Detention Pay for Truckers: How It Works and How to Document It
Waiting is part of trucking, but it does not have to be unpaid. Detention pay is the amount a shipper or receiver, through the broker or carrier, owes you when you are held at a stop longer than the contract allows. This guide explains how the amount is worked out, why the details in your contract matter more than any general rule, and how to document a wait so it is easy to invoice.
What detention is
Detention pay compensates a driver for time spent waiting at a pickup or delivery beyond an agreed allowance. The allowance is called free time. Once free time is used up, detention normally accrues at an hourly rate until you leave. It is different from layover, which is usually a flat daily amount when you are held overnight or for a full day.
Your contract sets the terms
There is no single rule that applies to every load. The free time, the hourly rate and how partial hours are billed all come from the paperwork for that load, usually the rate confirmation. Many rate confirmations allow around two hours of free time, but some allow more or less, and some say nothing about detention at all. Read the terms before you accept a load, and if detention is not mentioned, ask about it while you still have leverage.
How the amount is calculated
- Time on site = departure time − arrival time.
- Time over free time = time on site − free time. If you left within the free time, there is no detention.
- Billable time = time over free time, rounded according to your terms. Some contracts pay exact minutes, others round up to the next 15 or 30 minutes, and some pay per started hour.
- Detention pay = billable hours × hourly rate.
Free time is normally counted per stop. The pickup and the delivery each have their own allowance, and a short wait at one does not cancel a long wait at the other.
Worked examples
Same day, billed per started hour. You arrive at 8:00 and leave at 11:15, so you were on site 3 hours 15 minutes. With 2 hours of free time, 1 hour 15 minutes is over. Billed per started hour, that rounds up to 2 hours. At $50 an hour you are owed $100.
Same wait, billed by exact minutes. 1.25 hours × $50 = $62.50. The billing rule alone changes the result by $37.50.
Past midnight. You arrive at 22:30 and leave at 01:15 the next morning: 2 hours 45 minutes, which is 45 minutes over a 2 hour allowance.
Two stops. You wait 3 hours at the pickup and 1 hour at the delivery. Only the pickup goes past 2 hours of free time, so only 1 hour is billable in total.
The detention pay calculator does this arithmetic, including waits that cross midnight and stays of a full day or more.
How to document a wait
Detention is easiest to collect when the times are hard to argue with. Build the habit on every load:
- Record your arrival when you check in, and note the time you were actually told to dock.
- Get in and out times on the paperwork. Ask the shipper or receiver to write them on the bill of lading or their check-in sheet.
- Keep other timestamps. A logging device record, messages with dispatch and photos of a gate queue all support your times.
- Note the reason if you know it, such as the dock not being ready.
- Record your departure time as you leave, not from memory later.
Timing and how to ask
- Tell the broker or dispatcher when free time runs out, not after delivery. A message at the time shows you raised it, and sometimes a call gets the freight moving.
- Invoice promptly, with the times, the rate confirmation terms and the supporting documents attached. Many contracts set a deadline for detention claims, so check yours.
- Be specific. "Detention: arrived 08:00, departed 11:15, 2 hours free, 2 hours billed at $50 = $100" is easier to approve than a general complaint.
When you will not get detention
If the paperwork has no detention term, you may have no contractual right to it. Waits that were partly your fault, such as arriving well after your appointment window, may also be excluded. This is why reading the terms first matters. It is worth asking for a clause, or a higher rate, when a shipper is known for slow loading.
Detention and the profit on a load
Waiting costs you twice: it delays your next load and it burns hours you cannot sell. Detention pay only partly offsets that. When you do get paid, enter the amount under accessorials in the load profit calculator to see how it changes the profit per mile. When you are choosing loads, factor in how long a facility usually keeps drivers.
Sources and method
The formulas and examples here match the detention pay calculator. What is owed on any load depends on your own contract, so treat the numbers as an estimate to check against your rate confirmation. This page is general information, not legal or financial advice.