Free Time, and Negotiating It

Free time is the allowance before charges begin. Rate is what accrues afterwards. They are separate levers and they are almost always negotiated as one, which is why so many arrangements suit neither party. For a software-oriented reference on recorded work time and accountability, workforce optimization software.

The four combinations

Each is right somewhere. For broader freight and commercial context, see NHTSA.

Long free time, firm rate. Generous allowance, no discount once exceeded. Suits operations where normal work genuinely takes a while — a live-load reefer with seal and temperature verification — and where exceeding the allowance really is exceptional. The facility gets room; the carrier gets a rate that means something when things go wrong.

Short free time, soft rate. Tight allowance, modest hourly charge. Suits fast operations where small overruns are frequent and none is serious. Drop-and-hook, familiar lanes, cooperative facilities. Produces small charges often rather than large ones rarely, which some receivers prefer administratively.

Long free time, soft rate. What most receivers ask for and few carriers should accept, unless the lane is desirable for other reasons. Worth pricing into the linehaul rather than pretending it is free.

Short free time, firm rate. What carriers ask for on chronic facilities. Legitimate as a pricing signal, and it works better when you say that is what it is than when it arrives as a surprise.

Setting the allowance

Start from the operation, not the market. How long does this load actually take when everything goes normally? That is the number, plus a modest margin.

Ask the dock, not the office. The people loading know the honest figure and the office usually quotes the target.

Differentiate by load type in the same contract. One allowance for drop-and-hook, another for live load, another for anything requiring a lumper. This is a single extra line and it removes most subsequent argument.

And do not set it at the average. An average blends fast and slow loads, so an allowance at the mean guarantees roughly half your loads breach it, which produces charges on ordinary days and devalues the signal.

Setting the rate

It is not a wage. BLS put average hourly earnings in truck transportation at $32.41 as of April 2026, and detention rates run roughly $50–100 with specialised equipment to about $125. The gap is equipment standing, fuel, the next load not taken, and hours-of-service consumed.

Higher rate, later start is generally better than lower rate, earlier start. It keeps small overruns free, which reduces administrative noise, and it makes a genuine problem expensive, which is where the signal should be.

Consider a step. Modest for the first hour beyond free time, higher thereafter. Prices the difference between a delay and a failure, and both sides usually recognise it as fair.

Terms worth more than the rate

Three, and they are cheaper to obtain because nobody prices them.

The start event. Gate-in or appointment time, whichever is later. Worth more than an extra fifteen minutes of allowance and it costs the other side nothing to agree.

The notification requirement. A message at free-time expiry, from either side. Improves claims, occasionally prevents them, and is hard to refuse.

And the tie-breaker. Which record governs when systems disagree. Whoever asks for this usually gets it, because the other party has not thought about it.

What to concede

Negotiation requires giving something, and these cost least.

A tolerance. Fifteen minutes below which nobody bills. Removes the smallest and most annoying charges from both sides' workload.

A submission window. Agreeing to invoice within thirty days is a real concession and it is one a well-run carrier meets anyway.

And a cap per stop. Some receivers need a worst-case number for budgeting. A cap set high enough to be rare costs little and buys goodwill.

The one thing not to concede

An undefined start. "Detention after 2 hours" with no start event is not a term. Whatever allowance you agreed is worth nothing if the clock's beginning is arguable, and that is the sentence that decides disputes.

The short version

• Free time and rate are separate levers, and negotiating them as one produces arrangements that suit nobody
• Four combinations, each right somewhere; long-and-firm suits slow legitimate work, short-and-soft suits fast frequent overruns
• Set the allowance from the operation and ask the dock rather than the office; differentiate by load type
• Do not set it at the average — that guarantees roughly half your loads breach it
• Higher rate with a later start beats a lower rate with an earlier one
• Start event, notification and tie-breaker are worth more than the rate and cost less to obtain