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Fleet GPS SMS alerts when trucks arrive or leave a zone

Fleet GPS SMS alerts tell dispatch when a truck leaves the yard or reaches a job site, without anyone watching the map all day. NexTraq and similar trackers already email arrived and departed zone alerts. Add your Welco address to those alerts. The right phone then gets the vehicle, the place and the time in one short text.

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  • No hardware in the trucks
  • Keep your zones as they are
  • No per-user fees

Works by email with

  • Fleet & GPS (NexTraq)

Published:

A fleet map: Truck 31 leaves the Main Yard geofence at 5:14 a.m., the fence edge pings and NexTraq emails the zone alert. The email reaches Welco and the phone shows: “Welco: Truck 31 departed Main Yard at 5:14 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Animation: a long NexTraq alert email is trimmed into one short text: "Welco: Truck 31 departed Main Yard at 5:14 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."

What dispatch gets from zone alert texts

  • Departures without a phone call

    Dispatch sees which truck left the yard and when, without calling the driver to ask.

  • Odd-hour moves flagged

    A truck rolling out at 2 a.m. texts the night supervisor instead of sitting in a log nobody reads.

  • Arrivals you can plan around

    When a crew reaches the job site, the office can line up the next stop with real times.

  • Only the zones you pick

    A busy fuel island stays in email. Main yard departures and key job sites become texts.

What you need for fleet GPS text alerts

A zone is a boundary you draw on the map around a place, also called a geofence. When a vehicle crosses it, the tracker logs an arrived or departed event and can email it. Welco handles that email the same way as its temperature alarm text alerts. A dispatcher with tracker admin access can finish in about 15 minutes, once Welco has verified your business.

  • A NexTraq account, or another GPS tracker, with zone alerts that can email a contact.
  • A Welco account with your business verified. Start free to get your Welco address.
  • Dispatchers, supervisors, or yard managers who join from an invite on their own cellphones. Each confirms with a YES reply before texts reach them.

Set up NexTraq fleet alerts as texts in 5 steps

You keep your zones and alerts as they are. Welco only becomes one more contact on the alert.

  1. Check your zones

    Make sure each yard, depot, and regular job site has a zone in NexTraq. Name zones the way your crew talks, like Main Yard, since the name shows up in the text.

  2. Approve the tracker's sender in Welco

    Copy the From address on a recent zone alert and add it to your list of trusted senders. Welco won't text anything sent from an unknown address.

  3. Add your Welco address to the zone alert

    In the alert's contact list, add your Welco address. Choose arrive, depart, or both for each zone.

  4. Filter out the routine moves

    A busy yard can log dozens of events a day. Use rules by zone and vehicle so only the zones and vehicles you care about become texts.

  5. Run a test drive

    Turn on test mode to preview, then drive a vehicle out of a zone or wait for the first departure of the day. Check the sample text, then turn test mode off.

Get yard departures on the dispatch phone

Sign up, verify your business, and add one contact to your zone alert.

7-day free trial, 15 message creditsCard required for verificationNo charge for 7 daysEmail reminder before billing

Text me my yard departuresBook a demo

A truck leaves the yard in the middle of the night

Here is one night for a regional delivery fleet outside Montreal, from the zone line to the supervisor's call.

  1. NexTraq logs a departure from Main Yard

    Truck 44 departed from Main Yard. Incident occurred: 2:07:39 AM EDT

  2. Welco matches the after-hours rule

    The tracker is an approved sender. Between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., Main Yard departures go to the night supervisor.

  3. The night supervisor's phone buzzes

    Welco: Truck 44 departed Main Yard at 2:07 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.

  4. The supervisor checks the run sheet

    An early fuel run was booked for Truck 44, so nobody needs a call. On another night, this is when they would ring the yard.

  5. The morning rush stays in email

    Routine departures at shift start fall outside the rule. Dispatch reads them on the map, not as a pile of texts.

Times are an example. A reply to the text goes back to the tracker's sender as email and changes nothing in NexTraq.

An arrival alert, before and after

Arrival texts let a dispatcher plan the next stop without watching the map all day.

Alert email from alerts@fleet.example.com, subject “Alert: Service Van 8 arrived Hillside Job Site”. Welco trims it to one text of 82 characters: “Welco: Service Van 8 arrived at Hillside Job Site, 9:27 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Text received: Welco: Service Van 8 arrived at Hillside Job Site, 9:27 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.

Characters246821 credit

Animation: the alert email "Alert: Service Van 8 arrived Hillside Job Site" is trimmed into one text: "Welco: Service Van 8 arrived at Hillside Job Site, 9:27 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."

The map link and the driver field stay in the email. The text keeps the vehicle, the place, and the time.

Which fleet events are worth a text

Start small. A text should mean someone needs to do something, not just that a truck moved.

  • A vehicle leaves the yard outside working hours. This is the one most dispatchers want first.
  • A plow or sander heads out on a storm night. A municipal or contractor supervisor knows the first run has started.
  • A crew arrives at a key job site. Dispatch can confirm the start time without a phone call.
  • A truck leaves a site earlier than planned. The office can check in before the next job slips.
  • Telematics alarms, like a crash SOS or a low-voltage notice, if your tracker emails them. Send these to a supervisor, not only to dispatch.

Make fleet texts useful, not noisy

Fleets make a lot of events. Only a few deserve a text.

If a fleet alert doesn't reach the phone

Check the tracker first. Most missing texts were never emailed.

The vehicle never fully crossed the zone edge

The fix
No event was logged. Check the zone's size on the map.

The alert has no email contact

The fix
It shows in the tracker's own app only. Add your Welco address to it.

The alert covers some groups or days only

The fix
If a truck is outside that group or schedule, widen the alert in the tracker.

The Welco feed shows a refused email

The fix
The tracker's sender isn't approved yet. Add it to your trusted senders.

The event reached Welco but no phone

The fix
The person hasn't replied YES, or the number can't get texts. Delivery reports say which.

Frequently asked questions

Can NexTraq send arrived and departed alerts as text messages?

Yes, by email. NexTraq can email a zone alert to a contact. Make that contact your Welco address and each arrived or departed event becomes a short text. Approve the NexTraq sender in Welco first so the email is accepted.

What does dispatch see on the phone?

A normal text that starts with Welco and names the vehicle, the zone and the time. Nobody needs an app or a tracker login to read it. The map link stays in the email for when someone wants it.

Should drivers get fleet GPS texts?

Usually not. These texts are meant for dispatchers, supervisors, and yard managers. Someone behind the wheel shouldn't be reading texts. If a driver needs to know something, have dispatch reach them when they're parked.

How do I stop every yard move from texting dispatch?

Use an alert rule. Match a zone name or the word departed, and send only those events to phones. Busy zones, like a fuel island, can stay in email. You can change the rule later in Welco without touching NexTraq.

Can a truck leaving after hours text a different person?

Yes. After-hours routing sends alerts to different phones by time of day and weekday. A truck leaving the yard at 2 a.m. can text the night supervisor, while daytime moves go to the dispatch desk. You set the hours once.

Does Welco track vehicles or show a map?

No. Welco is not a GPS tracker. It takes the alert emails your tracker sends and turns them into texts. Live location, routes, and trip history stay in NexTraq or whichever tracker you use.

How much do fleet zone alert texts cost?

Dispatch pays no per-user fee, buys no hardware and pays no setup fee. Each zone text uses message credits, so a tight rule on which zones text keeps the count low. Start with the 7-day free trial and its 15 credits, then compare plans in US dollars on the pricing page.

Know when the first truck leaves the yard

Add your Welco address to one zone alert and pick who gets the text.

Text me my yard departuresBook a demo

7-day free trial, 15 message creditsCard required for verificationNo charge for 7 daysEmail reminder before billing