A US road technician has extended his informal survey of the pros and cons of GPS (global positioning satellite) "tracking" on forklift service vehicles online and found mixed responses.

The road technician, known by "batman" in Forkliftaction.com's Discussion Forums, has been quietly surveying his work colleagues on the possibility of his workplace implementing GPS for its 100-strong road technicians.

Not satisfied with their responses, "batman" went online to our Discussion Forums and surveyed his international counterparts.

Among the questions he asked, those that attracted the most interesting responses were "What problems or issues would be solved by installing GPS on service vans?" and "Can anyone quantify in real numbers the savings by installing GPS?".

An industry member from North Carolina says GPS "saved [his company] a ton of money".

According to the member, fuel costs dropped 18%, insurance premiums decreased 15% and dispatch time dipped by one hour. He adds that GPS should not be used as a tool to weed out poor employees as they would show themselves in time.

Another Forkliftaction.com member from the UK says his company benefited from GPS use when it aided in the speedy recovery of a stolen van.

"Police recovered [the van] within an hour or so but (there were) no tools inside. They just retraced all the stop-off points with the tracker, then went to the thief's house and got the lot back."

He adds that "honest technicians" have nothing to hide and so should not worry about the device.

Forum participant "roadrat" from the US says he has no problem with GPS but is concerned about the loss of flexibility for the technician.

"If I received a phone call every time I had to detour because of a wreck or road construction or traffic, or because I took lunch early or because my customer had a bunch of trailers to load and could not turn the forklift loose or I had to make a trip to the hose-making store... then there would be an issue."

"Proshadetree" from Tennessee, US thinks GPS may not work for some: "A thief will come up with a way to bypass it. Ask anyone who has had a car with VATS stolen. If an operator can bypass a seat switch or a height switch, a service man can bypass GPS."

What are your thoughts on this issue? Have your say at our Discussion Forums.