The right unit?

[evershade]

After doing some research, I fell I'm even more confused now. What I'm looking for is a dash cam that records what's in front and If not more importunely what's going on in the cab. I've had reports of my employees sitting in our trucks doing nothing for hours. I'm looking for a unit that can record while parked, have a long recording and battery life. GPS would be nice as well. Any suggestions or recommendations?

 

[jokiin]

After doing some research, I fell I'm even more confused now. What I'm looking for is a dash cam that records what's in front and If not more importunely what's going on in the cab. I've had reports of my employees sitting in our trucks doing nothing for hours. I'm looking for a unit that can record while parked, have a long recording and battery life. GPS would be nice as well. Any suggestions or recommendations?

not sure what the right solution is for you but one thing I can tell you based on feedback from others in the same position is that if you have employees that are goofing off on your time you won't change their behaviour, you will either get refusal to work while there are interior cameras or they will sabotage/cover up the internal camera and render it useless anyway, bad staff are bad staff, a camera won't change that unfortunately

 

[jeez123]

Goofing off... really dig that expression. I assume you're not into taxi /cab-driving then, eh? ;-)

 

[jokiin]

I assume you're not into taxi /cab-driving then, eh? ;-)

no, rarely ever catch cabs unless I'm going to/from an airport or in another country

 

[kamkar]

battery life are not something you get with the commercial dashcams we focus on in here, what ever these have it is just there to finalize the recording in case of a carsh.
For parking guard you will need to hardwire the camera.
And these commercial dashcams just entail a lot of manual work retrieving and backing up the footage, for a fleet of cars / trucks i am sure it will be a pain in the Bhind.

 

[Moon]

Goofing off... really dig that expression.

Hahahahaha ... haven't heard that one for many years. I'd say it's an Aussie thing. Putting on a show. Acting like an idiot

 

[dash riposki]

Like Kamkar mentioned, reviewing the daily files to see what the driver is up to is going to be a pain.
I'll estimate 1-2 hours for each truck, per day, for somebody to scan through the files for an 8-10 hour period of recording.

I've been driving commercial trucks or buses for a total of 35 years.
If the vehicles are local, it's probably more productive to go out and spot check what the trucks are up to, than to record everything.
There's probably some inexpensive GPS tracking unit that would identify some problem people.
(Some of them may have a GF they like to visit for a few hours every work day, or some favorite place to stop to 'drink' a lunch.)
(I remember one guy who would park at a bar across the street from the truck terminal for a few hours as soon as he started work. All the drivers knew it, but it took the company a few hours to catch on, but they could probably look out of the office window and see the truck sitting there.)

You're still better off having a reliable dash cam to record accident/incident type stuff.

I run 48 states in the US, and have to deal with office types who don't understand that while yesterday I only drove maybe 200 miles, since I was in congested, risky streets and roads of the NE US, it took 8 hours to do it. Add in a delivery and a pick up, my work day was 12 hours. (I'm not paid by the hour) They probably assume I was screwing off. I wish I was!

 

[jokiin]

There's probably some inexpensive GPS tracking unit that would identify some problem people.

yep, easier to setup geo fencing alarms, check idle time etc also

 

[tabetha]

Tachograph will tell you all about movements, modern ones location direction speed etc.

 

[SawMaster]

There's probably some inexpensive GPS tracking unit that would identify some problem people.

This is your best electronic option. Many of these devices offer real-time location tracking via the internet so that you can monitor them from the office. Nobody likes being monitored in their work and there are some people who resent this to the degree that they will try to sabotage your efforts. That resentment can happen even in your best people so I'd advise that you not go here without expecting unwanted repercussions

Instead of this I'd suggest that you loosely follow those who you suspect in person to see what and where the problems are with their performance. If indeed someone is 'slacking' you can dismiss them, and after a few instances of your doing that everyone else will 'get the message' and do better. But sometimes there are other problems you have not seen which are causing the poor performance and by being there in person you can identify those areas and work to improve them. Dismissal should always be the last resort

Phil