Need To Find A New Company, Any Suggestions?

If I'm doing a short haul I do all the steps to ensure I get detention pay. But on long loads I don't bother. I'm mostly regional but usually am talked into running local for a day here and there. Local loads detention pay can very easily exceed the load pay.

But mostly I run far enough I'm more concerned with not losing a particular run that I like over something like detention.

What I mean by that is I don't want a customer calling another Trucking company for that load next time due to extra charges.

Brett I respectfully disagree... I ask companies for their gross receipts every time and detention pay ALWAYS figures on it. I have never seen a company's financial report that does not future detention pay

Though not being a trucker, most of the contracts I have seen between trucking companies and shippers ALWAYS includes detention pay so maybe I am naïve... why should the company get paid and the driver should not receive his share of it? And I have seen many of those not one does not include detention pay... and all the financials I have seen include ALWAYS include detention pay income

If shippers and receivers were actually paying the money they owe for detention do you think they would be holding trucks for many hours at a time? Heck no. It's nearly impossible to get the companies to actually pay the detention time.

Detenion 66,756.87 · Stops 63,090.00

Brett I respectfully disagree... I ask companies for their gross receipts every time and detention pay ALWAYS figures on it. I have never seen a company's financial report that does not future detention pay

Though not being a trucker, most of the contracts I have seen between trucking companies and shippers ALWAYS includes detention pay so maybe I am naïve... why should the company get paid and the driver should not receive his share of it? And I have seen many of those not one does not include detention pay... and all the financials I have seen include ALWAYS include detention pay income

If shippers and receivers were actually paying the money they owe for detention do you think they would be holding trucks for many hours at a time? Heck no. It's nearly impossible to get the companies to actually pay the detention time.

Detenion 66,756.87 · Stops 63,090.00

Yeah, so put that in context. How many trucks are we talking about? How long of a period of time are we talking about? Is that a company with two trucks in a month? Is it Swift with 25,000 trucks over a full year?

That is for 150 units for a dry van only company that mostly specializes in drop and hooks

Detenion 66,756.87 · Stops 63,090.00

Yeah, so put that in context. How many trucks are we talking about? How long of a period of time are we talking about? Is that a company with two trucks in a month? Is it Swift with 25,000 trucks over a full year?

Ok you didn't say over what period of time. Geez, man. Come on.

What percentage of the company's yearly revenues come from detention pay?

That was for the year first 2 hrs are free then $60.00/hr there after. And for a company that mainly drop and hook those are a lot of hours

Ok you didn't say over what period of time. Geez, man. Come on.

What percentage of the company's yearly revenues come from detention pay?

That was for the year first 2 hrs are free then $60.00/hr there after. And for a company that mainly drop and hook those are a lot of hours

Ok so let's use a rough figure of about $180,000 of revenue per truck per year.

180,000 revenues per truck * 150 trucks =  $27,000,000 revenues per year (this is not profits, it's revenues, so don't anyone freak out)

So if they had 27 million in revenues for the year and $66,756.87 came from detention time, then let's figure out what percentage of revenues came from detention time:

$66,756.87 detention time *divided by* 27,000,000 revenues = .00247 *times* 100 (convert to percentage) = .25% of revenues.

So one fourth of one percent of their revenues, or $1 out of every $400 came from detention time.

So if the average driver, making $50,000 per year, got .25% of their pay from detention time that would equate to:

.25% *times* $50,000 = 12,500 *divided by* 100 (convert from percentage to dollars) = $125

So if drivers got the same percentage of their pay from detention time as their company did, the average driver making $50,000 per year would average $125 per year in detention pay.

Now certainly there are drivers getting well more than that per year, but still, it doesn't add up to a hill of beans. Maybe a few hundred bucks per year. Consider the fact that you can make a few hundred bucks in two days. So again, it ends up being squat diddly.

So for me, personally, I never worried about a hundred bucks a year, or even a few hundred bucks a year. That's one or two days work. Who cares? That's not how you make money in trucking. You make money by keeping those wheels turning. If I do an amazing job as a Top Tier Driver I have leverage to make sure my company keeps my truck rolling, and my bank account gets nice fat checks every week.

One of the best ways to keep rolling is to make sure you do not aggravate dispatch with piddly little things like $20 here or there of detention pay, which they know you're getting for taking a nap or watching a movie anyhow. It makes you look bad and it's distracting people who have a lot bigger things to worry about, like making sure I average 3,000 miles or more per week.

Again, I totally get the idea that we'd all like to maximize our pay. No kidding. I'm no different. But I don't see ignoring detention pay as throwing out a couple of hundred bucks a year. What I'm trying to do is demonstrate to dispatch that I'm focused on keeping those wheels turning. That's what is critically important to me. So while you might want your dispatcher spending their time arguing with customer service or sales over your piddly $20, I want my dispatcher on the line with the load planners making sure I'm running hard consistently.

This is one of those "big picture" things that a lot of people don't get. You've heard the expression, "You've missed the forest for the trees" - well that's what this is. You're so worried about arguing over your stupid $20 that you don't realize that you may cost yourself thousands over the course of the year because you're aggravating dispatch and distracting them from getting you big miles.

But the guy claiming his detention pay sat for 19 hrs if a company charges $60.00 per hr for not having their truck running with the 1st 2 hrs being free that means the company gets 17x60 =$1020.00 the companies I work with pay their drivers $20/hr detention pay so this guy is claiming 17x20= $340.00 which is not chunk change... I just gave you that one example just to show that detention gets paid to trucking companies because you suggested that it doesn't get paid and you omit the fact that I said that this company is 90% drop and hook. Just looked in my files and found a company that has 21 trucks including some reefers that had last year $ 75,000.00 in the detention pay (dem reefers) now redo your math.

Just looked in my files and found a company that has 21 trucks including some reefers that had last year $ 75,000.00 in the detention pay (dem reefers) now redo your math.

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Oh wow, so they're up to a whopping 1% of their revenues from detention pay. Bake em a cake - let's have a celebration!

See, while people like you would be arguing with dispatch about that stupid 1% of your pay you can make from detention time, I'm on the line with dispatch making sure they're focused on keeping my wheels turning, which is 99% of my pay.

Trucking isn't just about adding up detention pay or fighting and scrapping and arguing over every stupid little nickel. Making money in this business is about a driver's performance and relationships. If you're a Top Tier Driver and you have an awesome relationship with your company, especially your dispatcher , you're going to turn 3,000+ miles per week. If you're even one step below that you're going to average 2,500 miles per week.

500 miles per week lost *times* 40 cents per mile = $200 per week difference or $10,000 per year! Who gives a flying cr*p about a little detention pay once in a great while when arguing with dispatch over getting paid to take a nap could potentially cost you thousands every year?

so this guy is claiming 17x20= $340.00 which is not chunk change...

You let me know when you find a driver that gets $340 in detention pay. It isn't going to happen.

See, this is exactly the kind of stuff the Top Tier Drivers on this site are always talking about. There are a ton of drivers in this industry that never figure out how to make top dollar. It isn't about fighting with the people you count on to keep you moving over an extra $20 for taking a nap. That's going to get you nowhere. You look like an idiot and you're taking up people's time over petty stuff that isn't going to mean anything in the end.

Every day your dispatcher has drivers who get in wrecks, are late to customers, have breakdowns, or won't leave the house and won't answer their phone. They have Just-In-Time freight they're trying to monitor, home time to give to drivers who haven't seen their families for almost a month, and their boss looking over their shoulder telling them their fleet's production is down this month.

Then here comes Cornelius arguing about the stupid $20 you want for taking a nap at a customer. No one has time to worry about that kind of garbage. If you make dispatch stop what they're doing to worry about that kind of stuff they're going to be aggravated and they're not going to keep you moving the way they will a guy like me who is screaming in their ear about keeping me rolling.

You also have to remember that dispatchers get bonuses or commissions based upon the number of miles their drivers are turning. So the the more miles you turn the more money you both make. Your dispatcher isn't getting paid to get you detention pay and he also isn't able to spend his time trying to get you more miles which is the 99% of the pay you're going to make.

You have to learn to see the big picture in this industry. You don't fight every battle. You don't aggravate the people who feed you. You don't cry about getting your 1% pay for taking a nap and wind up costing yourself $10,000/year in lost miles because your dispatcher can't stand you.

This business is complicated. Making top dollar takes a lot of savvy, a clear view of the big picture, a ton of ambition, and great people skills.