GPS tracked my route for 6 months and I was cheating customers

I run a small roofing crew in Phoenix. Been doing estimates by drive time for 8 years. Last month my kid installed a GPS tracker on my work truck. Says it's for insurance. I look at the data. Turns out my usual route to a job site takes 22 minutes, not the 45 I've been billing. Did that on every job. Not on purpose. I just always rounded up because traffic. But seeing it in black and white made me sick. I had to refund three homeowners last week. Has anyone else caught themselves doing something like this without even realizing it?

3 comments

3 Comments

blair_taylor321mo ago

Jana nailed it. You weren't rounding up, you were just low-key scamming yourself.

the_jana1mo ago

You just always rounded up because traffic" - that's not really rounding up though, is it? That's doubling the time and calling it traffic.

rowan9691mo ago

Right there with you honestly. I've done the same thing before where I tell myself I'm just "rounding up" but really I'm adding a whole extra half hour or more to account for backups. There's a big difference between saying "oh it takes 20 minutes for me to get there" when it's actually 45 on a bad day. It's not really rounding up at that point, it's just lying to yourself about how long things actually take. I think we all do it because admitting the real time feels defeatist somehow. But yeah, you called it out perfectly.