Losing something is never fun. You’re reaching down under the seats of your car, taking apart your couch, checking every drawer, all just to find those dang sunglasses.
It’s a tale as old as time. Panic sets in once you’ve checked the last place you remember it being and all of a sudden you have no clue where it is.
If it’s a lost TV remote then, yes, it’s an inconvenience but not a big deal. The real panic comes when you’ve lost a power generator or a vehicle in your fleet and it starts affecting your company’s bottom line.
GPS trackers are a great way to solve this problem. The trackers come in many forms, such as key-sized fobs for smaller items or plug-in devices for vehicles.
Here are some unexpected uses for GPS tracking technology.
Vehicles
Whether it’s your personal sedan or a logging truck, losing a vehicle is always going to be a huge issue. Misplacing your car certainly impacts your commute and now you have to carpool or rely on public transportation which can be iffy at best. A lost industrial vehicle can slow down business progress, especially if the fleet isn’t that large.
A great way to make sure this doesn’t happen is with GPS trackers. The trackers are installed inside the vehicle and share round-the-clock location data so you always know where it is. Some products share vehicle diagnostics and after-hours alerts as well.
High-Value Personal Items
Expensive tools, jewelry, heck – even video game consoles are worth tracking if they are important to you. There are a ton of small trackers that conveniently attach to handheld items so it doesn’t stick out too much.
A lot of industrial companies track necessary tools like portable concrete mixers or power generators as well. Bluetooth tracking devices are commonly used for tools like this.
Jewelry is more difficult since it is generally much smaller, but there is some customized jewelry that has trackers installed inside the piece.
Containers
Most people will never have to resolve a lost shipping container, but those who do have to deal with the logistics of containers should look into GPS tracking.
Containers hold important goods and a missing expensive shipment is bad news for the importer, exporter and transporter. Many tracking devices are fastened to the exterior of a container and hold up in all elements.
Pets
If you have an outdoor cat or a particularly active dog, GPS tracking is a good way to make sure your pet doesn’t wander too far from home.
There are many GPS products on the market for our furry friends. The most common form of pet tracking is implanting microchips inside the animal so the pet owner has continuous access to the animal’s location. Some municipalities require cats to be microchipped so you might want to check this off the list if it hasn’t been done already.
Another option is special collars fitted with GPS trackers. Both of these devices share real-time to the user’s phone so there’s no mystery where your favorite critter is.
Wallet
We’ve all been there. You’re rushing out of the house to do some errands or get a bite to eat, you check your pocket and the fear sets in that your wallet isn’t with you. Next up is the hurried scramble to find it and hopefully it comes up.
Eliminate all that stress with personal wallet trackers. These devices are much smaller since they are designed to slide into a wallet, but they are still linked to your phone or the service dashboard so you can quickly find it and get on with your day.
Boats
Boats are expensive and hard to maintain, so you better not lose one. It is not common for boats to be misplaced, but there are always exceptions. Maybe you forgot where it was docked or you suspect it has been stolen. Either way, GPS trackers would help locate it.
Now there’s nothing they can do about a sunken ship, but they’ll work if the boat is securely floating in the water.
Heavy Equipment
Bulldozers. Excavators. Cranes. All of these giant machines would seem impossible to misplace but it does happen, especially for businesses with large equipment fleets operating in remote areas. For instance, oil and gas, construction, and logging companies conduct business in very remote areas and when equipment is left behind in the wilderness it can be difficult to relocate.
Heavy equipment is tracked with telematics GPS trackers that are typically installed into the machine. It works the same way as vehicle trackers do by sending location information to the back-office dashboard.
Missing one yellow iron machine can impede an entire project’s progress, which in turn could result in lost money for the company because the job is not done on time. Avoid this issue with GPS tracking.
Clothing
This would be reserved for special clothes, whatever that may be to you. For example, if you have an expensive hat, a cool jacket or a prized sports jersey, they can be tracked with some companies offer discreet trackers that can be sewn into garment so it doesn’t stick out.
It would not be cost-effective to outfit your whole wardrobe with these trackers, so this would be more appropriate for unique, expensive clothes that you really don’t want to lose.