Trimble Agreement

[korky]

i was speaking to the bloke who tests our new drivers last week and he said RM cannot use the data to punish an employee, he did say the police could use it though

[Your late today]

I bet they employ a manager on £30k to look at this data to see if your idling to long so they can save £10 a week on fuel, I’m always been told off for idling to long but as I have my break in my van and this time of year it’s cold, engine stays on to keep me warm better than finding a frozen postie in the seat.

To be fair, I believe it's actually an offence to leave your engine idling. According to the Highway Code you should shut your engine off if you're going to be stationary for two minutes or more.

I’m on a deep rural farms only so I’m parked on private property usually under two minutes unless the farmer comes out then if you turn the engine off he thinks you have time for a chat better to leave it running so you can start to drive off but they still walk along side trying to gossip.

[Idk]

Cracking down and conducting on this now

[TopperGas]

Cracking down and conducting on this now

If I was ever conducted I'd ask for evidence when the van's Trimble was last calibrated unless it's a fairly new van, as the readings in the vans I use seem to vary widely.

[yellowbelly]

Cracking down and conducting on this now

From the original agreement:

It is also agreed that this technology is not being deployed for use as a disciplinary tool or a source of information to be used in conduct cases.

Has this been changed?

[SpacePhoenix]

I bet they employ a manager on £30k to look at this data to see if your idling to long so they can save £10 a week on fuel, I’m always been told off for idling to long but as I have my break in my van and this time of year it’s cold, engine stays on to keep me warm better than finding a frozen postie in the seat.

I think RM are about to have a massive push to cut costs across the board everywhere. They've put up a chart that shows electricity use by the MC, so they might be looking into both fuel use and electricity use everywhere. We've got the new owner coming in soon so RM might well soon be going through everything with a fine tooth comb looking for savings wherever they can find them

[Londonsburning]

I bet they employ a manager on £30k to look at this data to see if your idling to long so they can save £10 a week on fuel, I’m always been told off for idling to long but as I have my break in my van and this time of year it’s cold, engine stays on to keep me warm better than finding a frozen postie in the seat.

I think RM are about to have a massive push to cut costs across the board everywhere. They've put up a chart that shows electricity use by the MC, so they might be looking into both fuel use and electricity use everywhere. We've got the new owner coming in soon so RM might well soon be going through everything with a fine tooth comb looking for savings wherever they can find them

Post a picture of said chart. Would love to see it

[buchanpeter]

Cracking down and conducting on this now

We were told just last week that anyone with excessive idling is getting conducted.
Anyone that the trimble claims has been speeding has to sit in a video call with area managers and driving safety ppl along with the manager aswell.
Surely all this is against the agreements regarding Trimble useage?

[Basildon Bond]

I got pulled into the office a while ago and told that the day before I had the worst trimble score (or whatever it's called) in the office and by some way. I was asked "what [the heck] happened?". I said I didn't do anything different. We left the office and they looked at the duty I was on and it was just around town - no need to floor it to get up to speed joining a faster road etc. It was a van share so I got my partner for that day to come over and they said they didn't know what happened either. We didn't join the Cannonball Run that day etc.

Honestly, I didn't do anything remarkable and yet it sounded like I had personally sunk the entire office average.

I would suggest, as long as you are genuinely treating the vans with a bit of respect, you challenge any report. Ask where and when it happened - specifics. It should be treated as a learning experience first so you know where and when you may be going wrong, rather than immediately having management try to hit you with a stick about it. For my score, they never got back to me.

The trimble could be faulty; someone could have used the van before or after your shift; your van partner may have been driving at that point (forget all that "who signs for it is the only driver"). Where, when, and what occurred is vital information. However, if you are speeding and/or ragging it round - stop driving like that today.

[SpacePhoenix]

Time for RM to install dash cams in all vehicles?

[world class male]

Time for RM to install dash cams in all vehicles?

this would be ideal,and should be standard in my opinion, if you do something wrong and there's video evidence, or they think you've done wrong but the video shows nothing it would stop all this nonsence, how many hours p/w are wasted on these chats with us, that's not including the people sat up above in warm offices collecting the data to hit us with a $hitty stick!
but we will still have folk putting a glove over the cam to block videos

[SpacePhoenix]

but we will still have folk putting a glove over the cam to block videos

Doing that would need to be a straight up charge of gross misconduct

[Mr Rush]

We were told just last week that anyone with excessive idling is getting conducted.

Something I was thinking about today in regards to engine idling: that's, of course, only when the engine is on. On P&L, how often is the engine active? It's off most of the day.

• 10 minutes travel from the DO to the first DP. 10 sets of traffic lights on the main road. At best we sail though two thirds on a good day - so three lights on something like 40 second cycles. That's 2 minutes idling before we've even done anything (we'd switch the engine off if only we hadn't experienced greater than zero near-breakdowns in traffic).
• 2 minutes max moving between 8 loops, half of which require ~30 seconds to cross traffic at junctions - that's 2 minutes again.
• A disinclination to freezing to death causes us to run the heater periodically/A disinclination to heatstroke causes us to run the fans periodically. Shamed by the thought of destroying the planet, it would have to be less than 10 minutes total during a half hour break. Also, the radio constantly shuts off because of 'economy mode' which requires turning the ignition periodically.
• Return to the unit, same route in reverse with the same lights but now in rush hour traffic. 4 minutes. I'll generously assume dicking about in the yard trying to get a space doesn't count.

270 minute duty span, of which 40 minutes is spent with the engine running, of which 18 is spent not moving. A horrendous 45% idling score is really 7% of outdoor time. Three years ago Cylon Thomson was specifically moaning that the vans are inactive most of the day - and they are! P&L is stop-start... how about vans with Stop-Start systems?

Instead, someone should really take this lesson to the other couriers who leave their vehicles running unattended all goddamn day.

[Londonsburning]

P&L is stop-start... how about vans with Stop-Start systems

The funny thing about this is all of the newer non electric vans do actually have stop/start systems but because they are driven the way they are, IE very short distances between loops etc the stop/start is automatically disengaged because it f***s the battery in the van. So it is actually utterly pointless.