There is detention time and reefer detention time. Reefer detention time is best viewed in the larger context of reefer costs and benefits.
Regarding ordinary detention time, note that many of our customers are charged D-time as a matter of course. If we are delayed for a specified period of time in loading or unloading D-time charges kick in and contractors get their portion of that pay.
Whhile it is interesting that OOIDA is backing a D-time bill, I can't help but wonder that if detention costs are in the billions of dollars, as the bill advocates claim, why don't carriers and truck owners do like FedEx Custom Critical does and simply charge D-time to the customers who detain trucks?
Our first reaction when we read the letter about reduced reefer D-time was the instinctive, "Here we go again, money coming out of our pockets." But on further reflection, we don't think it will make much difference.
It has happened many times that we have spent the night at the consignee's dock with the reefer running, only to find out after we deliver the next morning that no reefer D-time was paid and none would be because the customer had negotiated that feature into the contract. It left us sore, and still does, that the unpaid time was not disclosed when the load was offered. The letter says reefer D-time is being reduced but for it to be reduced, it must be there in the first place.
It would be a welcome change if reefer D-time compensation was the same for all customers, or at least standardized between the carrier and contractors. Perhaps this letter is a step in that direction.
The costs and value of running a reefer are not straightforward. Sure, it costs a certain amount of money to buy the fuel the reefer burns, but how much does it cost really to run your reefer for eight hours while waiting to deliver? Do you count fuel only? Do you have a cents per hour figure in mind? On the flip side, how do you factor in the costs of having a reefer on your truck when the reefer is not being used at all?
When considering the reefer costs, consider also the benefits. Consider the numerous reefer loads we have done where the deadhead is double or triple the loaded miles. We take the run based on an all-miles calculation but are only running the reefer part of the time.
Consider the times when your reefer truck has been given a run to relocate it to an area where reefer trucks were needed while a dry truck was left sitting. You ran the reefer not a minute but it was the reefer that got you moving.
Consider the extra one percent of pay on every load, reefer or dry, that reefer straight trucks get paid.
On the down side is the new $16 per week cost of having a carrier-owned data recorder in our trucks. That fee is charged every week, whether you haul reefer freight or not. Consider that too.
All of this must be considered together. Before we join the predictable chorus about donating our reefer fuel overnight without compensation, Diane and I are thinking about about the many times our reefer improved our circumstances without even being run.
