Strong Tower Consulting, LLC is the Minnesota freight technology consulting firm founded by Scott Elliott in 2008. This model applies only the operating numbers you enter. It does not use industry benchmarks, and it does not state a recovery rate Strong Tower guarantees.
Every default is your assumption. These defaults are not industry benchmarks, and Strong Tower Consulting does not guarantee a recovery rate.
Loads per truck per week: 4
A target you set. Not a recovery rate Strong Tower guarantees, and not an industry benchmark.
Your estimate of software, integration, and operating effort for a year.
Results from your assumptions
- Collected: $491,400.00 (40%)
- Recovered at your target: $552,825.00 (45%)
- Still unbilled: $184,275.00 (15%)
Show the math
- Billable hours per detained stop = max(0, 210 - 120) / 60 = 1.5
- Detained stops per year = 300 x 52 x 2 x 35% = 10,920
- Earned detention per year = 10,920 x 1.5 hours x $75.00 = $1,228,500.00
- Currently collected = $1,228,500.00 x 40% = $491,400.00
- Unbilled leakage now = $1,228,500.00 - $491,400.00 = $737,100.00
- Recovered with automation = $1,228,500.00 x max(0, 85% - 40%) = $552,825.00
- Still unbilled = $1,228,500.00 - $491,400.00 - $552,825.00 = $184,275.00
- Net annual gain = $552,825.00 - $60,000.00 = $492,825.00
- ROI percent = $492,825.00 / $60,000.00 x 100 = 821.375%
- Payback months = $60,000.00 / ($552,825.00 / 12) = 1.30
- Per-truck leakage = $737,100.00 / 75 = $9,828.00
- Loads per truck per week = 300 / 75 = 4
How the model works
Every figure above comes from the ten inputs on this page. Nothing is pulled from another fleet or an industry table.
- Find the billable time on a detained stop. Average dock minutes minus free time, never below zero, divided by 60.
- Count detained stops for a year. Loads per week times 52 weeks times stops per load times the share of stops that run past free time.
- Price the earned detention. Detained stops times billable hours times your hourly detention rate.
- Split what you collect from what leaks. Collected is earned detention times your current capture share. Leakage is earned minus collected.
- Apply the target you set. Recovered detention is earned detention times the gap between your target capture and your current capture. If the target is not higher, recovery is zero.
- Compare with the program cost. Net gain is recovered minus your annual cost estimate. ROI and payback months follow from those two numbers.
billable_hours = max(0, dock_minutes - free_minutes) / 60
detained_stops = loads_per_week x 52 x stops_per_load x share_over_free%
earned = detained_stops x billable_hours x rate_per_hour
collected = earned x current_capture%
leakage = earned - collected
recovered = earned x max(0, target_capture% - current_capture%)
net_gain = recovered - annual_program_cost
roi% = net_gain / annual_program_cost x 100
payback_months = annual_program_cost / (recovered / 12)
per_truck = leakage / trucks
Open "Show the math" above to see these lines filled in with your current numbers.
Ask for a revenue leakage audit
Send these assumptions to an advisor. The message starts with your inputs and results. Edit it before you submit. Strong Tower Consulting does not treat this model as a guaranteed recovery rate.
Why detention goes unbilled
A detention charge is earned when a stop runs past the free time on that order. It is billed only when the file can prove the clock. Three gaps show up in carrier billing queues. They are failure modes to check in your own TMS. They are not industry rates.
No trusted arrival time
Dispatch may know the truck was at the dock. The invoice still needs a start time a shipper will treat as the beginning of dwell. A status typed after the fact, or a location ping that landed on the wrong fence, leaves the clerk without a start time they can defend. The line is dropped because the arrival is not trusted, not because the driver failed to wait.
Late PODs
If the proof of delivery comes back after the freight bill for that load has already gone out, the detention line is easy to miss. The time sits in a driver app, an inbox, or an unscanned packet. The load is closed. The accessorial never gets a second pass.
Free-time terms missing from the order
The rate confirmation may allow two hours, or the contract may say something else. If that term is not on the order the billing system can read, the clerk has to hunt for it. Lines get written off when the free-time rule cannot be shown next to the dwell. Put your own free-time minutes in the calculator. Do not borrow a figure from another fleet.
What evidence a shipper accepts
Shippers do not share one rule. Your contract, the accessorial schedule, and the gate practice at the facility decide what counts. Two record types are the ones billing teams are usually asked to produce. This page does not claim either one will be paid.
Geofence enter and exit
A timestamped enter event and a timestamped exit event, tied to the stop on the load, show when the truck was inside the facility boundary you drew. The usefulness of that pair depends on fence size, GPS drift, and whether the device recorded both events. Enter without exit does not establish dwell. Exit without enter does not establish arrival.
Signed in and out times
Some facilities stamp a gate log or sign the POD with an in time and an out time. Auditors often compare those signatures to the geofence. When the two clocks disagree, the dispute is about which clock the contract names. Set the target capture percent to the share you believe you can support with the evidence your customers already require.
How document extraction shortens the bill cycle
The slow step is often not the hourly rate. It is getting the in time, the out time, and the accessorial note off the paperwork and onto the invoice line before the billing cycle closes.
Automated document extraction reads the POD, the gate ticket, or the rate confirmation and proposes those fields for the accessorial line. A clerk confirms them instead of retyping a stack of images. The detention charge can then ride with the current freight bill. That is what a shorter bill cycle means here: fewer loads closed before the accessorial is ready.
Extraction does not change free time, the detention rate, or the share of charges a shipper will pay. Those stay in the assumptions above. The target capture field is the share you expect to bill and collect if enter and exit times, plus extracted documents, are in the file before invoicing. The annual program cost is your estimate. Net gain is recovered detention minus that cost. If the cost is higher than the recovery, the model shows a negative gain. That is a scope check, not a promise of savings.
Frequently asked questions
Why does detention go unbilled when the truck waited at the dock?
Detention stays unbilled when there is no trusted arrival time, when the POD arrives after the invoice has already gone out, or when the free-time term is missing from the order. Any one of those gaps can cause the line to be dropped before it is billed. How often that happens is an assumption you enter above. It is not an industry benchmark.
What evidence can a shipper accept for a detention claim?
Your contract and the facility decide what counts. The records billing teams assemble are a geofence enter time, a geofence exit time, and signed in and out times when the dock keeps a gate log. This calculator does not claim that a shipper will accept geofence evidence. The target capture percent is the share you set.
How does document extraction shorten the bill cycle?
Document extraction reads the POD or gate paperwork and places the in and out times on the accessorial line for a clerk to confirm. The detention charge can then be invoiced in the current billing cycle instead of waiting on a later retype. Extraction does not change your rate or the share you collect. Those stay your assumptions.
Are the defaults industry benchmarks, and does Strong Tower guarantee a recovery rate?
No. Every default is your assumption and is not an industry benchmark. Strong Tower Consulting does not guarantee a recovery rate. The target capture percent is a target you set, and the annual program cost is your estimate.
Put a clock behind every detention line.
Strong Tower Consulting provides independent systems architecture, feasibility audits, and engineering roadmaps for motor carriers and freight brokers. Contact our advisory team or call 763-244-1373 to discuss your operational data and evaluate practical implementation paths for your fleet.