WASHINGTON — If drivers have to be federally regulated by hours-of-service rules, brokers should be required to pay drivers for time lost waiting to pick up freight because it ends up making roads less safe.
That is the argument of a group of owner-operators and small trucking companies as the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration plans a new study on the effects of driver detention time on road safety and trucking operations.
While carriers of all sizes have long been concerned about the effects driver detention has on safety and operations, “it affects us differently [than] established trucking companies as they are able to negotiate a maximum wait time and they are given priority when it comes to service,” stated one owner-operator commenting on the information collection request (ICR) for the study, which FMCSA must submit to the Office of Management and Budget for approval.
“Brokers would rather sacrifice the independent owner operators rather than hurt their relationship with the shipper or receivers [because] they would automatically lose their contracts.”
Another commenter to the ICR asserted that although brokers know where and when a truck is heading for a pickup or delivery, “we get there and still have to sit for hours and hours while our clock’s ticking. As soon as we arrive, we should all start being paid on the clock. It will also make these shippers and receivers move faster to send us on a safe journey from pickup to delivery.”
Arctic King Logistics LLC, a trucking dispatch service, said wait time-related pressure to get back on the road to make a delivery or to pick up the next load may lead drivers “to make compromised decisions, potentially endangering themselves and others on the road.”
However, “it’s important to note that not only brokers are responsible,” the company stated. “Certain facilities contribute to the issue, often being ‘short-staffed’ or simply not caring and creating conditions where detention time is almost guaranteed. Regulating and improving these facilities is essential for enhancing overall safety and the welfare of drivers and all participants on the road.”
Several commenters said FMCSA should allow for an industry-accepted two free hours of wait time, after which it should require a $100-per-hour detention time fee be paid by the broker, shipper or receiver.
“Hit them where it hurts: their bottom line,” said one, recommending a $100-per-hour fee go to the driver and $300 per hour to the carrier, “paid immediately by the offending party prior to [the driver’s] departure via an industry accepted payment method. Carriers must pass on full driver share to driver, no exceptions, and carriers cannot, as a condition of employment, compel drivers to sign any portion of their share away.”
Chris Burroughs, vice president of government affairs for the Transportation Intermediaries Association, which represents truck brokers and 3PLs, said that TIA has been investigating the detention time issue for years, pointing out that technology has made it easier to track detention time metrics which in turn improves transparency with customers.
“However, it’s essential to emphasize that sharing accurate data does not automatically guarantee the fair compensation of detention time,” Burroughs told FreightWaves.
“TIA steadfastly views detention time as an industry-wide concern, urging that it should not be the FMCSA’s role to regulate. Instead, the agency should remain dedicated to its core mission of ensuring safety rather than dictating commercial provisions. As brokers, our priority is to nurture fruitful relationships with motor carriers, ensuring that they are justly compensated for any time unnecessarily lost due to detention. It’s our responsibility to advocate for these hardworking professionals.”
The American Trucking Associations, which represents major trucking companies, has also insisted that FMCSA steer clear of attempting to regulate detention time, contending that it is an economic issue and therefore best addressed by carriers and their customers.
“Whether detention time is also a safety issue — and therefore an issue within FMCSA’s statutory authority to address — is another question altogether,” ATA stated in its comments to the ICR.
“While there has been no end of speculation that excessive waiting times provide incentives for unsafe behaviors, numerous studies have failed to substantiate even a statistically rigorous correlation between detention time and crash risk, much less a causal link.”
But the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association and truck safety advocates disagree, pointing to a 2018 U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General report’s conclusion that detention increases the likelihood of truck crashes involving death and serious injury.
“Most of [Truck Safety Coalition] victim volunteers have been forever and irreparably impacted by a fatigued and/or speeding truck driver,” commented the group, which advocates on behalf of crash victims’ families. “It is from a place of tragically somber experience that TSC unapologetically asserts that the proposed [study] is imperative for FMCSA to perform its functions.”
carol
I work in the convention industry. We regularly have a deadline date for exhibit freight to be received at our warehouse. It is standard practice for roughly 60-100 trucks to show up on said date and expect to be unloaded immediately. Most of these brokers/carriers, and even drivers, know that they are carrying convention freight (it has a show name, booth name and number). There is no way ANY receiving company can offload this many trucks in a 2 hour window. I get the concern for driving safety, but when you show up on the last day of receiving KNOWING you have an exhibitors cargo, you KNOW you’re going to wait. When the receiver has up to 20 docks and all are full and there are more trucks in line waiting when you show up, do you honestly think it is fair to charge a detention fee to either party?
Sotapop
A flat hourly rate for the truck and trailer. As part of our invoice we send our ELD data to whom we negotiated the terms with. Depending on region of the country. Rates start as low as $179 an hour. The entire clock is by hour. Pre-trip, safety checks, 30 minute fuel, 30 minute break, loading, unloading, wait time, and drive times. All include. It makes the entire supply chain solution very efficient when everyone is by the hour. In the end that’s what everyone wants. Including the driver. To as efficient as possible.
Hussein Yusuf
I agree 💯 percent and more than fair for now
Your Friend and Brother in Freight
@ Sales Guy – Thanks for being a voice of reason and civility.
Tamara
The FMCSA should regulate everyone for the sake of ethical practice, safety, and the economy, EVERY ONE THAT HAS ANY TYPE OF AUTHORITY NUMBER, NOT JUST TRUCKERS! There are so many mandates and fees on truck drivers that it is ridiculous….for instance Brokers should not be able to put in carrier contracts that they waive their right to know what the shipper paid for the service. The truck isn’t the brokers’ and they assume no responsibility for insurance cost, fuel, maintenance, roadside, NOTHING, and they are not fined for all of what they do to avoid paying detention, pay a descent rate for fuel surcharge, etc. Yet they can inflict charges on the truckers for a delay. RIDICULOUS! They also charge shippers for detention and only give a small amount to the Truckers.
They are also messing up the economy by paying 1998 rates with 2023 fuel prices! Insane.
Cut out the brokers and let the truckers and shippers negotiate directly for the “hired” trucks.
Also regulate the insurance companies that take advantage with high premiums for people that have great driving records.
Also I’m sorry to say, but people that are here from other countries and are owner operators, brokers, etc., should not be permitted to operate in those capacities, as they don’t care to run cheap loads because they send that money back across to their families where the U.S money sent and its worth a whole lot there! The ones that are permitted to open brokerages from other countries, same thing they low ball the truckers too and keep the main lot for themselves to send back over season to their families. So it catches on and those that are born here low ball because they know they will get those drivers regardless so you take it even though you make no descent money here for your family. It’s all messed up!!!
FMCSA do your jobs and regulate effectively! Is it because many of them in those seats at FMCSA have invested in those brokerages themselves the reason why they keep failing to take action against those companies? Are they auditing brokerages and fining them for theft for not paying drivers for TONUs or detention and not paying fair rates, and not sharing as the rule states about how much that run actually was?
Pete Butichege needs to mandate whomever ever they have in those positions that he is to govern over and make them accountable as well!
We the people need to write and call to make our petition known.
Bob Kehrly
I think it’s ridiculous that the brokers get to set the rate for detention and we basically have no say in the matter other than not take the load, how many contractors you know of that show up to a job and ask you “well how much you gonna pay me per hour to do the work”
Sunny
Truck Drivers should get detention after 1 hour of waiting for atleast $150 per hour afterwards. Truckers are on duty the entire time for dentention and this can create unsafe environments due to having to make up for lost time or being late to their next appointment. Most receivers charge late fees if you do not make your appointment ranging from $500 to $1000. There needs to be a system to protect the drivers!
Luis Borges
Yes they should pay for that we get screwed always with that and the time to get the load ther is some times to tight because of traffic road conditions construction and wet weather all slow downs not drivers fault but makes drivers hurry pressure is coz for forcing none pressure is more at eas