Project 44 is a tracking program where software is placed on the drivers phone for tracking purposes or you allow them to track your ELD devices. Macropoint is another supplier of similar services. Large brokerages demand carriers use them so they don't have to trace loads and hopefully diminish their costs. They want to click on their load number and see exactly where the load is at this moment. I urge all carriers to disallow this sensitive information to be shared. It is easier to demand this when trucks are in supply as is the case right now. I thought it dropped off the map earlier this year - nobody required it but now its an issue again. Lets look at the potential issues.
Lets say you share this information with BIGBROKER. Now he has every pinged GPS position of the driver or the truck you allowed him to see. You showed up one minute past the requested time that BIGBROKER asked you to be at. BIGBROKER can easily say that his customer docked payment to him because you were late. It is quite likely that isn't the case but since he already knows you were late he may attempt to skin you for it. BIGBROKER can use your data to identify if you're running effectively. Did you leave on time, did you take only 10 hours off instead of 11? Once again, this may be used against you. Did you plan to drop your trailer in your secured yard and let the driver go home for the weekend? Now he knows where the driver lives. How do you manage telling BIGBROKER that a different driver did a switch and will progress it down the line? Are you doing LTL? BIGBROKER knows of each stop you made after you turned it on and may datamine your data to get the address of each location for his sales team. Is BIGBROKER really turning off the tracing after the load is delivered or is he constantly mining your data? What does Project 44 do with your data? They datamine too and sell the data to BIGBROKER. They quite likely have data of carriers and lanes to sell to other BIGBROKERs who pay to get other carriers. Fuel locations request this data so they know where is the best spots to close locations due to minimal trucks and open them in higher traffic areas.
The last point; which I think is the most important point. Why would you want anyone knowing where their precious load exactly is at this moment? Lets say BIGBROKER uses Project44 to track his expensive TL load of copper. Who at BIGBROKER or Project44 also has access to this data? Maybe the broker of this load, Joe, doesn't care but broker Billy in another office knows of these loads moving. Billy has friends who can move this copper in heartbeat and since he also has visibility he watches these from home on Project44 and when one rolls nearby him he calls his buddies to steal the truck and all from the truck stop. He knows exactly when the driver got there and that he has 10 hours from that time to do it. He just has to wait for the driver to go inside. Billy can look up the carrier and sometimes even the truck and trailer number from his system and match it with accuracy with the app to see which spot he is parked in. Now the you the carrier is scratching your head wondering what to do with the cargo claim but don't worry the tractor and trailer show up 3 days later and the copper is gone. You're wondering how this happened but guess what - you facilitated it and you probably don't even know it. Its not far fetched. I bet it is already happening. Good luck trying to prove it.
Its cool that we live in an age where you can see your freight move down the road in almost real time but this data collection is dangerous. FedEx doesn't do it why would you? If you wanted to give milestones then so be it. Do you think BIGBROKER is looking at your truck all day? No he isn't because he is too busy selling freight. He only needs it when stuff hits the fan and then they look to the data to see if they can pin it on you and there will always be something in the data. Even for that one special direct customer I wouldn't recommend it because that special customer could also have a rogue employee with the same thing in mind. Once you let that data out you can't get it back.
Please - say no to Project44 / Macropoint. Build your own system to update BIGBROKER because now you own and manage who gets the data.
