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

It has nothing to do with running legal. Also if the load requires sitting for a day to unload or load I just pass it up and go to one that fits my needs. I will PASS IT UP if it requires me to wait a HALF A DAY!! As an independent I have that option. As it is there are lots of loads out there that do not require me wasting my time having to meet their schedule.
The point was if the government gets involved the shippers/receivers will have to go to an appointment system to meet the detention pay requirements.
Our business already has enough problems that have been brought on by the politicians who don't have a clue.

 

Even being a O/O for a carrier, I have the option. If the load is going to require sitting around, and doesn't guarantee detention for doing so, then I don't do it. I have sworn off Menard's stores for that reason. I will take loads into, and between, DC's, as they are all drop and hook for us, but stores are out. Been delayes a couple of times, and Menard's will not pay detention. So the stores are on their own or some other dweeb can haul into them.

Mandatory detention is just going to screw things up. It will come out of the rates at some point. For the company driver, some form of mandatory detention thing will just slow any upward mobility there might have been regarding pay. It is one of those things that most likely will not turn out like people hope. The probability of the Law of Unintended Consequences kicking in is just too great. This is just one of those areas that we all need to follow Nancy Reagan's slogan in the 80's..... "just say no".

 

Something to think about, if mandatory detention is implemented, then appointments will become an industry standard, with heavy charge backs for missed/late appointments.....

FCFS will be a thing of the past, and places that load/unload trucks will be looking to offset their detention losses....

 

I can see what could happen, shipper Yada, Yada, "Yada,Yada policy is $150 an hour for late/missed appointment, with a two hour mandatory minium charge for late, or rescheduled appointments."

I don't think government can mandate detention pay relationships between business entities. It can only regulate this issue on an employer/employee basis.

Requiring carriers to compensate employees for their time is fine, in my opinion, and will cause rates to go up, as no one will be able to take advantage of a trucking company employee. Neither the carrier, nor the carrier's business partners....

 

I think the issue is simply this, can an employer compel an employee to be detained without compensation?

 

If carriers would have been a little more proactive in their dealings with both customers and drivers, this might not be a real problem. Most everyone has a good idea of the customers that are problem children when it comes to detaining trucks. And if carriers would have been a little more respective of their driver's time and made at least some good faith effort to compensate the driver in some way to lessen the pain, we would not have reached this point. All that is going on, is that truck capacity is down, supposedly driver recruitment and retention is a problem, and this is now the current squeaking wheel that is begin targeted for a little grease.

I always cringe when anyone even remotely suggests that government should address any issue. It rarely turns out well. With truck capacity being down, it is a good time for carriers to make better decisions on the customers who they will service. And those customers who will not get out of the 20th century on how they do things will have to just go with bottom feeders and those associated risks. Likewise, drivers need to take stock in who they drive for. If the carrier they are with will not be proactive in addressing these concerns, then maybe it is time to go elsewhere.

It is already the case, that some are more alert at the wheel and see a problem. There are carriers that have their act better together when it comes to how the driver is compensated for detention issues. They know how to handle this from a carrier customer standpoint also. Others should learn from them how it is done and do right by their own drivers. By doing so, the overall situation would change for the better for everyone, including O/O, both leased on and independent. There is not going to be an overnight change. The problem has been going on for a long, long time. It would take some time to turn this boat around.

 

but since everyone logs that time as sleeper or off duty, you are NOT working, there for deserve no pay....

I can see the government requiring you to log on duty to get the mandatory detention time... be careful what you ask for from the government.

 

If truck capacity was actually down, then the carriers would tell shipper and receivers that any driver detained more the x hours, you will be charged y dollars... but carriers refuse to do this, as the shipper and receivers will just give the freight to a company that does not charge detention, and many carriers can not afford to loose any business.

 

So, you only want to get paid for driving?

Let's say that in a weeks time you end up with 20 hours of time spent sitting waiting to load, or unload....

Are you really "ok" with not being paid for your time?

Now remember, if this time sitting is in the drivers seat, then technically speaking, this should be logged as on duty.....

 

wrong on this statement, any time spent in a parked vehicle, may be logged as OFF DUTY...

*A. Definition of On-Duty Time
The FMCSA is excluding from the definition of on-duty time (i) any time resting in a parked vehicle

That will be the company, the shippers, and receivers argument, to be paid, you will have to log it as on duty... and that will reduce your pay.

When you or anyone accept the job, you accepted the pay structure, and knew you only got paid when the wheels are rolling. I lived with it, then moved to a job where I do not have that problem anymore.. more than 1 hour to load or unload, I get paid... takes about 45 minutes to load and unload normally.