Accessorial Charges - Why is there a debate?

Just today planned to make three local moves with about 30 min driving each way. Receiving takes last load at 15:00.
Started at 07:00 and had to finish at 14:00 with only two loads..1.5 hrs waiting at each end.
Three loosers. One didn't ship, another didn't get, and me- didn"t earn.
 
As stated, shippers/ consignees expect their 2 hours free. However, most quotes state rate includes 2 hrs loading, 2 hrs unloading, exceed charged at ...

Very few shippers / consignees understand how company drivers vs. owner operators are paid or could care less. So when either quoting a load or considering an offer, simple calculate 2 hrs loading + drive time (account for traffic / border time) + 2 hrs unloading and round up. Take # of estimated hours and divide by offered rate or multiple by your hourly cost to operate.

In most cases the hourly rate = rate/ mile except for cheap back hauls where a driver may have been stuck.

So if you have been operating for more than 6 months, you can look back on previous loads and driver log books to track total hours a driver spends on the load vs. rate. You can then take your cost to operate and look at it as both: cost per hour and also as a cost / mile.

I know a carrier that is a one man show and we chatted about this exact topic. He told me it costs him $35/hr to drive empty. This same carrier determines his rates by hours required.

The hourly rate will be less when you have a one pick/ one drop with lots of miles vs. multiple picks and drops or short regional loads.

In summary, take information about a possible load, use your experience in the lane to think of all challenges/ delays your driver may have and quote accordingly. Ideally, carriers the two hours for loading/ unloading are sort of built into the rate. The concept of charging the 2 hrs loading/ unloading won't change any time soon but how you go about quoting freight can change.
 
Ok just gotta put 2 3/4 cents in, I say, rates should be charge after trip is completed, you find carrier capable of doing said trip, carrier completes trip, said carrier then charges for all costs incurred, miles traveled, ALL WAIT time, customs delays, traffic delays ect. ect. Hay employees expect and demand to be paid for every hour they are at work, carriers have alot of debt sitting & rolling down the road. Hay just a thought!
 
I do get what you are saying, but that would be like saying to a mechanic, go fix my car and send me the bill when you are done. It will never happen. You have to be aware of the potential costs ahead of time to be able to gauge your willingness and ability to pay. :)
 
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True enough Chica but do you rate every load as if the receiver is a dick and takes 5 hours to unload and is going to end up costing major revenue by losing that days reload the next day etc etc. I usually have my guys planned a few days in advance minimum but some of there shippers and receivers sure do like to throw wrenches at me. Never mind what the bloody rolling stock can do to a well laid plan.
 
that makes no sense, i never get to pay upfront to a mechanic???, when job completed here is your invoice please pay now! Also is that not part of the issue at hand "potential cost" I can't gauge ahead because mister shipper/reciever (monkey wrench) sits me for 8 hrs? Sp what i,m saying is toronto to detroit Mi. when completed cost incurred $500 mileage, 7 hrs loading/unloading 3 hrs customs ect. ect. invoice for total costs of shipment $1000, agian just a thought, now company is paid for all expenses incurred, driver is paid for all his time, just like any factory employee would get. LOL just saying
 
What I mean is, the mechanic needs to give you a written estimate before they touch your car. You can't just tell them fix whatever problem and I pay whatever the price is. Yes, there are those receivers that are real dicks...that is why we charge waiting time after 2 hours ( I think it should be one hour, but that is just my opinion...never going to happen...lol). The mileage rate has to be negotiated ahead of time and the rate for detention etc. What I was trying to say is that you have to put all these cards on the table ahead of time, rather than wait until the load is finished like I understood dontgetit was getting at. And we all learn REAL quick to stay away from the shippers/receivers that mess around with us (and the brokers that try to pawn those garbage loads off on us). :)
 
The same arguments every time, does the carrier pay $50 an hour for every hour they are late? No that would be unreasonable. If your truck sits there for 6 hours and doesn't call anyone, the dispatcher and I are going to have a problem. Delays happen they can't always be solved, but notification is the key. Waiting until the load is done and then sending me a bill for "waiting time," bond charges, or any other thing that no one was ever notified of, it's gonna be a tough sell is all I can say.
 
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Paying the OTR driver by the hour will not work effectively. The model of paying per mile has been created and proven over time to work. The reason is that drivers are unsupervised employees. If they do not have the incentive to get moving - they will just sit. Paying them by the mile encourages them to do whatever it takes to be involved in the process between the shipper/receiver and their dispatch. If it means going in every 10 minutes to see what the hold up is, then so be it. I do believe that if waiting time becomes excessive, after a certain amount of time the driver should be paid an hourly amount. This forces dispatch to get something done. This is also why there is a pick/drop pay amount in this model.

The issue I see is that somebody within the rest of the stepping stones in the process do not respond. The driver calls dispatch, the dispatch calls the customer, (the customer, if its a load broker, calls another customer) and finally the customer calls the shipper and/or receiver to ask what is going on. If one of those stepping stones is too busy to do something about it, what the driver did, or the others in between, was for nothing.

If trucking was more like the airline freight, container freight, taxi or rail industries, this would not continue to happen. There should be negotiation on the loading time and every minute past that time gets billed. The problem with trucking is that there are too many operational minded people who would rather give up on the extra payment than fight for it. The same goes for freight brokers. Why would they fight for an additional $200 waiting time for the carrier, take the risk that they lose the customer, and do the work that they probably get no financial gain out of it? After all, carriers are expendable - there's more where they came from. Customers are hard to find.

When freight sits, because there is not enough carriers, you will see waiting time and demurrage be billed. Until that happens we will just keep doing the same thing - discussing and getting nowhere.
 
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