The forces at work on detention pay. Worth the mention...

Or you can just refuse to drive for any company that wont pay detention..

 

There's something Mr Dills and possibly a lot of other people may not know. A LOT of carriers have been getting detention pay for years, they just dont share it with the drivers.
As far as the FMCSA getting involved, trucks and truckdrivers (whether o/o or fleet driver ) fall under the operating guidelines set forth by the federal government because they are a federally regulated commerce. I have never seen a provision anywhere that states a shipper must get trucks out in a timely manner. Shippers are not federally regulated, unless it's a hazardous substance they are handling/shipping etc. There's no provisions I'm aware of requiring a certain time frame to get trucks loaded/unloaded in a timely manner.
For sure it's a problem that needs to be looked at, but I wouldn't hold my breath on anything coming in the form of help from the fed.

 

We don't need the feds on this one. We "drivers" have all the power here. Shippers and receivers waste our time because we let them. My guys don't go to grocery warehouses, paper mills or mega shippers for this reason.
We can't allow this to continue. If you go to Mc Donald's and ask for extra BBQ sauce for your chicken nuggets, you got pay for it. I'm not gonna let shippers and receivers abuse my time for free.

 

I just don't think it's a government solution......I'll admit I am NOT affected by it at all.........my industry segment and my situation......detention just is a non-issue. But here it is: if companies just DON'T work for shippers that use their equipment as rolling warehouses..........problem solved. The kicker is the mileage pay model......companies are not highly motivated because their labor cost for the waiting period is negligible. Fix the pay model.......detention will take care of itself. Easy for me to say, right?? LOL

 

I have always gotten detention as an O/O for the last decade, at least, after the first 2 hrs. Just part of the contract. Granted, don't claim it often, due to the fact most customers I work with don't hold me up for anything. Sometimes I don't even ask for it, yet I see it on settlement. Example, took a load to Conagra in Lakeville, MN. They claim they needed it at 1800. Got there at 1745. I was out of hrs anyway at that point, so figured I would take a 10 there anyway. They could not unload till 0700 next morning. I didn't even worry about detention, as I took a full 10 break. On next settlement, $380 in detention was paid by Conagra. Not bad to get paid to take a 10 hr break! I realize a lot of folks don't have the same situation, but it does beg the question why they don't, and why they haul for those that won't make good. It is a choice. No one is forced to haul anything.

 

You're right in saying that no one is forced to haul anything...but there is a caveat. For many drivers, its either make enough to support their family by driving...or not, and if they refuse to work without guaranteed detention pay there will be another driver in the seat they occupied in a couple weeks. And for o/o with there own authority, don't worry, plenty of carriers out there that will leave their truck sit in that dock for 10+hrs, and they will have no load...no revenue... and soon no truck. Unfortunately, there are just too many drivers and carriers that will put up with it.

So for many, that's their choice...wait on it, haul it, take the shipper's bs... or not eat, until they can work themselves into something better.

 

So you charge for detention, If you break down on the way to the receiver, are you gonna pay for being late??

 

Yeah, it is always a choice. One can acquiesce to the status quo of doing what the other carriers are doing. In which case, they really have no gripe. Or they can either go against the flow and work only with customers that limit this kind of nonsense, or go find another career. I avoid dealing with customers who like to play the waiting game, and are readily willing to compensate me for my time if they hold me up unnecessarily. I have no problem working with a customer if circumstances are clearly beyond their control, like short of help because several called in sick, product not quite ready because of a problem on the line, etc. But not for incompetence or willful neglect. I have pulled away from docks before loading and moved on to better things when the shipper has been a total prick. Even the carrier I work with, if a consignee is going to play games about unloading time, I just take the load to a drop point and leave it an move on. Not going to sit around there waiting for them to get their act together. Both situations are extremely rare, because I make it point to not even get into that mess to begin with. After over 3 decades at this game, I have pretty much picked up on who to avoid. And on the occasional broker load I pull, any detention is agreed upon before the truck moves one foot. Have gotten detention from brokers. Again, the situation is not often, but it can happen. But it is agreed upon up front, not argued later.

This all should be much easier for anyone, with the freight capacity down across the country. Now is the time to set new standards and quit playing the game the "old way".

 

There are receivers who will charge for late delivery.

jimmy