Samsara is launching a free perks program for professional drivers, giving millions in its network access to discounts and offers, from more than 50 brands.
The program, called Samsara Driver Perks, is available to professional drivers in the U.S. beginning Thursday, Sept. 10, and includes offers covering food and beverage, fitness, wellness, travel and personal development. Drivers can access the program through the Samsara Driver App, a direct web link or a QR code distributed by participating organizations.
The program is free for drivers and the fleets they work for. Samsara said it plans to expand Driver Perks to other parts of the world other than America. The initial group of participating brands includes Truck Parking Club, Farmers Insurance, A-Premium Auto Parts, 24 Hour Fitness, Crunch Fitness, Audible, BetterHelp and BetterSleep.
Each participating company determines its own discount or offer terms. Drivers redeem the offers directly through the participating brands rather than through Samsara.
The offers span both work-related expenses and activities outside of driving. Truck Parking Club and A-Premium Auto Parts are among the options more directly tied to life on the road, while fitness, wellness and entertainment brands offer benefits that drivers can use away from work.
The program is available to long-haul truck drivers, last-mile delivery drivers and passenger transit workers within Samsara’s network. That gives the program a broader audience than trucking alone, although many of the participating offers are relevant to drivers who spend extended periods on the road.
Some of the offers address issues specific to professional drivers. Truck Parking Club, for example, provides access to reservable truck parking locations. The company said it has more than 6,500 reservable parking locations across all 50 states.
“Drivers lose hours every week looking for parking,” Evan Shelley, co-founder and CEO of Truck Parking Club, said in the program announcement. “We give drivers a new option to park safely, legally and efficiently.”
Samsara said it developed Driver Perks with input from professional drivers through its Driver Council, an advisory board that provides feedback on the company’s products. The company also surveyed drivers across its network about the types of products and services they would find useful.
Fitness and wellness ranked as the category drivers were most interested in, with 64% selecting it. Food and beverage followed at 58%, while 51% identified learning and personal development as an area of interest.
Samsara said the survey results helped determine which offers would be included in the program.
Jerome Jolly, a driver at Ryan Logistics who has been driving for more than 40 years, said the range of offers was one of the program’s most appealing features.
“I know drivers with all kinds of interests and can see them getting a lot out of it,” Jolly said in a statement. “It’s something I’ll use to save money on what I already buy and try a few new things.”
Samsara’s core business is selling technology to fleets, including tools for managing vehicles, equipment and workers. Drivers are among the people who interact with that technology on a daily basis.
Driver Perks extends that relationship beyond the fleet’s day-to-day operations by giving drivers access to benefits when they are not working.
“We’ve spent more than a decade building technology to help keep drivers safe and efficient on the road,” Johan Land, chief product officer at Samsara, said in a statement. “Driver Perks is about recognizing them for that work in a way that’s practical and real.”
The program is also available to fleets at no cost. That allows carriers to offer the discounts to drivers without having to create and administer their own rewards program.
Drivers do not have to pay to access the program, and fleets do not have to purchase a separate service to make the offers available to their drivers. Samsara said the program is intended to evolve as it receives additional feedback from drivers and adds participating brands.
Lon Ingram, director of safety and risk management at All Aboard America, said the program gives fleets another way to support their drivers.
“Our drivers carry the most precious cargo there is: people,” Ingram said in a statement. “They put so much into their work every day, and they deserve to feel supported and recognized.”
Samsara said it plans to add more brands and offers to Driver Perks over time. The company also plans to expand the program beyond the U.S.
Why this matters:
Samsara is expanding beyond the fleet technology it normally sells by giving drivers benefits they can use outside of work. The move gives Samsara another way to stay connected with drivers, who are the people using its technology every day. It also shows how fleet technology companies are looking for ways to build stronger relationships with drivers, not just the fleets that buy their software. For carriers, the program offers another no-cost benefit they can provide to drivers without having to create their own rewards program.
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