Short answer
Deadhead miles are the miles a truck drives empty, usually from its last delivery to the next pickup. Carriers earn nothing on those miles but still pay for fuel, tires, and driver time, so they price deadhead into the rate on loaded miles. Deadhead also counts as driving time under FMCSA hours-of-service rules.
Why deadhead matters
For a carrier, deadhead is cost with no revenue attached. A load that pays well per loaded mile can still lose money if the truck has to run 200 miles empty to reach it.
For a broker, deadhead explains a lot of rate pushback. When a carrier asks for more on a load, the first question to ask is where its truck is emptying. A load that picks up close to where a truck delivers is worth more to that carrier than the posted rate suggests.
Deadhead with an empty trailer is different from bobtail, which means driving a tractor with no trailer at all. Both are unpaid miles.
Example: two loads, same truck
Illustrative numbers. The truck is empty in the same city for both options.
| Load A | Load B | |
|---|---|---|
| Rate | $1,500 | $1,150 |
| Deadhead to pickup | 150 miles | 20 miles |
| Loaded miles | 500 | 420 |
| Total miles | 650 | 440 |
| Rate per loaded mile | $3.00 | $2.74 |
| Rate per total mile | $2.31 | $2.61 |
| Deadhead percentage | 23.1% | 4.5% |
Reading the example
Example. Load A pays more and looks better per loaded mile. Load B pays more for every mile the truck actually drives.
If this carrier’s operating cost is $2.00 per mile (an illustrative number), Load A clears $1,500 minus $1,300, or $200. Load B clears $1,150 minus $880, or $270, and the driver finishes with more hours left for the next load.
That’s why carriers who know their costs judge loads by rate per total mile.
Deadhead and hours of service
Under 49 CFR 395.2, driving time is all time at the controls of a commercial motor vehicle in operation. Empty miles count the same as loaded miles. A property-carrying driver gets 11 hours of driving after 10 consecutive hours off duty, so 150 miles of deadhead can take a large share of a day’s hours before the load even picks up.
How brokers help carriers cut deadhead
- Ask where and when each truck empties before you offer a load.
- Offer backhaul freight that gets a carrier home or back toward its base.
- Learn each carrier’s preferred lanes and send loads that fit them.
- Line up the reload before the first load delivers.
- Post exact pickup locations so carriers can calculate the empty miles themselves.
Good carrier sales teams do this out of habit, and it tends to show up as better rates and fewer fall-offs.
Common mistakes
- Comparing loads on rate per loaded mile only.
- Posting a pickup city without the exact address, so the carrier’s deadhead math is wrong.
- Forgetting that a carrier’s deadhead home after delivery is part of its cost too.
- Assuming a carrier’s high counteroffer is padding when the truck is simply far away.
Deadhead also moves with the spot market. When loads are scarce in an area, trucks run farther empty to find freight.