Driver reports facility to OSHA after 13 hour wait outside of shipper

Run into this “philosophy“ a lot out here. Dispatcher ignores that you sat at a shipper or receiver for 10 to 12 hours because “you had a really good run with lots of miles before that“ so what. They’re still taking up an entire day of your life, sitting and waiting. They’re supposed to be compensation for that. That is the day of your life you could’ve been at home sleeping in your own bed and you’re not you’re sitting in a nasty facility. The lack of pay for detention layover in this industry is astonishing.
I would say on average each year I end up stuck in a facility somewhere between 18 to 24 hours a couple of times, and the longest I’ve ever had to wait in a facility was three days. Couldn’t leave. Tried to get out and take a walk a couple times and security told me I had to stay in my truck. Unbelievable. And the worst part is they kept telling me it would just be “a few more hours.” For THREE DAYS. This was back at the first reefer company I worked for. So when I got my paycheck, there was no compensation on it and I called up my driver manager and said he had 24 hours to pay me what I was owed or I was turning in the truck. They paid me right away in that case and apologized.

 

Work for a company that pays detention pay. My company pays $20 per hour after the first hour. They pay detention pay themselves even if they don’t collect it from the shipper/receiver. Because of that they will call the customer ask what’s going on and try to charge them detention pay.

when they have a problem customer that takes a long time and won’t pay detention. They usually drop an empty trailer at customer. So we can to drop and hooks. Now everyone is happy, no waiting and no detention pay for driver or customer.

 

If you not getting paid hourly while waiting you are part of the problem. WTF is wrong with people being willing to sit for hours or days without renumeration
Y’all should know what you signing up for.
My longest wait was 3 days waiting for ice road to tighten up,, day 4 company sent me to airport where a C46 had been chartered to take my load
I got paid for every hour.

 

longest I ever heard of was a transmission company for BMW in SC. "Z" something or other

I showed up 0700 for my appt on a Monday and was told we'll come and get ya when we have a door.

called my dispatcher/ transportation manager for the terminal at noon and he said call me in an hour and if nothing happens we'll bring it back to Charlotte. left the plant and they called me as I hit I-85 north, " HEY, we have an alternate site that will unload you now!!"

NOPE it's going back to our terminal per company orders.

we had the local driver go back 2 more days, same thing after he left suddenly an alternate site is available.

ended up unloading into our warehouse and charging them storage and milage for refused deliveries and NEVER accepted another there.

there were drivers that had been there for almost a week!!!

using you as a storage container??

 

I had an old reefer driver break this down for me years ago been in the reefer business for years and he said he literally will fight tooth and nail with his company over 15 minutes of detention or layover pay and he said the reason behind it is because it’s the only thing that keeps the industry honest. Your company is getting paid for you sitting there and trust me. They’re only giving you a small percentage of it. Your dispatcher is getting bonuses in kickbacks and incentives based on what he doesn’t pay to you. Every driver really needs to think about this. Everyone else is getting paid and they’re doing nothing you’re the one sitting there. The company is going to charge $150-$200 an hour because their equipment is sitting. And they don’t wanna give you $20 an hour? For sitting there for up to days? That basically tells you everything you need to know in a nutshell. It basically tells you everything you need to know about what they really think about you.

 

The vast majority of TL companies don't pay anything for lost time at customers, breakdowns, etc. It's not really the drivers' fault there just aren't enough of jobs that do pay these things to go around. Trucking is a competitive business and lots of trucking companies in order to compete just don't charge for every accessory.

 

I'm wondering about the smaller Carriers/ O/o's taking a load there. They must have gotten at least a 10 hr minimum for retention pay at $50/hr? No way, the brokers didn't call the shippers not explaining the situation.

 

Cheap rate cutting companies don’t pay detention. All other companies pay
Companies begging for drivers but can’t get applicants willing to sit at a dock or in a field for endless hours without compensation
Suckers sit for free, they have no business complaining and need to move on

 

This is trucking and it's always been cut throat like that. There's probably 90% of TL companies out here not paying drivers wait time, breakdown, etc That's reality. It's a competitive business. I'm not condoning it or anything. I'm thankful to have a job I don't deal with it anymore. Just pointing out there's a whole great big world of trucking out there where it's normal that lost time doesn't get paid.

 

OTR at a mega I never got paid detention unless it was a 1/100 customer that had a greenhorn at the desk that would sign a detention stamp. No sign, no detention pay. If they refuse to sign then you're SOL.

Detention/wait/breakdown/delay pay when I ran fuel theoretically could be paid. Reality is it never was. Hard enough to get paid for regular work. Let alone 3 hours sitting in line at the rack or for a breakdown.