How detention is calculated
Take the time from when you arrived to when you were released, subtract the free hours your agreement allows, and multiply what is left by your detention rate. If the answer is zero or less, the stop ran inside your free time and there is nothing to bill. That is the whole formula, and it is the same one TruxSheet runs inside the app.
What counts as detention
Detention is time your truck is held at a shipper or receiver beyond the free time in your agreement. It is not the same as a layover, a truck-ordered-not-used, or a lumper fee — those are separate line items with their own terms, and mixing them up is a fast way to have a claim denied.
Two things decide whether your hours are billable: when the clock is agreed to start, and how long it runs before detention begins. Both live in the rate confirmation for that specific load. There is no industry-wide number, and a figure that held on your last load does not carry over to the next one.
Free hours: check the rate confirmation, not a rule of thumb
Free time is negotiated per load. It varies by broker, by shipper, by commodity, and by whether you are loading or delivering. Anyone who tells you a single number applies everywhere is guessing. Read the rate con before you accept, because that document — not custom, and not what the guy at the truck stop said — is what a claim is measured against.
How to actually get paid
Detention is disputed more often than it is refused outright, and disputes are won on records. What tends to matter:
- •Times written down when they happened. An arrival time you noted at the gate carries weight. One you reconstructed from memory a week later does not.
- •Signed, timestamped paperwork. Bills of lading, check-in and check-out records, gate logs — anything the facility itself produced.
- •A claim filed the way your agreement says. Many agreements set a window and a format for detention claims. Miss either and a valid claim can still be denied.
- •Notice while you are still sitting. Telling the broker as the clock runs is a different conversation from an invoice that arrives three weeks later.
Common questions
What is detention pay?
Detention pay is what a broker or shipper owes you for time your truck sits at a facility beyond the free time you agreed to. Loading and unloading take time, and a certain amount of it is built into the rate — past that point, your truck is being held, and the hours are billable if your agreement says so.
How many free hours do I get before detention starts?
Whatever your rate confirmation says. Free time is negotiated per load and varies by broker, shipper, and commodity, so there is no single number that applies to everyone. Read the rate con before you accept the load — that document, not a rule of thumb, is what decides when your clock starts.
What detention rate should I use?
The rate on your rate confirmation. Detention rates are set per load in your agreement with the broker or shipper. If the rate confirmation is silent on detention, you generally have no contractual claim to it — which is the reason to check before you accept, not after you have been sitting for six hours.
How is detention calculated?
Total time on site, minus your free hours, multiplied by your hourly detention rate. If you arrived at 08:00 and were released at 14:30 with two free hours, that is 6.5 hours on site, 4.5 billable hours, times your rate. This calculator uses exactly that formula.
Does using this calculator mean I will get paid?
No. This tells you what the hours work out to under the numbers you entered. Whether you are actually paid depends on your agreement with the broker or shipper and on their approval. Detention is routinely disputed, which is why documentation matters more than arithmetic.
What do I need to actually get paid detention?
Proof of when you arrived and when you were released, and a claim submitted the way your agreement requires, within whatever window it sets. Signed and timestamped bills of lading, gate or check-in records, and your own contemporaneous log all help. A time you wrote down when it happened is worth more than a time you reconstructed a week later.
Is this calculator free, and is anything saved?
It is free and requires no account. Nothing you type is sent anywhere or stored — the arithmetic runs in your browser and disappears when you close the tab.