GPS. These three initials are my lifeline as a courier.
In the bad old days, couriers would carry around one or two maps that detail every street in the greater area around their city. The dispatcher would have the same map, and could help the driver pinpoint the location they were being sent to.
Today, I have a satnav. (Most people would call it a GPS, but strictly speaking, that just implies that it tells you where you are. I prefer to call it a satnav to specify that it also tells me where I should be going.)
Mine is a refurbished TomTom I bought a few years ago. Most people prefer Garmin models, but I find I like the TomTom interface better. It's really a wash, though, so long as you know how to operate the unit and it gets you where you're going.
I know my way around the city fairly well, so I ignore 90% of the directions it gives, since they consist of highway directions that I don't need help with. I just glance at the overview map it gives after I input my destination, and then make my own way there following highway signs and my instincts. It's only as I approach the destination that I start paying attention to its turn-by-turn directions.
I also have an iPhone. It comforts me to know that if my satnav stopped working, I could use that as a backup until I can fix my satnav. (This is a legitimate concern, as I've twice accidentally removed the memory card from the satnav while it was running, which usually corrupts all the data on it and turns it into a brick.)
I try to avoid using the iPhone while I'm driving, as it's pretty distracting, but it's good for verifying the location of an address (sometimes it's not quite where the satnav thinks it is) or just looking up the company I'm supposed to be delivering to, as Google Maps often knows its precise location by name alone.
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