The challenge of how companies with logistical departments should conduct safety inspections for DVIR compliance for their growing fleets in the future—in a sustainable, cost-effective, and efficient way—is sparking an industry-wide disruption. 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, a company that helps people declutter the junk that they have accumulated over the years in their homes, has found efficient ways to streamline the efficiency of its fleet of trucks and divers as well as manage their insurances effectively. We spoke to their Warehouse Manager, Mark, to find out how industry-grade fleet management technologies like those from Samsara and Whip Around have helped them streamline their processes.
1-800-GOT-JUNK? Company Background
Since its inception in 1989 in Vancouver, Canada, 1-800 GOT-JUNK? has been steadily growing its operations. The company’s founder, Brian Scudamore, who was still a college student, discovered that most homeowners found junk disposal difficult since there was no practical way to eliminate their clutter while maintaining urban self-sufficiency.
He was inspired to start his own business after he saw an ancient junk-hauling vehicle rolling along a McDonald’s drive-thru. What initially started as a way to pay for college swiftly developed into a franchise for expert rubbish removal.
The company deals with anything you may consider clutter, from an undesired sofa, a mountain of home trash in the garage, or an entire warehouse full of abandoned office furniture. When feasible, the company donates products to charities or recycles them to further its environmental aims of preventing waste from going to landfills.
Since then, the business has steadily grown, purchasing additional vehicles, employing excellent personnel, and establishing a goal to develop a brand that would become well-known. Today, the company has expanded to almost 200 sites across three countries.
The Challenge: Fleet Management Efficiency with Reduced Costs and Time
Even though 1-800-GOT-JUNK? was rapidly expanding, there was a problem. There was no efficient way to manage its growing fleet regarding safety inspections, ordering repairs, predicting faults, and managing truck insurance. It was often a lengthy and time-intensive process entailing a lot of paperwork.
Its fleet management system needed a complete overhaul. Their method was cumbersome and expensive, requiring a large internal staff to manually conduct inspections on paper. The firm had also long been unsatisfied since it frequently failed to detect and foresee vehicle defects. It had the chance to reinvent itself in a strategy where it might retool its approach. The company sought to incorporate a fleet maintenance software platform into its fleet management process.
The Solution: Samsara and Whip Around Fleet Management Platforms
1-800-GOT-JUNK? choose to use the fleet management software solutions from Samsara and Whip Around. It complimented everything the business was attempting to do. These platforms’ promise of flexibility was tested as the next biggest challenge. The company discovered a new reality when arranging safety inspections, truck maintenance, and repairs using 1-800-GOT-JUNK? service increased.
The company could now order or forecast maintenance using fleet data as often as necessary, in real-time, and in less time, as opposed to when it could only plan maintenance inspections based on a hunch and no data.
Soon after, 1-800-GOT-JUNK? changed fleet safety inspections, maintenance, and repair procedures to Whip Around with a heavy reliance on its adaptability. It did away with the paper-based inspections because the driver could now do them all at their convenience using a smartphone. The software is now used to manage its fleet across all its locations in the three countries.
While that was going on, 1-800-GOT-JUNK? also integrated Samsara’s IoT-powered connected cloud platform to satisfy its fleet’s insurance needs. The Customer Success team at Samsara helped 1-800-GOT-JUNK? implement Samsara throughout its fleet and train its workforce, which includes drivers, safety managers, and mechanics. With Samsara, the company now had real-time access to truck data and sites using AI-dash cams. This way, they could streamline their insurance claims processes with minimal effort across the three countries.
The Results: Faster Inspection and Repair Time, Reduced Maintenance Costs, and Better Tracking
Even though Mark has been at the company while they were using both Samsara and Whip Around, he tells us that the results have been evident. Mark recalls that their previous method of tracking maintenance, which used paper, was prone to human mistakes. Things were, therefore, prone to being overlooked. They couldn’t afford the unanticipated downtime if something went wrong with a truck that a thorough inspection might have avoided because they had full daily routes.
With Whip Around, the company gets access to maintenance data that makes the process considerably quicker and allows it to plan maintenance more accurately by knowing when each item is due. “With Whip Around, we get to find out truck problems faster than a regular person inspecting by paper,” said Mark.
In addition to enhancing driver safety, 1-800-GOT-JUNK? uses the Whip Around fleet management software platform to improve maintenance effectiveness, streamline back-office operations, and reduce personnel expenses, resulting in a higher return on investment for the company. Mark tells us, “Once a problem is identified, it’s immediately fixed before it morphs into a more complex and devastating problem that would otherwise need hours of repair and more labor.”
Next Steps for 1-800-GOT-JUNK?
As a company that grows year after year, 1-800-GOT-JUNK? enjoys collaborating with technology partners that can handle their quick expansion and keep them one step ahead of the competition. Mark advises other companies to think about integrating these technologies within the company in addition to leveraging Samsara and Whip Around’s platforms.
Another advantage of the Whip Around platform, according to Mark, is the capability to monitor their drivers and utilize the LIVE location to identify them. “In the end, one of the main benefits we get from combining both technologies is that we can now identify those who misplaced goods for their vehicle inspections and cut down on our overhead expenditures as a business.”
If your fleet is experiencing similar difficulties, consider integrating Whip Around and Samsara to handle the labor-intensive tasks associated with gathering, storing, or retrieving data on vehicle inspections and maintenance. Contact us today for a free consultation and reserve a demo.
