The short version
The best time to find a backhaul is before you accept the load going out. The rate pays for loaded miles and your costs run on all of them, so a 15% empty ratio takes 15% off the top of every rate you quote. Check what is posted out of the delivery market before you say yes, set an alert on that area the moment you are dispatched, and work the return while you are still rolling.
A 500-mile run that leaves you 200 miles from the nearest outbound freight is not a 500-mile run. It is a 700-mile run at a lower rate than the one you agreed to.
What does deadhead actually cost?
Take a $1,400 load running 700 loaded miles. On its own that is $2.00 a mile. Add 120 empty miles to reach the shipper and 180 afterwards to reach the next load and you drove 1,000 miles for $1,400, which is $1.40. The freight did not change. The routing did.
| Loaded only | All miles | |
|---|---|---|
| Rate | $1,400 | $1,400 |
| Miles | 700 | 1,000 |
| Rate per mile | $2.00 | $1.40 |
| Against a $1.20 break-even | Comfortable | Thin |
Track deadhead as a percentage of total miles and watch it month over month rather than load by load. Most owner-operators who measure it for the first time find it is higher than they assumed, and it is usually the cheapest number in the whole business to improve, because fixing it costs planning rather than money. If you have not worked out your break-even yet, start with rate per mile.
Check the outbound market before you take the load in
This is the habit that separates operators who plan from operators who react. Before accepting anything, search the destination as an origin and look at three things.
- How much freight is posted out of that area for your equipment, in the days you would be available.
- Where it goes. Outbound that all runs deeper away from your home region is not much better than sitting.
- What it pays relative to your break-even, because a cheap reload you accept out of desperation sets the price of the next two days.
If the answer to all three is thin, either negotiate the inbound rate up to cover the repositioning you know you will be doing, or take a different load. A rate is only high if it is high after the empty miles.
How do you find a backhaul before you deliver?
Work the return while you are still rolling, not while you are sitting on the dock. Alerts on the delivery area the day you are dispatched, searches built around the delivery appointment rather than today, and a widened radius before a widened date.
- Set an alert on the delivery area the day you are dispatched. The good reloads are booked hours after they post, not days. Being told the moment one appears is worth more than searching well.
- Search around your delivery appointment, not around now. Freight posted for pickup on the day you are actually free is the freight you can take.
- Widen the radius before you widen the dates. Fifty miles of deadhead to a load that pays properly beats a day of waiting for one at the door.
- Ask the receiver whether they ship. Plenty of receiving facilities have outbound freight and never post it. Two minutes at the dock has produced a lot of reloads.
- Call the brokers you already have packets with. Not everything gets posted, and a broker who knows you are 40 miles from their shipper on Thursday will remember it.
When the delivery market really is empty
Some markets simply do not ship out in volume. When you are in one, the choice is between waiting and repositioning, and the right answer is arithmetic rather than instinct.
- Reposition deliberately. Running empty to a nearby market that does have freight is a cost you choose. Compare the fuel for those miles against a day of fixed costs sitting still, and take whichever is smaller.
- Take a cheap short move in the right direction. A load that barely clears its own fuel is still better than the same miles empty, provided it puts you somewhere with options.
- Think in triangles. The return is not always a straight line. Out, across, and back frequently beats out and directly back, because the middle leg goes where the freight is instead of where your house is.
- Consider a partial. For van, sprinter and flatbed operators especially, two partials on the same trailer can cover a lane that no single load would.
The habit that does most of the work
Book in pairs. Stop thinking of a load as a load and think of it as a round trip you are pricing as a whole. The moment you evaluate the outbound and the return together, the loads that look attractive change, and so does what you are willing to accept for the leg home.
The bottom linePrice the round trip, not the load. The rate on the way out is only as good as the freight waiting where it drops you.
Frequently asked questions
What is a backhaul in trucking?
A backhaul is the load you take on the return leg after delivering, so that you are not driving empty back toward your home region. The term is also used for freight moving in the less busy direction on a lane, which is why backhaul rates are usually lower than head-haul rates.
What is a good deadhead percentage?
Lower is better and the useful comparison is against your own previous months rather than against an industry figure. Measure it as empty miles divided by total miles over a month; if it is climbing, the cause is almost always accepting loads into markets without checking what ships out of them.
When should I start looking for a backhaul?
Before you accept the load going out. Search the destination as an origin and look at how much freight is posted for your equipment on the days you will be free. Once dispatched, set an alert on that area so you hear about a reload the moment it posts.
Is it worth driving empty to a better market?
Sometimes. Compare the fuel and time for those empty miles against a day of fixed costs sitting still. If the market you would reach reliably posts freight on your lanes and the one you are in does not, repositioning is usually the cheaper of the two.
