Deadhead miles
Deadhead miles are the miles a truck drives without revenue freight, for example running empty to the next pickup or back home after a delivery.
What is Deadhead miles?
Every truck deadheads some of the time: to reach a pickup, to get out of a market with little outbound freight, or to return to the terminal. The cost of those miles is real (fuel, wages, wear) but nobody pays for them directly, so they have to be covered by the rate on the loaded miles.
ATRI’s operational-cost research puts the average marginal cost of running a truck at US$2.336 per mile for 2025, the highest in the report’s history, and trade summaries of the same report put empty miles at roughly one in six miles driven by non-tank carriers. Those two numbers together explain why deadhead is one of the first metrics dispatchers watch.
How deadhead changes your break-even rate
Because revenue is earned only on loaded miles, the break-even rate per loaded mile is your total cost per mile divided by the loaded share of your miles: cost per mile ÷ (1 − deadhead share). At US$2.336 per mile and 16.5% deadhead, that is about US$2.80 per loaded mile before any profit. Cut deadhead to 10% and the same fleet breaks even at about US$2.60. Work out your own figures with the free cost per mile calculator.
The levers are planning levers: book backhauls before the headhaul delivers, chain loads into round trips, and pick the next load by the empty miles it adds, not only by its rate. Trip optimization and a plan board that shows where every truck will be empty next make that visible to the dispatcher.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good deadhead percentage?
There is no universal target: it depends on lanes, equipment and freight balance. Industry benchmarks for non-tank carriers sit around one empty mile in six (about 16 to 17%). Specialized equipment and one-way markets often run higher; dense regional networks with backhauls run lower.
Do drivers get paid for deadhead miles?
That depends on the carrier’s pay plan. Many company drivers are paid for all dispatched miles, loaded or empty, while some owner-operator and percentage-pay arrangements pay only on loaded miles. Check the pay agreement rather than assuming either way.
Does "deadheading" mean something different in hours-of-service rules?
Yes. In HOS terms, deadheading also means a driver riding as a passenger at the carrier’s direction, for example being driven to pick up a truck. For property carriers, FMCSA treats that time as on-duty not driving unless the driver gets 10 consecutive hours off duty on arrival.
How can a carrier reduce deadhead miles?
Plan loads as round trips instead of one-way moves, search for backhauls before the outbound load delivers, use power-only or drop-trailer freight to fill empty legs, and review empty miles per lane every month. The biggest gains usually come from booking the next load earlier.
See Deadhead miles in a real TMS
Transportial puts these concepts to work in one operational platform — planning, tracking, documents, and finance.