One of the things you quickly find out in the trucking industry is that no one, not the company you work for, not your dispatcher, not a trip planner, not the shippers or consignees, not law enforcement and certainly not other drivers give a whit about wasting your time.
Playing in this system is something of an art. Some drivers cut in front of a line of trucks patiently waiting to enter a consignee, as happened to me just yesterday. Some drivers send in satellite messages indicating they are empty and waiting for their next load while they are still being unloaded, or even before they bump the dock.
Companies have concerns that don't exactly mirror those of their drivers, as well. For example, myself and at least a dozen other trucks are being held here in Calexico until this afternoon when it will become apparent how many trailers will make it across the border from Mexico. My sources in operations are fairly certain there won't be enough trailers arriving today to make it down to my spot on the list, so I will either have to continue waiting or be deadheaded somewhere to pick up a load. Of course, since my time has no value in this equation, I will be held here until mid afternoon or later then perhaps sent hundreds of miles away as quickly as I can scuttle.
By comparison, imagine you arrived at your work some mornings and you weren't allowed to begin working right away. Instead, your company would have you hang out in your cubicle ready to go at any moment, but perhaps not allow you to begin working for four hours. Then expect a full day's work from you, as if you had begun right when you arrived.
Naturally, while you are waiting you are not being paid. This is why, in effect, no one but you respects your time. A trucker's wasted time is the lubricant that keeps the inefficient cogs of shippers, consignees and trucking companies moving. If there was a cost associated with that wasted time (and I specifically discount detention and layover pay, as neither is real compensation for the time wasted), say an hourly wage when waiting to be dispatched, then companies would find a way to minimize that expenditure and therefore begin to respect a truck driver's time.
