Typically, GPS tracking technology is available as a plug-and-play or hardwired device. Plug-and-play devices, which attach to a wiring harness under the dashboard, are easy to self-install and can be moved between vehicles. The data they collect, however, may be limited. And, their lag time may take longer to show vehicle location, said Billy Blasingame, owner of Blasingame Pest Management. His company employs both hardwired and plug-in systems.
Plug-in GPS devices generally are more affordable, but they’re also easily disabled by drivers. “They’re always knocking them out,” says Patrick Wyman, Epcon Lane Pest Control, Akron, Ohio, who has seven service vehicles with plug-in GPS tracking devices. In his service vans, the devices plug in right between the driver’s legs so it’s easy for them to hit the units with their knees. To prevent this, Wyman is considering having GPS tracking hardwired into the vans.
To install hardwired GPS tracking systems, vehicles must be taken out of service. It is a more secure installation, but neither can it be switched easily between vehicles. Hardwired systems generally cost more but they also offer greater options for recording and monitoring vehicle data.
Some GPS tracking systems integrate with routing/mapping and work-order software and have smartphone apps, which let managers get alerts and access data while in the field. Rice eventually would like to upgrade to a system that links front and rear vehicle cameras with GPS tracking. “We’re dedicated to using the technology,” he says.
PMPs typically pay monthly or annually for GPS tracking service. Even with the economic uncertainty posed by COVID-19, Rice won’t cut this service to reduce expenses. “It’s too much of an investment in vehicles not to have some kind of a backup system in place to help you out.”
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Even companies with just a few vehicles on the road can gain from using telematics, says Billy Blasingame, owner of Blasingame Pest Management in Locust Grove, Ga. He has four trucks equipped with GPS tracking, which helps him improve routing efficiency. And when an emergency or new-customer call comes in, he can reroute the closest technician, providing faster service.
“You could argue that GPS is more critical because we don’t have the room for margins of error like you do if you’ve got bunches of folks out there servicing accounts,” he says.
The technology reduces liability, regardless of company fleet size, which is why more companies are using it, says Tracy Rice, Rice Pest Control. “The ones that aren’t probably are looking for trouble at some point,” he says.
State of the Fleet Management Market: Game-Changing Technology
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GPS and telematics have been used for years to help PMPs know the location of their technicians. But according to PMPs in-the-know, the technology is far more than that. “For us, it’s been a game changer,” says Tracy Rice, CEO, Rice Pest Control, Anniston, Ala. Rice uses GPS tracking technology, or telematics, to monitor his 10 service vehicles.
Data generated by the technology helps him address numerous business challenges. It guides him in developing tighter routes, which reduces fuel consumption and windshield time. It reinforces safe driving behavior with technicians thus reducing liability, and it also helps him manage vehicle maintenance.
“We were pretty impressed immediately with what we were able to gain from it as far as knowledge,” Rice says.
Telematics is essential to operations at The Bugmaster, which has 60 service vehicles. “We have to track what’s going on out there so that we can minimize losses,” explains Joe Cantu, operations director of the Austin, Texas, company. With telematics, PMPs can set alerts for speeding, hard braking, idling, after-hours use, or when a vehicle leaves or enters a geographic zone.
Insurance companies see GPS tracking as a big plus, Cantu adds. “With premiums being so high, anything you can use to get discounts is great,” he says.
Lifetime Achievement Award Winners
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For the past six years, PCT and Syngenta have had the honor of bestowing the coveted Lifetime Achievement Award to a distinguished member of the pest control industry at NPMA PestWorld. Past recipients of this prestigious award, as selected by previous winners of the Crown Leadership Awards, include Norman Goldenberg, the inaugural honoree in 2014; Norm Cooper (2015); Tom Fortson (2016); Bob Dold (2017); Dr. Austin Frishman (2018); and Victor Hammel last year. Profiles of each previous winner of this eagerly anticipated award are featured here. Since NPMA PestWorld is a virtual event this year, and the Lifetime Achievement Award is presented live at our annual reception, the award will not be presented in 2020. However, PCT and Syngenta will resume this annual tradition in 2021 at NPMA PestWorld in Las Vegas, Nev.
Victor Hammel
Victor Hammel is chairman of Rentokil Pest Control, North America. The winner of NPMA’s prestigious Pinnacle Award in 2013, Hammel grew up in the pest control industry, bagging rodenticide baits as a child for J.C. Ehrlich Co., his family’s business. Before selling the company to Rentokil in 2006, he served as co-owner and chief executive officer of the Reading, Pa.-based business. A graduate of Penn State University and the Harvard Business School Executive Education program, Hammel is past chairman of the board of the Reading Health System and vice chairman of the Professional Pest Management Alliance, as well as co-founder of CPS Insurance Co., Ltd. He was named PCT’s Professional of the Year in 2008.
Austin Frishman
Dr. Austin Frishman, owner and president of AMF Pest Management Consulting, is a legendary figure in the pest management industry. With a career spanning more than five decades, Frishman earned his undergraduate degree in entomology and his master’s degree from Cornell University, eventually earning a doctorate from Purdue University, where he was a frequent speaker at the university’s annual conference. In recognition of his career, Frishman received Pest Control Technology’s Professional of the Year Award in 1993; was named to the Crown Leadership Awards Class of 1998; and in 2002 he was inducted into Pest Control Magazine’s Hall of Fame. Today, Frishman continues to devote his time and energy to industry education and training.
Norman Goldenberg
In 2014, veteran PMP Norman Goldenberg was named the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award winner. He graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in entomology. Goldenberg worked for Orkin and held various management roles in the pest control industry before purchasing his own company in the late 1980s, Alert Lear Pest Control. Goldenberg joined Terminix in 1990, representing the industry’s interests at the local, state and national levels as vice president of government affairs. He is a past president of the National Pest Management Association (NPMA), Florida Pest Management Association (FPMA), Project EverGreen and the Professional Landcare Network (PLANET).
Norm Cooper
A past president of the National Pest Management Association, Norm Cooper was one of the industry’s most passionate advocates. A native New Yorker, Cooper launched Abby Exterminating Services in 1954, a company he owned until January 1971 when he sold it to ESCO (Exterminating Services Co.). He stayed on board at ESCO, eventually becoming president of the exterminating services division. He retired from ESCO in 1996 and launched a successful consulting business, Norman Cooper & Associates. Cooper served as NPMA president in 1991-1992 and during his tenure created the association’s highly praised “Guardians of the Environment” branding, an initiative many credit with improving the industry’s image nationally and throughout the world. He passed away in 2016.
Tom Fortson
A graduate of the University of South Carolina, Tom Fortson is a longtime leader and beloved presence in the professional pest management industry. Chairman emeritus of the Professional Pest Management Alliance, Fortson has spent more than 50 years in the industry, currently serving as vice chairman of Terminix Service, Columbia, S.C. During his distinguished career, Fortson has served on the South Carolina Pesticide Advisory Committee, the South Carolina Regulatory Review Committee, and the Clemson University Advisory Board. He also has served as past president of the South Carolina Pest Control Association and the North Carolina Pest Management Association, as well as on the NPMA board of directors. Additionally, Fortson is a nationally ranked master’s swimmer and is a veteran of the United States Navy.
Bob Dold
A graduate of Denison University, Bob Dold is CEO of Rose Pest Solutions, Chicago, Ill. A tireless supporter of the professional pest management industry, Dold has served as president of the Illinois Pest Control Association and Indiana Pest Management Association, as well as on the Purdue Conference Planning Committee. In 1984, he was elected NPMA president, spending more than 180 days on the road in support of the association during a critical time in the organization’s history. A devoted family man, Dold and his wife Judy raised four children and spend a significant amount of time with their grandchildren, while simultaneously running a successful family-owned pest control business. Bob and Judy Dold received the prestigious National Pest Management Association Pinnacle Award in 2017.
