The same could be said for cell phones, when there are perfectly good pay phones available...

 

My cell phone doesn't have a big screen that is on all the time. I have seen drivers with screens on and I think it would be a major distraction, especially at night. I used pay phones for many years before the advent of the cell phones. I took my time with those, too. It can be a hassle finding a pay phone these days where your truck can get in to park. I do like having my cell phone. It makes it much easier to do business and is less expensive than making the same number of calls on a pay phone. A good friend of mine has a GPS and loves it. I may change my mind on the GPS once they perfect the technology. Besides, I can buy another laptop for $500. I might consider it if the price were $100 or less. For $500 I expect the technology to be right every time.

 

My Delorme GPS cost me $80 new.

 

The ones that I have seen are several hundred dollars. What about programming or software? How does it compare to the more expensive brands?

 

I put the addy in my GPS when I pick up the load then I turn it off.

I will figure out my routing to get to the city I am delivering in using my atlas.

When I get close to the city I will turn the GPS on and go to history and bring up the addy of where I am going.

Like GMAN said I don't like the distraction of the GPS being on all the time.

 

I was at the Flying Hook in Waddy, Ky recently (as I am every friggin' day!) and watched them ripping out the pay phone booths to make room for them to hang some more holographic animal pictures to sell! :roll:

 

Holographic animal pictures can be used to communicate with dispatch too.

I've come to the conclusion that an overwhelming majority of the transportation industry has no taste whatsoever.

 

I think my dispatch is a holographic animal.

 

I picked up a load in downtown Philly a few days ago. When I called to get directions to them, they gave me absolutely perfect directions into the plant. I had absolutely no problem following their routing.

That all changed when it came time to leave. They had absolutely no idea how to tell me how to get back onto ANY interstate in/around Philly. I asked 4 other drivers who came in to load. None of them could speak a word of English.

When I left, I knew I was on my own. I have both a standalone GPS (Nuvi) and Streets & Trips. I wasn't about to follow them because they both tried to send me underneath of 11' bridges.

It ended up taking me about 40 minutes to get onto I676, and that was after taking a really fun sightseeing tour through downtown Philly (definitely not a place for a 53' trailer). I also drove through areas where I was offered sex by women, men and everything in-between. I could've also had any type of drug known to mankind.

So, ya, the shippers/receivers aren't always that much help.

 

Not using one doesn't automatically assign you to the horse&buggy era! I hope my comment didn't come off sounding smart-a**. No one makes a change in their habits until the benefits of adopting the new outweigh the benefits of maintaining the old.
I find that it works best to do the "rough framing" of my routing with my Atlas, and let Esther do some of the "trim work" of the local/in-city part. But even then, I'm more prone to use the directions other drivers have sent in to the QC, using the GPS to name off the streets as I come to them! That's invaluable in pitch dark blackness in areas that don't seem to have discovered the value of street signs!
Since I'm such a young, tender, new lass....(not a word. any of you! )...I don't know the roads of this country like the lines on the back of my hand. The GPS, while certainly not infallible, has proven to be a real help..
I think it's cool to have someone to discuss routing with...
Jewels