o that cannot stand up to the wind on an outside car carrier. Internal communication is essential between household and car carrier planners if a change in service would be advantageous to the customer as far as speed and cost (Operations Automobile Service Planners Guide).A downside to third party vendor service is that there is a degree of lack of control. Since another company is now in control of the shipper’s auto, it is harder to keep a handle on the status of the auto. Shippers may ask about the location of their auto and this information is not readily available to the planner or third party vendor. Providing misleading or incorrect information often leads to unhappy customers. However, there are advances in technology, which we will discuss later.For my sake, my move will allow the auto to go car carrier. Car carrier planner’s package loads geographically in the same way household goods planners do, but deal strictly with autos. On the household side, the planner goes through their HVAN system, which is used to plan household goods vans by looking for inbound vans and then makes a list. Planners are packaging loads for van operators and dispatch them at the appropriate time, mainly based on estimated time of arrivals (ETA). Current technology though allows United to equip its trucks with a tracking unit called Van Star. Van Star not only enables the company to have a way of locating each truck, it allows United the capability of communicating with the driver. All drivers with Van Star carry beepers with them so if they are out of the truck for any reason they can still be reached with information. Planners can send updated shipping information, reloads, and safety information. Van operators can provide schedules and request order information. Van operators also update their orders from assigned, loaded, to deliver through Van Star without having to contact United.My order gets approved to a van opera...
