Measuring Time
FMCSA states plainly that there is no standard definition of detention time, that little public data exists, and that the problem consistently ranks among drivers' top concerns. Everything in this section follows from that. For a software-oriented reference on recording work time, this resource page.
The regulator's own taxonomy distinguishes dwell time — all time at the facility — from loading and unloading, from active dwell covering associated tasks, and from detention, which is defined as everything else. That makes detention a residual: you measure the other parts and detention is what remains, which is why it inherits every ambiguity in each of them. For broader transportation and measurement context, see U.S. Census Bureau.
The two-hour convention is practice, not regulation. Nothing measured loading duration and concluded that two hours covers it. It sits just above general average dwell of about 1 hour 54 minutes and well below the refrigerated figure of about 3 hours 16 — so a single allowance cannot be right for both.
A visit generates six timestamps and none of them is the truth. Geofence entry, gate arrival, check-in, door assignment, load start and departure are six different events from several systems. "Arrival" is an interpretation; a timestamp is an event a named system recorded.
And the device on every truck does not help. An ELD records driving automatically and immutably, and has no detention status at all — facility time lands in on-duty not driving alongside loading, paperwork and fuelling. Nine years after the mandate, FMCSA was still asking whether existing systems could measure detention at all.
What is left is the contract. Whichever document names the start event, the stop event, the tolerance and the authoritative record determines the number — and where it names none, the number is decided by whoever is more stubborn. Four sentences in a rate confirmation remove most of what the industry currently litigates one load at a time.
Geofences and Their Disputes
A radius somebody drew decides whether a charge exists. Six ways geofences produce wrong answers, and how to specify one that holds.
Logging Without a System
Six columns on a spreadsheet beat most telematics deployments. What to capture, who captures it, and what a month of it is worth.
Measuring Without Cooperation
No gate data, no shared records, no interest. What you can still record from outside, and what it is worth in a dispute.
Why There Is No Standard
The regulator says so plainly. Four reasons the gap persists, what it costs both sides, and what fills it in the meantime.
Dwell, Detention, Active Dwell
Four terms for time at a facility, set out by the regulator. Which one is billable, and why the parties disagree about all of them.
Which Timestamp Is Authoritative
Six moments get recorded and none of them is the truth. How to choose the pair that settles a dispute before the load moves.
Transit Time Is Not the Trip
Quoted transit measures the driving. What the customer experiences includes everything the quote left out, and the gap is where trust goes.
The Two-Hour Convention
Everyone treats it as a rule. It is a default, it has no evidentiary basis, and knowing that changes how you negotiate.
What an ELD Actually Records
The device that made driving time machine-measured does not measure detention at all. Why that asymmetry matters for every claim.