Reasonable Detention

Companies have FCFS because they don't pay detention (some other reasons). Most that get detention in these cases are running a cheap mileage lease so the company eats it out of the huge profits they make of the driver.

Or the broker values the independent and wants to keep them happy.

But have a couple direct accounts that have payed me because it was always a 4+ hour wait and if they wanted me or my drivers back that was the deal.

 

I received it in a extreme case once on a FCFS load. Usually that window is for the shipper, like if your not checked in by such & such then they won't load you that day. I look at detention as a whole, if it took a long time to load me, I will give the broker a call and let them know that it needs to go allot better on the other end. The better brokers will make sure that the offload goes allot better, so in the end it averages out most of the time.

 

Some of you fellas must be trucking on a different planet!
about 60-70% of our loads are fcfs on at least one end. This is for dry freight.
now detention is discussed with the shipper or broker when we start talking about the load. the rate goes up higher if we presume that there more than likely to be long hours loading or unloading.. of course we ask after how many hrs will detention start, and what their rate will be.
as a general rule of thumb, if the hourly rate is less than $25, it's a crap load, don't take it, you will wait long hrs at those docks. If on the other hand, it's high, like $40-$75, there's a lesser chance. Don't forget to notify the broker or shipper contact (whoever you booked the load with) before the start of the detention time (before the 2,3 or 4 hr mark according to the terms) that way you do your obligation, but not only that, you give your contact a chance to make the dock workers work faster to avoid extra charges.
We love detention and make lots of money from it. Just make sure you put the in and out times on the POD and sign it, and follow up with your contact about sending a revised confirmation with the extra charges included.
I remember one time we made $400 on an already high paying load.

Remember time is money!!