Meter readers like Ted Best no longer would have to read gauges manually
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on January 7, 2016 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Ted Best explains the difference between the meters the city is currently using and the automatic meters they are looking to install. Best has been a meter reader for 21 years and should the new system be enacted he will not have to manually read meters anymore.
Most workdays come and go without a hitch for city water meter reader Ted Best.
He reports to work early in the morning before his shift begins at 7:30 a.m., grabs his handheld meter reading device and begins his eight-hour workday.
He knows every road in Goldsboro the same way most people know their own driveway.
But he also knows what it is like to be chased by dogs.
He knows the feeling of having to call the police to remove someone from a water meter when he is having to shut off their water.
He has been stung by wasps, fought off snakes and dug through ants just to read a water meter.
And he's loved all of it.
But soon, with the city considering implementing an automatic meter reader system, he won't have to worry about any of those things.
"Every day is not the same," Best said during one of his regular routes on Wednesday afternoon. "Customers with high bills will want to know why, so you have to explain that to them. Sometimes they agree, and sometimes they don't, and it's harder to explain it."
The most disheartening part of the job is having to cut someone's water off, Best said.
"You'll pull up to cut their water off, and you'll see two kids in the yard. My heart goes out to them," he said. "You go in to talk to them while the kids are playing in the yard and sometimes it works, and they understand. Other times it's tough, and they don't understand, and they don't listen, but you still have to cut the water off."
Best, who has been a meter reader for 21 years, said he has even encountered situations where people chained a dog to their water meter in an attempt to prevent their water being cut off.
But that isn't the most frightening thing he has encountered while doing his job.
"I've had my life threatened on James Street before," Best said. "I was out reading meters, and a young man threatened my life. I guess he thought I was an Uncle Tom or something, you know, telling on people that were selling or drugs or something. That was interesting. He asked what I was doing, and I told him I was reading meters. He said, 'Are you sure?' And I said 'yes,' and went back to doing my job. Then he said it louder, 'Are you sure?' And I turned around and he said, 'I'll put a cap in you.' And I froze, you know, I had nerves and I was scared. My truck was two blocks away and I didn't have a phone on me. But I was able to explain it to him, and it was all right. We carry phones on us now."
Best and the city's five other meter readers began having to manually check the dials on water meters after devices the city purchased in 2007 from a company named Datamatic began to fail.
The "Firefly" devices, as they are called, were automated. A sensor on the device sent a signal to an antenna on a meter reader's truck that read the meter for the readers as the truck drove by the water meter.
Over the years, the devices all began to fail.
Then, the Datamatic company filed for bankruptcy.
Now, the city's meter readers have to manually read the more than 15,000 water meters in the city.
"This device doesn't read anymore. It's dead," Best said, pulling the now defunct device out of the ground. "So what we do now is come by and punch the number on the dial into the handheld."
But the city has been in conversations with a company named MeterSys that plans to install automatic water meters to replace all the existing meters in the city, should the Goldsboro City Council approve the measure in the future.
The new automatic water meters will instantly report all water meter readings back to the city's main office every 15 minutes. This will prevent meter readers from encountering situations similar to Best's, and it will enable the city to shut someone's water off without having to send a meter reader out into the field.
Best said he does not believe anyone will need to be laid off if this change occurs.
"We'll still have to change meters out if they stop working," Best said. "We'll still do customer service, and we'll still have to come out and cut on people's water."