the 5th Power

admin May 11, 2012 Leave a Comment

GPS Tracking reveals county employees living easy on taxpayer dollars

Charlotte county mosquito workers are perfect. They work hard, appear on time, and put in the extra effort. Just like a government employee is supposed to. Well according to their word and time sheets.

So often we take for granted that our employees are doing what they are supposed to be…

It is even more so for the employees of our local governments. Please don’t misunderstand me when I say that most workers on the government side of the isle are doing what they are supposed to. It seems to sting just a little bit more when a government employee is taking advantage because their wages come from our taxpayer pockets. In hard times like these when every dollar we earn feels like a fight it can be not only disheartening but infuriating when you read a story such as this reported by a Florida Fox affiliate Fox 4 Florida.

It appears that a Florida county worker was joyriding on the taxpayer dime. A State Trooper noted the county vehicle speeding and stopped the truck. During the traffic stop the trooper noticed a couple of beer bottles. This lead to a story in the local press, which lead to public pressure which then lead to someone at the county finally deciding to open an investigation into what was really going on with the county’s trucks and employees.

Many of their trips could not be explained or justified.

This internal report showed that some employees were unaccounted for. Many of their trips could not be explained or justified. Over the course of two weeks two county employees, earning between 15 and 25 dollars per hour, had run personal errands and multiple trips to their personal residences. The report goes on to explain that “engaged in excess personal activities during work hours” and then lied about it, the two falsified time sheets, resulting in them “being paid for time not worked,” according to the county’s’ report. The bottom line is this equates to employee theft or even more to the point theft from the public.

At one point it appears that there is a four hour stretch of driving that on June 15, the county can’t account for where the driver went and called the trip to nowhere hours of what “appears to be mindless driving.”

The question is can a fleet manager manage his or her employees effectively?

Lazy Larrys are nothing new. There will always be an employee trying to earn a little extra on the side, or take advantage of a trusting public. The question is can a fleet manager manage his or her employees effectively? What prompted this issue was a state trooper during his job, which was reported. When something like this happens it makes the immediate supervisors appear they do not hold their subordinates accountable.

GPS tracking is about accountability. If uses correctly it can save companies money and in this case the taxpayer. Alert 5 GPS works with everyone from the Fortune 500, municipalities to the smallest of fleets. Take control of your fleet in affordable way, contact Alert 5 GPS.

Filed Under: Dishonest Employee, Employee Theft, Fleets, GPS Tracking

admin March 12, 2012 Leave a Comment

Why you have to be an idiot to let your engine idle

Turn off your Engine to Save Money, Energy, and be more green

Fuel Savings and Practicality

Idling engines seem harmless enough but the fact of the matter is multiplied over an entire planets population it can be pretty devastating. It wastes money for average drivers, burns excess resources and harms the environment.

Here is the typical way to figure it out. If you are going to be parked or waiting in one spot for more than even 10 seconds or so…Turn off your motor, shut down the engine, do it now I say.

Why should you do this you ask?

For every two minutes your motor idles, it uses about the same amount of gas as it takes to go a mile down the road. The Department of Transportation has done a bunch of studies on the subject and has found that the typical consumer driver (nonprofessional i.e. delivery, service, race-car J ) idles about 10 minutes per day. In addition to that people let their motors idle more in the summer and winter, for the heater and the air conditioners.

A common misconception is that you have to let your engine warm up in cold weather; some people even let their engines idle as long as thirty minutes. Drivers believe that you have to warm up your engine to have it run properly, this is just simply not true. If you have a car built since the end of the Cold War, your engine and car will be fine. According to a study done by the Ontario department of Transportation, a vehicle driven for 12 minutes in 14 degree Fahrenheit weather will reach the same temperature as one that idles for 30 minutes.

Today’s cars have modern electronic fuel injectors, which mange the amount of gas sent to the engine when you start the vehicle. This results in virtually no fuel being wasted when you start your car. Older people remember a 30 minute rule weather to let the car run, you can now forget that and move on to the new decree.

If you are going to be more than a minute at a stop turn off the engine, after all an idling engine gets zero miles per gallon.

Help the Environment

I don’t want to get into the middle of this debate Global Warming, Ozone’s and holes, etc. You don’t have to be a climate scientist to look at CO2 leaving the exhaust pipe of an engine and figure that black stuff can’t be god rising into the air we breathe.

Idling engines sill out the pollutants that create smog and soot. Nitrogen oxide, particulates, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds are the main health harming disease causing pollutants in emissions. In fact Diesel engine spew out over 40 more air pollutants.

These pollutants have been linked to some pretty serious illnesses, including

Asthma
Heart disease
Cancer
Bronchitis

Just in New York City, idling cars and trucks each year produce over 130,000 tons of Carbon Dioxide! To offset this amount of global warming pollution we would need to plant and area the size of New York with Trees annually.

Less idling = less pollution.

So he we are. Do have you convinced? If you don’t want to save money, protect resources, and help the environment. Continue to do what you are doing. If you want to be a smarter consumer, and more green citizen of Planet Earth, just follow this key concept.

If you are going to be stopped for more than a 30 seconds to a minute: Turn off your motor. Do not let your engine idle.

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Filed Under: GPS Tracking