J&M Contracting, a construction fleet in Huntsville, Texas, had three backhoes stolen between 2014 and 2018. These could range from $52,000 (used) to $85,000 (new) and perform a variety of tasks of highway construction. After another backhoe was stolen in January 2019, the company’s fleet and security manager, Garland Spivey, knew something had to be done.
To better secure the fleet’s 28 Ford Super Duty trucks and 33 backhoes and front-end loaders, Spivey turned to Verizon Connect and its GPS fleet tracking software, which provides fleets with vehicle location information.
With the fleet already losing more than $200,000 in assets, Spivey said “the monthly fees (for the devices and service) are worth it.”
In addition, the fleet management solution provides data on speed, mileage, idling and fuel usage, enabling customers to reduce fuel consumption and maintenance costs. As a benefit, fleets can monitor fuel card usage to prevent theft and misuse, see when a fill-up exceeds the asset’s tank capacity, or by comparing the asset’s location to where and when the card was used.
Spivey said it can also track employees’ time at work, the routes they’ve taken and any incidents of hard braking or speeding. And the substantial discount on insurance, of course, doesn’t hurt either.
Dude, where’s my backhoe?
Just eight months after contacting Verizon Connect, in the fall of 2019, another backhoe disappeared.
That incident ended up being just an unauthorized use. An employee took her home for the weekend to do personal yard work. An alert was sent to Spivey’s phone and he immediately knew something was up because the backhoe shouldn’t have left J&M’s yard on a Saturday morning when crews were off the clock.
But the robberies to come in the coming months were a little less benign.
Spivey describes a robbery as unique and also beneficial to local law enforcement. He set up alerts for equipment use on nights and weekends, but he wasn’t prepared for a backhoe to be stolen at 8 a.m. on a Monday, right under the crew’s noses.
With a quick GPS map check, Spivey was able to give law enforcement the exact location of the stolen backhoe. It was about 5 kilometers away and was being used in broad daylight.
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