What you should know about Detention Pay!

To all the brokers out there. I'm not going to ask for detention because I know for a fact you will not pay it. I just will not go to that shipper or receiver again.

 

In my area (around philadelphia), the companies that haul containers (that you lease on to) ALL pay detention (to the best of my knowledge).

Is that something standard within an intermodal contract?

Sorry if this is slightly off topic.

 

When I drove as company driver, after two hours of wait time, if nobody paid me any money, I simply told them I am leaving, which I did. I was a solo driving team loads so my company really couldn't say much #### to me =D

 

It's a good idea to add detention and TONU charges into the rate confirmation if you suspect it will be an issue. If the broker is squeamish about this, then you know you're in for a treat.

Some broker's I've dealt with actually like having an agreed upon TONU. They go ahead and try to find another truck that beats my rate minus TONU and make more money, lol.

 

Of course, this will never happen, yet the large majority of professional truck drivers are required to do this, at minimum, every day. In fact, truck drivers can easily provide several hours of work, per week, for free. Based on contracts that motor carriers have with shippers and/or receivers of freight, the driver is required to provide the first hour of “waiting time” at no pay...



that's what our gov wants !

more people to work harder then they do. ask a government employee to work for one hour "free" and you will get the one finger salute

 

People, this is part of this business. If you are not budgeting in 2-hrs on each end then you are not running your business properly. And when working with a broker, when you get to the hour mark and it doesn't look like anything is happening (not going to get loaded or un-load within 2-hrs.) then you make a call and let the broker know what is happening. And include in that conversation what your detention rate is (if not on the rate confirmation).

The goal should be to get out as soon as possible and the broker has a better chance of getting things moving than you ever will. They likely know the people to call that can make things happen.

But in the end if you feel that you are working for free for those two hours then you have not priced your load properly. You will make more money (and that is the goal) by understanding the system and working it to your advantage.

 

I suppose you'd like to get paid for delays in traffic as that effects you're dollars per hour also?

But you could go work as a city driver and you'd get paid for detention and for any delays.

 

I always saw detention pay as a bonus. Nobody likes to be delayed but realistically losing more than a couple of hours for me is rare. A lot of that is in the freight you choose. You have to know any typical dry load delivering to a grocery whse has the potential for big delays. Therefore when booking it that is most definitely part of the conversation before signing off. Get a rate that has you smiling the entire drive and collect a possible bonus at the end. Really it's a win, win - you get a bonus if it is quick painless, and extra money if not. Now when you're out here running on the razor's edge barely scraping by from one load to the next the insults that most places pay for detention are frustrating. We'd all like to get $100 an hour or better after a couple of hours but with most general freight, don't hold your breath on that one. So it MUST pay on the front end no question about it....

 

At some point somebody is going to have to figure out how to make it beneficial to the shipper/receiver and broker to get trucks loaded and unloaded quickly. In a fair world, (and we all know this world is far from fair) brokers would foot the detention bill. That way maybe brokers would actually take the time to plan load and unload times, and make it harder for shippers to get trucks when they are chronic offenders . The other option would be for EVERYONE to raise their rates substantially and offer discounts to shippers that get trucks in and out fast. Just my opinion, then again we all know I can wish in one hand and poop in the other and we know which one going to get filled first.