HesapHanem

Detention Pay Calculator

Enter your wait time, free hours, and detention rate to find your detention pay.

How it is calculated

Detention is charged only for the time beyond the free window: billable hours = max(0, hours waited − free hours) and detention pay = billable hours × hourly rate. Hours waited is the total time from arrival to release, free hours is the grace period in your contract, and the rate is the hourly detention rate in dollars. If the free hours are left empty, the tool assumes 2. When you wait less than the free time, the billable time and the pay are both zero rather than negative. Inputs cannot be negative. The tool pays for fractional hours exactly (3.5 hours is 3.5, not rounded up to 4), so if your contract rounds to the next hour or half hour, round the waiting time yourself before entering it.

Worked example

A driver arrives and is released after 5.5 hours. The contract gives 2 free hours and pays 65 per hour of detention. Billable time = 5.5 − 2 = 3.50 hr after the free window. Detention pay = 3.5 × 65 = $227.50. Had the truck been released after 1.5 hours, billable time would be 0 and so would the pay.

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Common mistakes

  • Entering minutes instead of hours. A wait of 90 minutes should be typed as 1.5; typing 90 would mean 90 hours.
  • Entering the billable time as the hours waited. The tool subtracts the free hours itself, so the free time would be taken off twice.
  • Counting the wait from the appointment time when the contract counts from the moment the truck checks in (or the opposite). The start point is set by the contract.
  • Assuming the free window is always 2 hours. It is only the default when the field is empty; check your own agreement.

Sources

About this calculator

Detention pay is compensation owed to a trucking carrier or owner-operator when a shipper or receiver keeps their truck waiting at a dock beyond an agreed free time window — typically two hours — before loading or unloading begins. It’s a standard clause in freight contracts and broker-carrier agreements because a driver stuck waiting is losing paid driving hours against the clock set by Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration hours-of-service rules, without the shipper bearing any of that cost unless detention terms exist.

The calculation is straightforward once the contract terms are known: subtract the free hours from the total time spent waiting, then multiply the remaining detained hours by the agreed hourly detention rate — this calculator does exactly that, taking your wait time, free hours, and rate to compute what you’re owed for that stop.

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Comments (1)

  • Editorial team

    Whatever the result, the dispute usually turns on the timestamps, so note the arrival, the appointment time, check-in and release, and confirm which one starts the clock in your agreement. Here an empty free-hours box counts as 2, so type 0 explicitly if your terms give no grace period: 5 hours at 65 per hour gives 325.00 that way and 195.00 when left blank. How does your contract round partial hours?

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