Calculating and charging waiting time.
A truck that stands at a dock for two extra hours costs money: the driver, the truck and the next trip that slips. You can only charge for it if your agreement is clear and you can show the time. Below is how to go about it, with a calculator for one visit.
What counts as waiting time
Usually: the time between arriving at the address and leaving, minus an agreed free time for loading or unloading. What exactly counts is in your agreement with the customer or in the terms that apply. There is no figure that always holds.
- From when does it count: arrival at the gate, check-in, or only from the start of the time slot if the truck is early?
- Until when: departure, or until the papers are signed?
- How much free time is included in the freight price, per visit or per trip?
- The rate: per hour, per quarter hour, or per started unit?
- What evidence the customer accepts: the driver's times, a stamp, a signature?
Agree on those five before the first trip, not after the first argument.
How to work it out
Take the time between arrival and departure. Subtract the free time. Round what is left as agreed, usually up per started quarter hour or hour. Multiply by the rate.
An example: arrival 08:00, departure 11:10, two hours free, rounding up per started hour. The wait is 3 hours 10 minutes; 1 hour 10 minutes of that is beyond the free time, rounded up to 2 hours. At a rate of 45 euros per hour, that is 90 euros.
Work it out yourself
Calculator: waiting time for one visit
The calculator works out one visit. What you may charge depends on your agreement; the calculator does not know it.
Why waiting time is often left on the table
- The time is not written down anywhere. The driver remembers it, but not precisely a week later when you invoice.
- The evidence is weak. "I stood there for three hours" in a chat message is harder to defend than a time per step.
- Working it out takes more time than it brings in. So you let it go, every time.
- The customer only hears about it on the invoice. A message on the day itself avoids surprises.
How Trajenda records waiting time
At every address the driver taps Arrived, Waiting, Loading or Unloading, and Done. Every tap records the time on the trip, even without signal. The waiting time per visit runs from arrival to departure.
Per customer you set the free time (two hours by default), the rate and the unit (per started hour by default). When invoicing you pick the trips; the waiting time beyond the free time appears as a line, with the times per visit as evidence. Per customer you can also print a waiting-time overview for a period, with arrival and departure per visit, to attach to the invoice.
The conversation with your customer remains yours. Trajenda makes sure you have the times when that conversation comes.
Have the time recorded while the truck waits.
Try Trajenda for 14 days with your own trips. The waiting time lands on the trip by itself, ready for the invoice.