Your company maybe pays you $10 hour detention after 3 hours. The clock doesn't start ticking until your appointment time at 5, not your arrival time at 4. The first three hours are free. From 8-11PM you get $30 to compensate you for just sitting around.

How does detention pay work?

Detention pay is the penalty the shipper will pay for calling in a trucker for a pickup and making the trucker wait. There's a difference between 10 minutes while the load gets wrapped up or stacked on a pallet, and waiting hours because the request called for the trucker to arrive too soon.

How does detention pay work for truck drivers?

Carriers often have a detention rate to counterbalance some of the income lost during detention. “Detention rate” is the fee carriers charge for their detention time. Rates can range from $25-100 an hour. This fee does not fully make up the cost of the driver's stationary truck and lost time, but it softens the blow.