Detention and Accessorials
The base freight rate covers the truck, the driver, and the miles. Accessorial charges cover everything else — the time a driver waits, the labor needed to load or unload, the penalty for cancelling a committed load, the cost of making a second delivery attempt. Together, they can represent a significant share of total freight spend, and they are almost always caused by operations, not by transportation.
What is an accessorial?
An accessorial is any freight charge beyond the base linehaul rate. Carriers publish accessorial schedules specifying the trigger conditions, free time (if any), and charge rates. The most expensive accessorials in full truckload shipping are those tied to time — time the carrier's asset is tied up without generating revenue.
The five accessorials covered in this cluster
Detention
Charged when a driver waits at a pickup or delivery location beyond the free time — typically two hours. Detention is the most common and most significant accessorial in truckload shipping. It is almost always caused by shipper or consignee operational issues: understaffing, missed appointments, loading delays, dock congestion.
Read the full detention guide →
TONU (Truck Order Not Used)
Charged when a carrier dispatches a truck for a confirmed load and the load is cancelled after dispatch, or when the driver arrives and freight isn't available. TONU compensates the carrier for deadhead miles and the opportunity cost of the displaced load.
Layover
Charged when a driver must wait at a location for more than one day — typically because freight isn't ready or a delivery appointment isn't available until the following business day. More expensive than detention and often overlooked in freight procurement planning.
Lumper fees
The cost of third-party labor used to unload trailers at delivery destinations — common at grocery distribution centers and big-box retail receiving facilities. Usually advanced by the driver and invoiced back to the shipper.
Read the full lumper fees guide →
Driver assist
Charged when a driver is required to help load or unload freight, beyond the standard expectation that dock workers handle freight handling. Triggers when facilities lack adequate staff or equipment.
Read the full driver assist guide →
The operational root cause
Almost every accessorial charge in this cluster traces back to a gap in shipper or consignee operations: inadequate dock staffing, unreliable appointment scheduling, load cancellations without adequate notice, or facilities that require driver labor to compensate for missing equipment.
Carriers who experience chronic accessorials on a shipper's freight eventually price them in at renewal, or stop accepting tenders from that shipper. Managing accessorial exposure is not only a cost control issue — it is a capacity access issue.
Industry data on detention
For sourced industry statistics on detention rates and their impact on driver pay and carrier economics, see conmitto.io/resources/truck-detention-statistics. This site links to that resource rather than restating numbers that may not reflect current conditions.