Detention pay calculator for truck drivers

How the detention pay calculator works

• Clock start = the later of the appointment time and your check-in time.
• Time on the clock = release time − clock start. Tick the next-day box if you were released after midnight.
• Billable time = time on the clock − free time, rounded down to the step you choose.
• Detention owed = billable hours × your hourly rate.

Every number comes from your rate confirmation. If it says the clock starts at check-in, or bills in full hours, set the inputs to match. The rate con is the contract; this calculator just does the arithmetic.

Worked example EXAMPLE

A reefer has an 8:00 appointment and checks in at 7:30. The receiver releases the truck at 13:10. The clock starts at 8:00, not 7:30, so 5 hours 10 minutes are on the clock. Two hours are free, which leaves 3 hours 10 minutes. Billed in 15-minute steps that is 3 hours, and at $50 an hour the claim is $150.

Had the driver checked in at 8:20, late, the clock would start at check-in and many rate cons would pay nothing at all. Being on time protects the claim.

Detention fee trucking terms to check on every rate con

• Free time: how many hours before detention starts, at pickup and at delivery.
• Rate: the hourly amount, and whether there is a daily cap.
• Notice: when you must tell the broker you are being held, often before free time runs out.
• Proof: signed in and out times, ELD records or a facility check-in slip.
• Late arrival: whether arriving after the appointment voids detention.

If a term is missing, ask before you accept the load and get the answer in writing. Detention that isn't on the rate con is a favor, not a payment.

Detention pay for truck drivers: why it matters

A truck held for five hours loses more than five hours. Waiting time comes out of the 14-hour window, can push the next pickup to tomorrow and can turn a good week into an average one. Detention pay rarely makes up for all of that, but it changes how shippers and brokers treat your time. Facilities that pay detention tend to load faster.

Detention charges trucking companies miss

• Not reporting in time. A claim sent a week later is easy to deny.
• No times on the paperwork. Ask the shipping clerk to write in and out times before you sign.
• Forgetting the second stop. Detention applies at each stop with its own appointment.
• Accepting layover as detention. A truck held overnight may be owed layover pay, a separate line on many rate cons.

Detention, layover and truck order not used

These three get mixed up on invoices. Detention pays for hours held past free time on the day of the appointment. Layover pays when the truck is held overnight or into another day because the load isn't ready or the receiver can't unload. Truck order not used, often called TONU, pays when a load is cancelled after the truck was dispatched to it. Each is its own line on a rate con, with its own amount, and each needs its own proof.

Where detention hits hardest by rig

Reefers wait at busy grocery and food warehouses, and the unit burns fuel the whole time. Tankers can sit at plants waiting to load or for a sample to clear. Car haulers wait at auctions and dealers for keys and paperwork. Livestock haulers can't afford to wait at all with animals on board. Flatbeds wait for forklifts and cranes at job sites, and 26 ft box trucks for dock doors at retail warehouses. Ask what the wait usually looks like before you take a load at an unfamiliar facility.

When you dispatch with us

Detention and layover claims are part of what we do for every load. We put the terms on the rate con before you accept, watch your clock, tell the broker before free time ends and send the claim with your times. The rate con comes straight to you, so you see every term. Check what our fee looks like with the dispatcher fee calculator, read about dispatch for owner-operators, or send an application.