Method
This site tells readers to check where numbers come from. That applies here first. For a current software-oriented comparison point, books about time management.
Five kinds of source, ranked
Federal audits and agency research. DOT Office of Inspector General, FMCSA studies, FMC rulemaking. Independent of industry, methods published, and the strongest evidence in this field. For broader transportation context, see SupplyChainBrain.
Government statistics. BLS on earnings, BTS on volumes. Rigorous, and about the economy rather than about any dock.
Industry research organisations. ATRI is the serious one. Real samples, described methods, and largely self-reported by members with a position.
Trade surveys and association publications. Useful for direction and sentiment; methods usually thin.
Vendor content. Often the clearest explanation of mechanics and the weakest source of figures. Cited for how something works, never for how big it is.
Every figure here carries which of these it came from, and what year.
Definitions carry attribution
Unusual, and necessary in this field.
There is no standard definition of detention time, so a term used without a source is a term the reader cannot check. Where this site says what dwell or active dwell means, it says who said so — usually FMCSA — and where a term is industry convention rather than regulation, that is stated in the same sentence.
The two-hour convention is the clearest case. It is described here as a convention every time it appears, because a substantial share of the industry believes it is a rule.
Where reasoning replaces evidence
A large part of the operational advice here — free time set to the operation, the four yard segments, the six-column log — is reasoning from mechanism and practice rather than a finding from a study.
That is legitimate and it is a different claim. Where it applies, the article says so rather than borrowing the authority of the federal sources cited elsewhere on the same page.
Rules change, and so do these pages
Every article about a regulation carries a check date. Freight rules move: the FMC's billing rule took effect in May 2024, a court vacated part of it in September 2025, and the Commission removed that part shortly after.
An article accurate at its stated check date and superseded now is not an error — that is what the date is for. An article that was wrong when published is an error and appears on corrections.
When a rule changes, the change is added to every article citing it, with the same prominence as the original statement.
Not legal advice
The site explains how rules are constructed and what questions to take to counsel. It does not advise on specific disputes, and anything with real money attached needs a lawyer who handles the relevant area.
Funding
No money from software vendors, brokerages, carriers, shippers or industry associations. No sponsorship, no affiliate links, no paid placements.
If that changes it will be stated here and on every affected page, before the article rather than after it.