“You must never try to make all the money that’s in a deal. Let the other fellow make some money too, because if you have a reputation for always making all the money, you won’t have many deals.”
— J. Paul Getty
No two customers are alike. Chances are, you have:
- Customers with detention-prone locations and
- Customers who live up to their shipper-carrier contracts and get your trailers and drivers back on the road in good time
Having hard data on which customers cost the most in detention time can give carrier business managers power and flexibility when it’s time to negotiate contracts.
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>$3B
Detention costs the trucking industry more than $3 billion annually in lost time and productivity.
Source: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
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With that data, a fleet operator can justifiably reward the customers that abide their contracts with longer grace periods and more favorable rates. This effectively gives your business a competitive edge that will attract more customers. In this highly competitive trucking industry, the ability to offer a better rate than a competitor is a remarkable advantage.
As for those that repeatedly exceed their grace periods, this cold hard data provides leverage to negotiate more stringent contracts, and rightfully so. In either case, being able to show and prove what is really going on with your trailers through empirical data can provide the latitude to customize contracts on a per-customer basis, based on each one’s detention performance.
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40 hours
Drivers spend as many as 40 hours a week at customer locations waiting for their trailers to be loaded or unloaded.
Source: Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association
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How do you get the data to monitor detention billing and thereby negotiate the most favorable carrier contracts, as well as save your customers money and keep drivers happy and more productive? Read the full Spireon report on managing detention for maximum return ASAP.