Detention Pay vs Layover vs TONU in Trucking

Three charges, three different situations

Detention

Detention pays for time the truck spends at a pickup or delivery beyond the free time the customer allows. If the rate confirmation gives two hours free and the driver is on site for three hours and forty minutes, one hour and forty minutes is billable at the agreed hourly rate. It is billed in hours (often in 15-minute or 30-minute increments) and tied to one stop.

Layover

Layover pays for a lost day. It applies when the customer’s delay keeps the driver and truck from working until the next day, for example when a receiver pushes the appointment to tomorrow morning after the truck has arrived. It is usually a flat amount per day, not an hourly rate.

TONU (truck ordered, not used)

TONU pays for a truck that was dispatched and then not loaded: the load was cancelled after the driver was sent, or the freight was not ready and the shipper released the truck. It is a flat fee that covers the dead kilometres and the lost load.

Which one applies?

• The driver waited, then loaded or unloaded the same day: detention.
• The driver waited, and the customer moved the work to the next day: layover, and often detention for the time on site before the decision.
• The driver arrived and there was nothing to load: TONU.
• The driver was late and lost the appointment: usually none of them. Most rate confirmations void free-time protection when the carrier misses the appointment.

Where the rules come from

In Canada, detention, layover and TONU between a carrier and its customer are a matter of contract. The amounts come from the rate confirmation, the broker-carrier agreement or your own accessorial schedule. If a rate confirmation is silent on detention, you are negotiating after the fact, which is the weakest position to be in.

Before accepting a load, check the free time, the hourly detention rate, any cap per stop, the layover amount, the TONU amount and the notice the customer requires. Our guide to reading a rate confirmation lists every line to check.

How to get these charges paid

All three are paid on evidence, and the evidence has to exist on the day it happens:

• Times at each stop: arrival, check-in and departure, recorded when they happen rather than reconstructed later.
• A notice while it is happening: most brokers require you to tell them the truck is still waiting, before free time ends or soon after. Late notice is the most common reason detention is refused.
• The decision in writing: for layover, the email or message where the receiver moved the appointment. For TONU, the cancellation and the time it was sent.
• The charge on the invoice, as its own line with the stop, the times and the rate.

The full arithmetic for detention, including free time and partial hours, is in how to calculate detention charges in Canada. If a broker short-pays, see the evidence brokers accept.

Detention pay for drivers

Detention paid by the customer to the carrier is separate from what the carrier pays its driver for waiting. Hourly company drivers are paid for their time on duty anyway. Drivers paid per mile or per load often get waiting-time pay under the carrier’s own policy, for example a set hourly amount after the first two hours. Write the policy down and apply it from the same stop times you bill from, so the driver and the invoice agree. For how pay periods come together, see driver settlements for small carriers.