The market is moving towards paying drivers after one hour of dock time. It has been a while since we first started hearing recruitment ads promising driver pay after one hour. Time is starting to have value. The 14 hour rule combined with electronic enforcement has put a real limit on it. Once something has a limit, it will have a value.
This week we got the message that Paper Transport (the company that I am leased to) will start paying detention pay after one hour. I believe that we will soon be hearing ads from companies that will pay drivers for all of their on duty – not driving time. Paper Transport is a good company. It is a smart company. They are somewhere between the 200-250 largest trucking companies in the US. Like many companies of our size, we have trouble attracting good drivers. I do not have any inside information. That said. In some part it is probably meant to appease current drivers. It is also designed to attract new ones.
Let's get something straight. There is no driver shortage. We have about 12,000,000 CDLA holders. 
We need somewhere in the vicinity of 3,500,000. We recruit about 40,000 trainees every month. Trucking is a hard job. It is not for everyone. It is natural for the industry to lose drivers. It isn't natural for us to lose as many as we do. The average trucking career lasts about 3.2 years. That average includes old dogs like me who last 30 or more years. No one seems to know, what the median career length is. Perhaps the move to one hour detention could slow the exodus.
Safety and efficiency should work together. A safe driver is well trained, experienced, and has the capacity to exercise safe judgment. Lessening the amount of time drivers spend at spend at work not getting paid increases their capacity to exercise safe judgment. Only paying them when they log time as on duty not driving reduces the incentive to falsify that time as off duty or sleeper berth. Good drivers can force the market. If you are not happy with your company, tell them. Don't just quit. The driver turnover rate needs to be reduced. Explain to them that the market is 
moving towards one hour detention pay. Encourage them to move in that direction.
Mandatory detention pay would be a good thing. Amending the Fair Labor Standards to remove the exception for interstate workers (truckers) would be a better thing. The best thing is for the market to move to where drivers get paid for all of the time at work. Eventually a smart truck load carrier will pay drivers for all of their on duty not driving time If you are moving companies, look at their detention policy. No company wants to pay their drivers, while they aren't producing revenue. It should be everyone's goal to increase efficiency and keep freight moving safely. A driver should never have to hurry to make up for lost revenue due to the inefficiency of others.