AlerTrax

AlerTrax is a smart GPS/WiFi/LTE tracker that keeps track of your assets and alerts you of troubles.

AlerTrax works both outdoors and indoors to monitor and recover assets quickly.

10/16/2026

41% of stolen equipment in the U.S. was riding mowers and garden tractors. Only about 21% of all stolen equipment was recovered (NER/NICB 2016 Equipment Theft Report).

So we built a Friday lock-up checklist from that same report. Eight steps, about ten minutes once the crew has done it twice:

1. Mowers off the trailers ("equipment should also never be left on trailers")
2. Every coupler locked
3. Machines disabled, keys out of the yard
4. Job site equipment home or locked down
5. Serial number list current, with photos
6. 30 second walk-around video
7. Trackers checked, weekend alerts on
8. One name on the sheet, and a photo of the locked gate

Comment CHECKLIST and I'll send you the print-ready version for the shop wall.

10/15/2026

Most theft advice is about making the trailer harder to take the locks, lights, cameras and fences.

That's all good but the data points somewhere else.

The NER/NICB 2016 Equipment Theft Report puts "delays in discovery of thefts" first among the reasons stolen equipment isn't recovered, alongside "inaccurate or nonexistent ownership records." Only about 21% ever came back.

Neither of those is a problem with the lock but information problems: knowing it's gone, and being able to prove what it was.

So add two things to the lock-up routine: something that tells you when a trailer moves after hours and a serial number list that lives on your phone and not in the truck.

Learn how to fully protect your assets by checking the link in the comments.

10/14/2026

The common view: theft is an insurance problem.

The data says it's a time problem.

The first reason the NER/NICB 2016 Equipment Theft Report gives for low recovery rates is "delays in discovery of thefts and subsequent delays between time of the occurrence and reporting." Only about 21% of stolen equipment was recovered that year.

Insurance pays after the loss. It can't shorten the gap between the theft and the moment you find out. And the costs that hit a small company hardest (rentals, delays, idle crews, management time) are the ones the national estimates leave out entirely.

A trailer you hear about at 11 PM Sunday is a police call with a fresh location. A trailer you find missing at 6:30 AM Monday is a claim.

Full breakdown in the comments.

10/13/2026

The usual way to raise crew profit is to raise prices or push the crew harder.

There is a quieter number to look at first which is the gap between hours paid and hours billed.

Landscaping employees averaged 41.1 hours a week in August 2026 (BLS, preliminary). A lot of those hours are legitimately unbillable: yard time, drive time between properties (which federal rules count as hours worked under 29 CFR 785.38), dump runs, waiting on gate codes.

You can't eliminate them. You can measure them. Two weeks of timesheets next to two weeks of arrival and departure times gives you a billable ratio per crew. Most of the gap is usually route order or one far-off property, not anyone slacking.

Fix the routes then price what's left into your rates.

Full breakdown linked in the comments.

10/12/2026

The usual advice to prevent equipment theft is lock up your most expensive machine.

The data says you should think about the rig instead.

Thieves choose targets by "value and mobility," according to the NER/NICB 2016 Equipment Theft Report. A loaded landscape trailer scores high on both. They can take the mower, the blowers, the trimmers, and itself in one hookup. The report's advice is direct: equipment "should also never be left on trailers."

For example, a zero-turn, a 16 to 20 foot trailer, and a rack of handhelds add up to roughly $22,000 to $27,000. NER puts the average stolen machine at $29,258.

The cheapest coverage for all of it is on the one thing everything else sits on. Unload when you can, lock the coupler, keep a serial number list and know the minute the trailer moves.

Learn more about protecting (and recovering) you equipment by clicking the link in the comments.

10/09/2026

Diesel averaged $6.38 a gallon nationally the week of September 28, according to EIA. Last year it was $3.75.

If your fall routes and bids were set when fuel was under $4, every mile your trucks drive now costs a lot more than you planned. The best fix is driving fewer miles to get the same work done.

Find the extra miles by reading the article listed in the comments below.

10/08/2026

Hiring seasonal snow plow drivers? If the truck or the truck and trailer together, is rated at 10,001 pounds or more and operates in interstate commerce, federal rules require a driver qualification file for each driver.

That means an application, driving records from the past 3 years, a medical card, and a road test, with some of it due within 30 days of hire.

Full post with a seven step checklist in the comments.

10/07/2026

When does your crew's day start? When they arrive at the yard or when they reach the first property?

Under federal rules, if your crew are loading mowers, fueling up, and getting the route at the yard, the workday has generally already started. And the drive to the first job counts too.

Read the full article linked in the comments

10/06/2026

The usual snow season advice is to have everyone at the shop before the storm so you are never caught short.

Federal rules make that advice expensive.

If you require your crew to wait at the shop, you have them "engaged to wait" under 29 CFR 785.15, and that is work time. A crew told to keep their phones on at home is generally not working while on call, under 29 CFR 785.17. Same storm, same crew, very different payroll.

Crews also have less cushion in winter than you might think. BLS data shows landscaping employees averaged 36.1 hours a week in February 2026. But storms do not come in averages. A week with two of them can push a crew well past 40, and overtime averages about $41.57 an hour at August 2026 crew pay.

So the operator move is more specific than "be ready":

- A small first-out crew at the shop
- Everyone else on call from home
- A definite release time when the storm stalls ("off until 6 AM")
- A record of when each truck actually rolled

Full breakdown linked in the comments

10/05/2026

It's Friday, October 30. The crew finishes its last cleanup at 5:45 PM and there is still plenty of light to blow off the drive and load up.

Then Monday, November 2. Same route. Same order. At 5:30 the sun is down and the last property gets half a cleanup with a promise to come back.

Nothing about the route changed over the weekend but the clock did. Daylight saving time ends at 2 AM on Sunday, November 1.

Sending your crew back is where it costs money. For example, a 30 minute drive each way for a three person crew is 3 crew hours of paid travel. Under 29 CFR 785.38, job site to job site travel counts as hours worked. If the crew is already over 40, that is about $125 at the August 2026 BLS overtime average, for zero billable work.

The fix is usually not longer days. Sunrise moves an hour earlier too. Start earlier and put the biggest properties first then finish near the yard.

Full breakdown with sunset times for six cities in the comments.

Address

Annapolis, MD

Website

http://www.alertrax.com/

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