Detention Pay for Truck Drivers: How to Get Paid

Detention is money a broker or shipper owes when you wait longer than the free time agreed for loading or unloading. It is not automatic. It is a term in your rate confirmation, and you usually have to ask for it with proof.

What detention pay is

When you arrive for a pickup or delivery, your rate confirmation normally gives a number of free hours. After that, you may bill an hourly detention rate. The terms differ from broker to broker, so the rate confirmation is the document that counts.

Read these four things before you accept

• Free time: how many hours before billing starts.
• Rate: dollars per hour after free time.
• Cap: a maximum per day or per load, if any.
• Start of the clock: your appointment time, or your arrival if you were early or late.

If the rate confirmation is silent about detention, ask before you accept the load and get the answer in writing.

How to calculate it

Billable hours are your total time at the facility minus the free time. Multiply by the hourly rate, then apply any cap. Example: 4.5 hours at the dock, 2 hours free, $65 an hour gives 2.5 billable hours and $162.50.

Keep proof

Brokers pay faster when the evidence is clean. Record your arrival and departure times, the load number, the appointment time and the name of the person who signed you in or out. A photo of the signed paperwork helps. LaneHook timestamps these for you and writes the claim text.

Send the claim quickly

Send it as soon as the load is delivered, with the proof attached, and follow up on a schedule. Many drivers wait too long, and old claims are harder to collect. Be polite and factual, and quote the clause in the rate confirmation.

Count what the wait really costs

Detention rarely covers what those hours could have earned rolling. Use the calculator to compare, and use the answer when you negotiate your next rate confirmation.

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