What do you think mandatory detention pay would do to owner operators

Omg, are you serious? A driver will make extra 50$ a week ? Here is your college fund, early retirement, WOw

 

Keep the government out of business... business used to be about negotiation, and those who knew how to negotiate, received better pay...

As one former company put it, the competition for those loads are so great, that we do not charge the shipper for detention, as they would just load the load on another carrier, that does not require detention pay.

 

A few years back, I had to load in Abilene. Big load. Supposed to load Tuesday morning. It wasn't ready. I called the travel agent, "Any detention money on this load?" She said, "$1500/day". There was another driver who was getting ticked off. Why?

"You see that multi axle there? Ask him if he's getting detention."

So, Ticked left, and another driver showed up later, who had the same dispatcher as Ticked. And he was getting detention. We dropped the trailers and went to the Hook in Tye and waited until Friday to load.

 

Hope this will help. I charge the shipper a loading fee after 45 minutes. Few will cough up $150. an hour to have me sit there. I do heavy haul mostly. Turn about is fair play, If we are late (escort ect) they can charge me. I have only needed to charge a rate twice in 35 years. Didn't get it anyway. Speeds up the loading crew tho.

 

Which, I think, is the point. I don't get rich off of detention pay, but if the spectre of detention pay motivates the shippers/receivers, then that's what's needed.....

 

I bill detention at $75 an hour, after two hours. I think that's fair. It's enough to motivate without scaring away.

 

I have been known to hop on a forklift & load me. I will do most anything to keep rollin'. Shippers don't mind. EXCEPT Union places.

 

Honestly, I don't think $75 is enough, that's $25 per hour for 3 hours and only if your there for the third hour.
Why is it we are the only industry that wants to give up our services for little or nothing?

Just to put this in perspective; Call a taxi to show up at your facility / house, then make him sit there for three hours before you get in to go wherever, before you take off just take a look at the meter. I bet it's a lot more than $75. Remember also, a taxi business costs less than one quarter of what a trucking business does with a lot less risk!

What about a small size crane, about the same cost to get into and operate as a truck, well when you want the crane to show up at your facility it will go something like this;
4/6/8 hour minimum depending on customer.
$200 / $350 per hour.
Oh, and the clock starts from the time the crane leaves it's yard, charging for the time it takes to get to the hirers facility and back.

Lets face it, a good driver will cost at least $25 per hour, if your driving your own truck well your the best driver that truck will ever have behind the wheel and your worth even more, isn't it crazy to give someone a truck if they pay for the driver regardless of circumstances.

I know it's hard to turn around what's become (industry standard) due to truckers who run a trucking business for drivers wages but they go out of business as quick as they started. It's the perception of (industry standard) that the rest of us need to get a handle on and charge accordingly.

We charge $100 per hour detention time which I still think isn't enough in most circumstances but I don't try bill it after the fact. If it's not on the rate confirmation you don't get my truck!
Sure, they will look for a trucker that won't require detention time on the rate confirmation before they book with me despite their promises that it won't take long to load or unload, it's an easy one and all that bs.
Yeah, you put your money where your mouth is and I'll put a truck when and where you want it!
Even at only $3 per mile, @ 70 mph that's $210 per hour!
If I'm not moving it should because I'm eating, resting or spending time with the family, not because you didn't have your ##### together at your loading facility / site. Your time isn't free and neither is mine, if I'm on the clock somebody is going to pay for it.
Brokers usually charge shippers for detention time regardless of if the trucker said anything about it or not!
I have no problem getting detention time from any shipper, it's the brokers that don't want to pay it even though they charged for it!

My detention pay is already mandatory, I didn't need the government to tell me we need to charge for it.
The one thing that this proposed law provides is an opportunity for all truckers to realize they can and should charge for detention time. You never know, it might be the first step in getting this industry back to where it actually makes sense for a trucker to be a trucker.

Sorry for the long rant Trees.

 

Government regulation is never the answer... It stops free thinking, innovation, and ingenuity. It will also harm those owner operators who are actual business owners, and understand how to negotiate, and the power of no.

 

I completely agree and appreciate your input. I should probably clarify my post. $75 per after 2 is the rate to most of our direct customers, and I feel that's fair because they're paying premium per mile rates. When I'm getting 3+ a mile I tend to give them something of a break on detention, and some of our customers will rack up a lot of time, know this in advance, and negotiate terms that are completely acceptable. Repeat direct customers that pay premium mileage rates are like gold, that's how much I value them, I start charging them $150 an hour on top of the linehaul and they're likely to go elsewhere.