The good news is that the American trucking industry is looking up. It expects that 100,000 new drivers will join the industry every year, and the trend will continue for the next 10 years. This is great news for the economy.
But here comes the bad news. American truckers face a truckload of challenges as they supply goods from one state to another.
Here’s a list of these challenges:
- Talking on the mobile or on the radio distracts truckers and a distracted trucker may trigger an accident.
- Truckers have to complete and compile voluminous paperwork so that they can prove that they have delivered all the goods on time, and safely. They have to keep all the paperwork safe and hand it over before collecting their contractual dues. Minor disputes can lead to losses, delays and legal suits.
- Truckers cannot record what their client and the receiver of goods say over the phone. This makes them miss out on important details like directions, changes to the route, etc.
- Receiving and making phone calls involves a cost, and a trucker gets and makes many calls as he travels 1000s of miles. The phone bill can dent his earnings.
- A trucker has to deal with many documents along the way. He needs a system to keep them safe and then retrieve them easily at a later date. Unfortunately, no trucker can afford to have this luxury.
To overcome these challenges, truckers need mobiles and tablets that are equipped with online fax, a virtual phone system with voice recording, and, possibly, one central toll-free number that handles dispatch and accounting. If they have these facilities, the American economic rails will become smoother, and the truckers’ lives easier.
Here’s how:
- The virtual phone system will eliminate distractions. It’s voice recorder will capture all important details like route changes, directions, etc.
- The mobile camera can be used to click pictures of the completed paperwork. The trucker also does not have to bother about converting the pictures into PDF format because his online fax service can do that for him.
- The email-to-fax app will be used to e-fax the clicked documents to the trucker’s client.
- The trucker will be easily able to retrieve any or all documents at any time by accessing and searching the online fax service’s folders.
This is how email-to-fax and virtual phone technologies can help American truckers experience a smoother drive and conduct their business more efficiently and profitably.