8 ms·

As someone who was recently a delivery driver, the recent addition of GPS tracking is one of the most annoying things about a delivery job. Far worse than drug

As someone who was recently a delivery driver, the recent addition of GPS tracking is one of the most annoying things about a delivery job. Far worse than drug testing. Driving can be difficult and sometimes you need to park and stretch your legs. I was called into the office for this and queried about each of my stops. GPS is going to become more prevalent as people like me are highly motivated to defeat the system, especially working in teams with other drivers. Of course there are work-arounds. Park at a legit spot on an approved break and leave all your electronic devices in the vehicle and walk to where you want to be but don't want them to know about, etc... However, it is highly doubtful this was done by a delivery driver. There is no point in jamming the signal for 10 minutes. What could it accomplish? If the purpose is to take an illegal detour (going against a one way street) the company has logs of all your trips and will soon figure why you have a 10 minute gap everyday.

nfm 13y ago
I took it to mean that the 10 minute window was when the driver was driving past the LSE, where the detectors where.
- michaelwww 13y ago
  It's even less likely he jams signals where ever he goes and LSE just happened to notice it. His company would be very curious why he was disappearing. They can pull him on a screen and watch when he goes in and out of range. It would happen only to him, in whatever vehicle he happens to check out that day. A driver would have to be far more clever than that. The article states "timestamps on trades made in financial institutions can be affected" There's your likely culprit; someone who for whatever reason needs to affect timestamps.
  - bjcubsfan 13y ago
    I think it's likely a driver who is constantly jamming his GPS. I have seen this in work with the FAA. A driver will go past the airport or park and deliver something. We see a temporary GPS outage which have traced back to delivery drivers in several instances. I imagine their company assumes their GPS equipment is broken, but still lets them drive.
    - michaelwww 13y ago
      It seems like an airport would be pretty eager to identify and prevent this so it doesn't go on. Maybe the London Stock Exchange doesn't care as much, but if it messes with trades?
  - aet 13y ago
    I'm curious as how this disruption could be used in a financial scenario. If you disrupt the GPS for 10 minutes, would the timestamps really go that out of whack?
    - dllthomas 13y ago
      And more importantly, will they go out of whack in a way that's useful? Being able to shift the timestamps a few microseconds could be quite valuable if you can do it only to your order gateways (and ensure it's in the correct direction) but "jamming GPS" doesn't seem to get you that. I'm not going to say there's nothing it could be used for, but it's not jumping out at me.
    - jlgaddis 13y ago
      They shouldn't, of course (not over a period of time as small as 10 minutes). Remember, though, that the time a trade occurred (at the sub-millisecond level) might well mean thousands of dollars (or more).
- tinco 13y ago
  I think the parent means that the person who is driving past the LSE with his jammer is less likely a delivery driver, as they are under close scrutiny but rather anyone else. Might as well be anyone who'd rather not be tracked if they can help it. I can imagine perhaps a VIP or even an organized crime member who prefers their car free of GPS trackers when they drive around town visiting associates.
jonknee 13y ago
> Driving can be difficult and sometimes you need to park and stretch your legs. If your employer doesn't allow legally required breaks you can use the GPS log in your suit against the company. Otherwise it sounds like you weren't doing your job.
- tinco 13y ago
  Someone isn't doing their job when they are taking breaks more often than the legally requirement minimum? Sounds a bit harsh to me.
  - jonknee 13y ago
    Pulling over his delivery truck to go on a walk does indeed sound like not doing his job as a delivery driver. I don't see many UPS drivers going for jogs during the day...
    - oh_sigh 13y ago
      > I don't see many UPS drivers going for jogs during the day... What a horrible example. They actually get up and walk around probably dozens of times per day. That is completely different from long-haul trucking, where you may only get 2 stretch breaks in a 10 hour period.
    - michaelwww 13y ago
      Not all delivery drivers are package delivery types. There are a lot of other types of company vehicle drivers like medical equipment delivery and service. I imagine all company and govt vehicles are headed towards GPS tracking and logging.
- toomuchtodo 13y ago
  People aren't machines and shouldn't be treated as such.
  - michaelwww 13y ago
polemic 13y ago
Courier companies are going to have to wise-up pretty quickly and realise that the operational benefit to accurate GPS tracking is far too important to risk using as an HR tool. At the end of the day, route optimisation can make or break a courier company, and getting good metrics on driver routes is just as important as getting (for example) tracebacks on your errors when coding. The smart companies will take a no-blame approach: a driver is responsible for his route with the assistance of the intelligence provided by the company. Any follow-up should be constructive, and the good drivers will feed information back to improve the system. There is no way it should be used to check your break schedule, and any operations manager should be coming down like a ton of bricks on anyone who is undermining such an important tool in their business.
- michaelwww 13y ago
  I didn't work for a top tier company. Both companies I drove for had incompetent management all the way up to V.P. level. They were petty, stupid, and they sure as hell will use GPS tracking as a punitive tool.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
- michaelwww 13y ago
  I don't know, maybe, but what about people who try to get you to rear end them for insurance money. Those robot cars better be pretty good.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]

nfm 13y ago

I took it to mean that the 10 minute window was when the driver was driving past the LSE, where the detectors where.

michaelwww 13y ago
It's even less likely he jams signals where ever he goes and LSE just happened to notice it. His company would be very curious why he was disappearing. They can pull him on a screen and watch when he goes in and out of range. It would happen only to him, in whatever vehicle he happens to check out that day. A driver would have to be far more clever than that. The article states "timestamps on trades made in financial institutions can be affected" There's your likely culprit; someone who for whatever reason needs to affect timestamps.
- bjcubsfan 13y ago
  I think it's likely a driver who is constantly jamming his GPS. I have seen this in work with the FAA. A driver will go past the airport or park and deliver something. We see a temporary GPS outage which have traced back to delivery drivers in several instances. I imagine their company assumes their GPS equipment is broken, but still lets them drive.
  - michaelwww 13y ago
    It seems like an airport would be pretty eager to identify and prevent this so it doesn't go on. Maybe the London Stock Exchange doesn't care as much, but if it messes with trades?
- aet 13y ago
  I'm curious as how this disruption could be used in a financial scenario. If you disrupt the GPS for 10 minutes, would the timestamps really go that out of whack?
  - dllthomas 13y ago
    And more importantly, will they go out of whack in a way that's useful? Being able to shift the timestamps a few microseconds could be quite valuable if you can do it only to your order gateways (and ensure it's in the correct direction) but "jamming GPS" doesn't seem to get you that. I'm not going to say there's nothing it could be used for, but it's not jumping out at me.
  - jlgaddis 13y ago
    They shouldn't, of course (not over a period of time as small as 10 minutes). Remember, though, that the time a trade occurred (at the sub-millisecond level) might well mean thousands of dollars (or more).
tinco 13y ago
I think the parent means that the person who is driving past the LSE with his jammer is less likely a delivery driver, as they are under close scrutiny but rather anyone else. Might as well be anyone who'd rather not be tracked if they can help it. I can imagine perhaps a VIP or even an organized crime member who prefers their car free of GPS trackers when they drive around town visiting associates.

jonknee 13y ago

> Driving can be difficult and sometimes you need to park and stretch your legs. If your employer doesn't allow legally required breaks you can use the GPS log in your suit against the company. Otherwise it sounds like you weren't doing your job.

tinco 13y ago
Someone isn't doing their job when they are taking breaks more often than the legally requirement minimum? Sounds a bit harsh to me.
- jonknee 13y ago
  Pulling over his delivery truck to go on a walk does indeed sound like not doing his job as a delivery driver. I don't see many UPS drivers going for jogs during the day...
  - oh_sigh 13y ago
    > I don't see many UPS drivers going for jogs during the day... What a horrible example. They actually get up and walk around probably dozens of times per day. That is completely different from long-haul trucking, where you may only get 2 stretch breaks in a 10 hour period.
  - michaelwww 13y ago
    Not all delivery drivers are package delivery types. There are a lot of other types of company vehicle drivers like medical equipment delivery and service. I imagine all company and govt vehicles are headed towards GPS tracking and logging.
toomuchtodo 13y ago
People aren't machines and shouldn't be treated as such.
- michaelwww 13y ago

polemic 13y ago

Courier companies are going to have to wise-up pretty quickly and realise that the operational benefit to accurate GPS tracking is far too important to risk using as an HR tool. At the end of the day, route optimisation can make or break a courier company, and getting good metrics on driver routes is just as important as getting (for example) tracebacks on your errors when coding. The smart companies will take a no-blame approach: a driver is responsible for his route with the assistance of the intelligence provided by the company. Any follow-up should be constructive, and the good drivers will feed information back to improve the system. There is no way it should be used to check your break schedule, and any operations manager should be coming down like a ton of bricks on anyone who is undermining such an important tool in their business.

michaelwww 13y ago
I didn't work for a top tier company. Both companies I drove for had incompetent management all the way up to V.P. level. They were petty, stupid, and they sure as hell will use GPS tracking as a punitive tool.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

michaelwww 13y ago
I don't know, maybe, but what about people who try to get you to rear end them for insurance money. Those robot cars better be pretty good.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]