Response to Batman: Not to sound "Sarcastic" but as for questions #1 and #2, I think you answered your own questions and No, you are not full of yourself. I have always believed that it is managements responsibility monitor employees and there productivity as well as profitability, but if they have no clue, how can they determine what is and what "aint"?
As for #3, a good dispatcher and GPS could save $$$ by routing Techs in a cost effective manner eliminating back tracking and criss-crossing, keeping mileage down. Again, we go back to "competent" people monitoring the system.
If it is used as a "Tool" and not as a "weapon", GPS will work. It will not take long to see who is doing it right, and who is not, but we need to keep in mind, A good dispatcher is the key to making it work, some of the excess fuel usage and high mileage and low productivity could be caused from poor dispatching. I have had them run me "the long way around the barn", Rush you through a job so you can drive a hundred miles to put a battery in a truck, when there was a tech 3 miles up the road doing PM's that could have taken the call. I have passed other Techs out on the road that drove by the place I was headed for that could have taken the call, any of you out there seen this?
I realize there are some bad apples in every bunch, but I have seen Techs get chewed out because of a lousy dispatcher.
Just my 2 cents!