How to Bill Detention Pay — The Money Most Owner-Operators Leave on the Table

You pull into the shipper at 7am for a scheduled load. They tell you to back into dock 14 at 11am. You finally roll out at 4pm. That's nine hours on-site.

The freight pays $1,800. Sounds fine — until you realize you just gave away an entire driving day's worth of revenue waiting for someone else's loading dock.

Detention pay is how you get that money back. Most drivers don't bill it. Here's exactly how.

What detention actually is

Detention is the time you spend at a shipper or receiver beyond the free time the broker allowed. Industry standard is 2 hours free from your scheduled appointment time. Every hour past that, you bill.

Typical detention rates:

Rate	When you'd see it
$25/hr	Bottom of the market. Power-only or rough brokers.
$50/hr	Common spot-market detention.
$75/hr	Solid contract or dedicated freight.
$100+/hr	Reefer with strict timing, high-value, or trusted relationship.

A 9-hour stop with 2 hours free at $75/hr = 7 billable hours × $75 = $525 in detention on top of the line haul. That's not a "nice to have" — that's a quarter of the load.

The 5 rules to actually collect

1. Get detention in writing on the rate con

Before you sign the rate confirmation, look for a line like:

"Detention: $50/hr after 2 hours, max 8 hours."

If it's not there, email the broker and ask them to add it. Save the email. No paper trail = no payment.

2. Log arrival and departure with proof

The dispatcher will ask "what time did you get there?" You need to know to the minute, and you need proof:

• In-gate / out-gate receipt from the shipper (best).
• Geofenced time stamps from your ELD or trucking app.
• Photo of the dock with timestamp as a backup.

Without proof, the broker will argue every minute.

3. Notify the broker AS you go into detention

The instant you hit 2 hours on-site with no dock assignment, send a message:

"Update: still waiting for dock. On-site since 7am. Will be in detention as of 9am. Please advise."

This puts them on notice and gives them a chance to call the shipper. It also kills the "we didn't know" excuse later.

4. Submit detention with the BOL

Don't wait until next week. The moment you leave the shipper:

• Note the total on-site time.
• Submit the BOL + the gate receipts + a one-line detention summary together.

"Detention: arrived 06:55, departed 16:08 = 9h 13m on-site. 7h 13m past free time @ $50/hr = $361."

5. Follow up at 48 hours

If you don't see the detention on the settlement, email the broker. Don't be aggressive — just polite and specific. Most legitimate brokers pay when reminded.

The 2-hour timer problem

The "after 2 free hours" math is simple in theory. In practice you forget exactly when you arrived, the broker rounds in their favor, and you lose 30 minutes to "well it was actually 2 and a half hours free, you know how it goes."

This is why HaulSave has a built-in detention timer on every load:

• Tap "Check in at shipper" when you arrive — clock starts.
• The big visible counter shows hours and minutes you've been on-site.
• It flips to amber the moment you pass the 2-hour free window — that's your reminder to email the broker.
• Tap "Check out" when you depart — total time is locked in for the BOL submission.
• The whole timeline is saved to the load so you can reference it later.

You don't have to remember when you got there. You don't have to argue. You just show the timer.

Start tracking detention time — free →

The math on a typical year

Let's say you spend an extra hour past the free window on 20% of your loads — totally normal. At 4 loads a week, 50 weeks a year, that's 40 loads of unbilled detention.

40 loads × 1 hour × $50/hr = $2,000/year left on the table.

For a driver who actually bills consistently? Easy to clear $5,000–$8,000/year in detention. That's a tire budget. That's a new APU. That's a vacation.

Bill the detention. It's your money.