Playbook
GPS device recollection: getting every portable tracker back.
Portable trackers are cheap until you count the ones that never come back. Recollection is a process, not a hope.
The problem
A device leaves on one truck to a destination where nobody is responsible for it. It sits in a cab, a consignee’s office or a carrier’s yard until the battery dies. Months later the branch has half the devices it bought.
The playbook
- Inventory by branch: every device has a home branch, a status and a last known position.
- Assign to the trip, not the truck: the device’s journey ends when the trip closes.
- Queue arrivals for collection: when a trip closes, the device appears on a collection list at the destination.
- Name an owner at each destination: a branch, a consignee contact or the carrier, agreed before dispatch.
- Trace silent devices: a device that stops reporting before arrival is chased the same day, while its last position is still useful.
- Charge and return to stock: a collected device is charged and marked available, or disposed of if it is single-use or damaged.
Reusable or single-use?
| Reusable device | Single-use device | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per trip | Spread over many trips | The whole device |
| Recollection | Essential | Not needed |
| Best for | Regular lanes with return loads | One-way or remote destinations |
How to measure it
Devices collected within a set number of days of arrival, devices silent before arrival, and devices on hand per branch against planned dispatches. Size stock from dispatches per day and the days each device is away, including collection and recharge.
How Portable GPS Tracker does it
Portable GPS Tracker is built for shippers that hire most of their fleet. A charged 4G device (with 2G fallback on highways) is assigned to the trip at the gate, and the trip is created in about forty seconds from masters: vehicle, carrier, LRs, invoices, route and driver. The customer gets a live tracking link with no app and no login, which expires when the trip closes. Every ping carries position, battery, temperature and humidity; ETA is worked out from remaining kilometres and the speed this truck actually makes; excursions, long halts and silent devices are flagged to the desk. At arrival the trip closes, a movement report is ready in PDF or Excel, and the device is queued for collection and back into the branch inventory. Where there is no device, consent-based SIM location is the fallback, and fixed GPS and carrier telematics feeds can land on the same trip.
Questions
How do I stop losing portable GPS trackers?
Keep an inventory by branch, link each device to a trip, queue it for collection when the trip closes, name an owner at each destination and chase silent devices the same day.
Should I use reusable or single-use trackers?
Reusable devices suit regular lanes where they can be collected; single-use devices suit one-way or remote destinations.
See it on your own data. Portable GPS Tracker — Track any truck, owned or hired. Book a 30-minute working session with an engineer.