When a truck/driver sits/takes a break for 4 weeks why does Qualcomm have to Collect?

[T270_Dreamin]

QC fees really stack for someone who wants to take off a month or two.

I really like to run hard but when I need a break from the expedite lifestyle

the fees keep stacking... I'm not a running a strait truck for fedex at 2.12 a miles so I don't have a wads of cash to throw away.

When your carrier charges you why can't they send the QC bill so we know for sure what the charges are!

I'm not a fan of the system. I think technology is going to come up with something bigger and better and surpass the current rooftop satellite dome! I heard at the panther orientation that they are trying to eventually come up with something that runs on smart phones so the driver would get all his loads sent to Smart phone instead of having that big piece of junk that beeps all the times and wakes you up when you're trying to get your 5 hrs of sleep in. (does anybody get sleep in this business??)

 

[Deville]

Re: When a truck/driver sits/takes a break for 4 weeks why does Qualcomm have to Coll

I'm not a fan of the QC either. I have had nothing but problems since the day it was put it.The only thing I do like about it is the trucking navigation. I'm not quite sure how much of the weekly fee actually goes to QC.

 

[cheri1122]

Re: When a truck/driver sits/takes a break for 4 weeks why does Qualcomm have to Coll

Dreamin: there are carriers who don't use satellites, even many respectable ones, like C&M - if it's a deal breaker, you can find one to work with. But if your carrier uses QC, you're going to pay for it whether you're running [or it breaks] or not.
I've always thought it not just unnecessary, but a bad idea from the jump - why suggest that customers need additional assurance that we will deliver as promised? Sure, it works well for UPS & FedEx package delivery, but that's a whole different ballgame: residential customers who aren't traditionally home during business hours & needed specific info on when to expect delivery.
It makes me feel as if I'm not trusted to be where I say I am, or where I'm supposed to be, and I never liked that. [Because I have never done anything to justify it.]
Also, some carriers [not Load 1] use it to send annoying messages about 'safety' and condescending reminders to "spend your downtime on maintenance" and all sorts of irritating things: "you are behind schedule" [no, I'm not!] "why aren't you moving?" [because I can't refuel while in motion!] and the very best one: "where are you?" [if you don't know, what am I paying for?!!!]
Def not a fan, lol. Text msgs worked just fine for me with one carrier, providing both parties with time stamped proof of whatever was [or would have been] verbally exchanged.
They actually trusted me to be where & when I was supposed to - imagine that!

 

[BigCat]

I am glad I don't have it right now. My dispatch text me and I just let my boss know when I'm going to bed so they don't call and wake me up.

 

[moose]

Re: When a truck/driver sits/takes a break for 4 weeks why does Qualcomm have to Coll

hard to except but we are a profit center for them. just think of them as the IRS...

 

[zorry]

They are required by some customers as a safety tool.
Also a good marketing tool.

 

[cheri1122]

Re: When a truck/driver sits/takes a break for 4 weeks why does Qualcomm have to Coll

They are required by some customers as a safety tool.

Safety for whom? And are those the customers who require drivers to suit up in vest, safety glasses & steel toed shoes, to stand in a receiving cubicle, cause they aren't allowed on the dock? Or the ones who don't provide signs for the truck entry, so trucks bumble around looking for where they're supposed to go, instead of at the traffic around them?
Customers who have experienced problems with some carriers ought to stop using those carriers - the rest of us arrive when and where we're expected, with undamaged freight, and it's not because the eye in the sky is watching, either.

Also a good marketing tool.

Like I said: it was a stroke of genius for the package delivery trucks, but what we do is quite different. If some carriers couldn't get it there on time, let them use satellites - we don't need tracked, and our customers ought to have better things to do with their time than keep checking to see whether we're going to keep our commitment.
I've actually had a call from dispatch asking if I was onsite [at delivery] at 2 minutes past my scheduled time - because the customer had seen me 5 minutes earlier one quarter mile away, not moving. [Because I knew they wouldn't open the gates even one minute early]. Having to answer the phone while looking for a dock number in the dark was not real helpful.
Marketing - yeah, right.

 

[zorry]

Would you ship a military shipment on a non tracking device truck ?
Or a multi- million dollar shipment ?

It protects the driver too. What if my valuable load to St Louis turns south out of Phoenix.
I'll leave it at that.

 

[cheri1122]

Re: When a truck/driver sits/takes a break for 4 weeks why does Qualcomm have to Coll

Would you ship a military shipment on a non tracking device truck ?
Or a multi- million dollar shipment ?

Isn't that what insurance is for? Tracking doesn't stop thieves from hijacking & emptying it, if they plan to do that. It makes it easy to find the empty truck when they're done, though, if that helps.

It protects the driver too. What if my valuable load to St Louis turns south out of Phoenix.
I'll leave it at that.

I'm not seeing how it protects the driver - and if your valuable load turns south out of Phoenix, then what? Professional thieves could have it's contents transferred long before you can get LEOs to the scene, I bet.
Insurance [and proper screening of carriers by the shipper, and drivers by the carrier] protects the shipper, carrier, and the driver - satellites don't do that.

 

[cheri1122]

Re: When a truck/driver sits/takes a break for 4 weeks why does Qualcomm have to Coll

Now I get the 'south out of Phoenix' reference, and did the satellite keep the driver from entering Mexico? Or going to jail?
Did it help get the load returned? If I remember, the frieght was confiscated and not returned to the US.....though the driver did [finally] get out of the Mexican prison.

 

[LDB]

Re: When a truck/driver sits/takes a break for 4 weeks why does Qualcomm have to Coll

It's very simple. Most carriers charge far more than the actual cost, double in some cases if you pay $35 a week. If you call the company and get your own QC system the cost is about $15-16 per week. Figure about $175 per week profit per 10 units. If your carrier has 100 units that's $1750 profit per week, 1000 units it's $17,500 profit per week. That's why you have to have a QC unit and why you'll never see an actual invoice from QC.

 

[redytrk]

Re: When a truck/driver sits/takes a break for 4 weeks why does Qualcomm have to Coll

FECC Suspended QC charges for me fo 2 months when I had hip surgery. Not sure they would do this for vacation time.

 

[Turtle]

Re: When a truck/driver sits/takes a break for 4 weeks why does Qualcomm have to Coll

Smaller carriers don't really need a QC, but larger carriers do. While tracking a delivery can be important, the biggest benefit of a QC in expediting is the carrier being able to know where you are, in an instant, when booking a load. Yes, I know, a update phone call only takes a few minutes, and from the driver's perspective it really is only a few minutes. But multiply that out by several times a day, times several hundred drivers, and it's an astounding chunk of time that a carrier must spend just trying to figure out where it's fleet is positioned. The QC system automates all that.

 

[zorry]

We haul stuff the customer rather would choose to receive over having the insurance.

The turn south reference just meant if I went obviously off route help may be on the way. Minutes may be valuable in such a situation.

I researched the Self Storage Industry years ago. People will pay for a link to the security camera facing their unit. People want to know their stuff is safe and where it's is at any moment.

There's a little more to it. I've hauled loads that I wouldn't want to mess with in a non-QC equipped truck.

 

[Slo-Ride]

Re: When a truck/driver sits/takes a break for 4 weeks why does Qualcomm have to Coll

As much as I disliked having the QC and the monthly bill for it, I Really miss it now.
Current carrier does not use it and uses the smart phone called Macro Point..Does pretty much the same thing as far as getting your complete load profile and also tracks you..It may even track better then QC. Twice now when faced with bad address I have had dispatch help me with turn by turn directions,right down to them saying, there it is,the blue building on your right. Do you see it?
How or what they are using other then the Macro Point I don't know but it seems they can get a visual on me in a very short time.
With that said I still gotta say from a operators view I would much rather have the QC back simply because using the Macro Point is no different then sending and reading text messages from a cell phone. For someone that does not send text or even read them on my phone, I think this Macro Point is very dangerous and have even told the safety guy this. While sitting its not an issue but I rarely use it or need it while sitting. The QC has a nice big screen and keyboard that these old eyes can read. (I know that we should not read messages or send em while rolling but fact is if I stopped every time I needed to it would cost way to much time.) The QC at least made it easy to do a quick peek at it.

As far as the topic..Carriers can waive charges when they want to..I have had it done. Whether they ate the cost or shut it off with QC I don't know.

 

[xiggi]

Re: When a r 4 weeks why does Qualcomm have to Collect?

A solo cannot read the new qc while moving you must be stopped.

Sent from my Fisher Price - ABC 123

 

[xiggi]

k for 4 weeks why does Qualcomm have to Collect?

It's very simple. Most carriers charge far more than the actual cost, double in some cases if you pay $35 a week. If you call the company and get your own QC system the cost is about $15-16 per week. Figure about $175 per week profit per 10 units. If your carrier has 100 units that's $1750 profit per week, 1000 units it's $17,500 profit per week. That's why you have to have a QC unit and why you'll never see an actual invoice from QC.

So when your qc breaks and they install a new one that's free to the customer? When you need a new scanner, a new antenna. What about the cost of an install guy on staff or a building for him to do the work. Saying they make that much profit is like saying you dint have fuel expense after buying a truck.

Sent from my Fisher Price - ABC 123

 

[Slo-Ride]

Re: When a r 4 weeks why does Qualcomm have to Collect?

A solo cannot read the new qc while moving you must be stopped.

Sent from my Fisher Price - ABC 123

Depeands how it gets wired to the trucks system. mine worked fine from day one. Was not tied to trucks computter. I would not allow that shop in Woodyhaven to touch my computter wires and told carrier if they wanted it wired into ecm they would take it to a QC dealer to have it done.

 

[BobWolf]

Re: When a truck/driver sits/takes a break for 4 weeks why does Qualcomm have to Coll

I somtmes have customer ask abbout satelite tracking. Usualy I answer thier questions with the following question. Why do you need tracking.
If its location I answer I will a give them phone call every few hours. If its spec-com or high value I offer a certrificate of insurance and offer additional coverage.

If that dosent do the trick then they dont trust me and I dont want to work for them. Im not down with the Big Brother thing.

Bob Wolf.

 

[BigBadBill]

Re: When a r 4 weeks why does Qualcomm have to Collect?

Seems like we have brought up a lot of different issues past the OPs question.

You have fixed expenses and variable expenses. QC is a fixed expense. And you do not want to pay for it as a variable expense. Your costs for usage would be astronomical.

Now, skimming and up-charging in this industry is so common place that when a carrier plays it straight they are not trusted. And I guess it is human nature that rather than confront un-ethical behavior and call it what it is, we justify it. Seems most people only like conflict in the safe confines of the internet.

On the expedite side, more than half of our accounts require tracking. You are a second class citizen on Sylectus if you don't have tracking (being dramatic). Macro Point Lite is going to cost you $5-$8/load/24-hrs to track.

So unless you are paid a flat daily rate for driving or sitting, having tracking not only get you access to more loads, it gives you access to better paying loads.

Now I get the resistance to the evil devices. But it is not the device that is evil but the person behind it that is miss using it. But in the hands of an honest, respectful carrier (I know, that falls into same category as skimming) these are great tools that will keep you rolling and making more money than a non-tracking carrier.