if you look at a 3 year pay off it is in the area of $11.50 to $14.00 per week plus the interest expense.

Service is $40-55 per month. So you are looking at $10 to $14 per month. Most carriers are on the lower end cost wise as they will sign the longer term agreement.

Install is about $250 per unit. So over 3 years that is about $1.60 per week.

So even on the low side, cost is really about $25 per week. Every new install needs new wiring harnesses and hardware and the cost to fix equipment that is out of warranty and equipment that is damaged or not returned. So I really do not think carriers are making a big profit at the $25-$35 dollar range. This does not include additional cost items like scanning, internet access, or navigation.

Now, the cost would drop the $11.50 to $14 per week after the unit was paid for. As with new technology it is hard to determine the service life of equipment. I do not believe the new fancy color, wifi, video qualcomms will have the same service life as the original omni-tracs units.

 

[davekc]

Cost will vary depending on the unit. Use to be 1200 to 1400 for a purchase. Not sure now with some of the new ones.
Escrow from most carriers is substantially higher than the actual cost to remove it. Might be a problem if the majority of drivers quit after the first week, but my guess is that it is a small percentage.
Same issue with signs. Some carriers charge back up to $300 for signs if a driver leaves prior to a prescribed set time by the carrier. Those signs bought in bulk cost a fraction of that $300.

According to John they have went up to the 1800 to 2200.

 

[jelliott]

I think you can still get the old original omni tracs with the box and the big dome for the price range you are saying. The newer MCP100 lists for I think in the area of $1800-$2000, and the newest one the MCP200 lists for $2200-2300. Now a carrier is going to be able to negotiate this down a bit with a volume purchase, but Qualcomm knows they have strong market presence and does not negotiate a unit down more than 10-15%, unless maybe you are buying in the thousands of units.

 

[jelliott]

I agree, I think alot of carriers are excessive on signs. But then I think alot of them are really charging back for signs, permits, dac, mvr reports and just putting it under one name.

 

[davekc]

Probably so on the signs. If I recall there was a post with all the prices from QC. I believe those prices were for a leased unit rather than one purchased.

 

[jelliott]

No those are purchase prices. We have the mcp100's in our company trucks. I buy all of my stuff, I rarely lease anything. You might be able to get the monthly cost down if you leased it over a longer term lease. But I would not want to see anything longer than a 4 year deal. You just don't know the service life of these newer units.