🇺🇸United States
Idle Equipment and Labor Cost from Poor Detention/Layover Recovery
3 verified sources
Definition
When detention/layover charges are calculated too low or are not collected, carriers still incur the full fixed and variable cost of trucks and drivers sitting idle. One example cost model shows it costs about $75.54–$80 per hour to run a truck, so each uncompensated hour of detention directly erodes margin.[4][5]
Key Findings
- Financial Impact: For a carrier with 50 trucks losing 2 uncompensated detention hours per truck per week at ~$75/hour, the cost overrun is roughly $390,000 per year in unrecovered operating expense.[4][5]
- Frequency: Daily
- Root Cause: Accessorial charge calculation is often not tied to an internal cost model; many carriers adopt market‑norm flat detention rates ($25–$100/hour) without verifying they cover their true per‑hour cost, and layover pay to drivers ($0–$200/day) is sometimes absorbed by the carrier when customers will not pay.[2][4][5][6]
Why This Matters
This pain point represents a significant opportunity for B2B solutions targeting Truck Transportation.
Affected Stakeholders
Fleet operations managers, Driver managers, CFOs and controllers, Dispatchers, Shipper dock supervisors
Deep Analysis (Premium)
Financial Impact
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Current Workarounds
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Methodology & Sources
Data collected via OSINT from regulatory filings, industry audits, and verified case studies.
Related Business Risks
Unbilled or Under‑billed Detention and Layover Charges
Industry‑wide, DOT has estimated driver pay losses of about $1 billion or more each year from detention that is not fully compensated; individual fleets that under‑bill by even 1 unpaid hour per truck per week at ~$75/hour can easily lose $300,000+ per year on a 100‑truck fleet.[4][5][7]
Incorrect Accessorial Calculations Causing Disputes and Re‑work
For a mid‑sized carrier issuing thousands of loads per month, even a 5–10% rate of accessorial disputes that require 15–30 minutes of back‑office and sales time per dispute can easily equate to tens of thousands of dollars per year in labor and write‑offs (estimated based on typical dispute handling costs; exact amounts not given in sources).
Delayed Collections from Disputed or Unsupported Detention/Layover Charges
Carriers that wait 30–60 days longer to collect on a meaningful share of accessorial revenue tie up working capital; for fleets where accessorials represent several percent of revenue, this can mean hundreds of thousands of dollars carried in AR at any time (estimated based on typical receivables profiles; sources emphasize unpredictability and dispute‑proneness but do not quantify AR days).
Lost Trucking Capacity from Excessive, Poorly Compensated Detention
For a 100‑truck fleet experiencing an average of 1 extra hour of detention per truck per day at an $80/hour opportunity cost, the lost capacity value is roughly $2.4 million per year (300 days × 100 trucks × $80/hour × 1 hour).[4]
Regulatory Risk from Excessive Detention Impacting Hours‑of‑Service
HOS violations can result in fines and out‑of‑service orders; where detention routinely pushes drivers toward their duty limits, fleets risk recurring penalties and lost utilization when drivers are placed out of service (loss amounts depend on violation frequency; sources document the systemic nature of detention as an HOS‑related concern but do not quantify specific penalty totals).
Padding or Suppression of Detention/Layover Time Records
For shippers, even 0.5 hour of padded detention per load at $75–$85/hour across thousands of loads can mean hundreds of thousands per year in excess accessorial spend; for drivers, suppressed detention claims contribute to the DOT‑cited $1 billion+ in driver pay lost annually due to uncompensated detention.[4][7][8]
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