Transportation Logistics

Tommy Shorthaul

Name:       Tommy Shorthaul

Employer: Trucking, Inc., Transport City, USA

Title:         Driver

Profile:      Previously euphoric, currently frustrated

Life used to be sweet for Tommy Shorthaul. Back before Trucking, Inc. went wireless, that is. Tommy used to stroll into the dispatch office, pick up his orders for the day, and head to the nearest truck stop for coffee, raspberry Danish, and a good jaw with the truckers passing through town.

After an hour or so, Tommy would make a couple of deliveries and then look up another truck stop for round two in Danish heaven.

 Needless to say, Tommy's Danish and gossip addiction didn't sit well with the folks waiting on deliveries. How many irate customers did Herschel, the dispatch manager, have to soothe every day in his genial, rumbling bass notes? It got so bad that Herschel's chest constricted every time the phone rang. That wasn't good for a six-foot, four-inch, three-hundred-and-fifty-six-pound, cigar-smoking teddy bear.

When Herschel asked Tommy why he never got anywhere on time and why he never completed his route on any given day, Tommy drew himself up to his full 5-foot-five-and-a-half inch height and declared, “I care about my fellow human beings, and because I care about my fellow human beings, I drive slowly to ensure the bodily safety of all around me and to prevent unnecessary injuries where I am able.” He said this with such deeply offended dignity that Herschel always felt painfully ashamed of having doubted the man's honesty, integrity, and heartfelt commitment to Trucking, Inc., every one of its employees, its partners, and the customer base.

Then one day, Herschel received word that Trucking, Inc. would be ditching paper in favor of wireless computers to run its operations. The thought of change on that scale made his knees knock. Little did he know how delightful change can be.

This story ends with Tommy Shorthaul experiencing a serious lifestyle disruption. He was handed a ….. Hand-held computer instead of a stack of papers on a Monday morning in May. The hand-held computer displayed all the information he needed to complete his route. Best of all for Herschel's health and well being, it featured a GPS tracking component. At every moment of every day, Herschel could zero in on Tommy's location. Local truck stops noticed a drop in revenue, but Trucking, Inc.'s revenue went through the roof.

There were also:

no more papers to be lost or misfiled (all information gets entered into the hand-held computer)

no concerns about rain or coffee spills (the hand-held computer has an IP rating of 54)

no worries about dropping the unit from the cab to the pavement (the hand-held computer has a drop rating of 4 feet to concrete)

no need to turn on the light inside the truck cab to read addresses during after-dark deliveries (the hand-held computers display is illuminated)

Tommy, of course, hates the whole affair. On the bright side, he's lost a few pounds. He's no longer as wide as he is tall. And he likes the cool Vehicle Cradle mounted in the cab. Sometimes he takes out the hand-held computer, sets a cup of coffee in the Cradle, and talks to himself. It's not a truck stop, but it's the best a GPS-monitored, hand-held computer -sporting driver can hope for.