Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/204210
Attention to detention As the feds explore dock delay problems, carriers' pay plans are improving shipper/ receiver efficiency – and putting money in the pockets of some owner-operators. a dollars-and-cents thing to prevent upsetting the shippers and receivers. I know we don't want to make products go up [in price] for consumers, so the end result is that drivers continue to absorb the lousy efficiency of our transportation system." Given the industry's recent preoccupation with driver pay, progress could well be expected. There are government- and industry-centered solutions that could help – and in some cases already do. Government solutions Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator Anne Ferro has been Max Heine By Todd Dills S ince the change in the hours of service rule early in the last decade that brought in the rigid 14-hour duty day, detention at the loading docks has been a major pet peeve of drivers. In a poll last year on the biggest challenges for owner-operators, Overdrive readers voted uncompensated detention No. 3, following only the cost of fuel and the hours rule itself. At the core of the issue: Everyone in the supply chain benefits from uncompensated detention time – except the driver. As Landstar-leased owner-operator John Scott says: "How the government ignores this is simply Paying drivers by the hour for excessive time at docks is seen as a partial solution to long waits at shippers and receivers. 22 | Overdrive | November 2013 Detention_1113.indd 22 10/29/13 11:19 PM