Freight Operations / Mileage
Empty Miles in trucking
Plain-English explanation
Empty miles are truck miles driven without revenue-generating freight on board — the same concept as deadhead miles, though the terms carry slightly different emphasis in practice. Deadhead usually refers to the specific move to reach a pickup location; empty miles is the broader accounting term used to describe all unloaded miles across a reporting period. In fleet operations, empty mile percentage (empty miles divided by total miles) benchmarks routing efficiency. A carrier running 12,000 total miles with 2,400 empty miles carries a 20% empty mile rate. Well-managed dry van fleets typically target 10-15%; higher percentages signal routing problems, lane structure issues, or limited backhaul options. Reducing empty miles improves effective per-mile revenue without requiring higher load rates — more of the driven miles generate pay. The main strategies: - Better backhaul planning: finding return loads that pay rather than repositioning empty - Load board monitoring: reducing deadhead by finding loads already near the current position - Shipper relationships: building regular round-trip commitments on corridors with freight in both directions For an owner-operator, every empty mile erodes the effective rate on surrounding loads. A $3.20 per loaded-mile rate looks different after 180 miles of unpaid repositioning to reach the shipper — the total revenue spread across all miles driven is lower than the posted rate suggests.
In a load file, this language usually matters because it changes a rate, appointment, dock instruction, delivery record, or invoice packet.
Why it matters in trucking
Empty miles are the hidden cost in every routing decision. Carriers who compare loads by posted loaded-mile rate without accounting for the deadhead required to reach each pickup are comparing different total-mile costs as if they were equivalent. The load with the lower posted rate but less deadhead may produce better actual revenue per day.
The useful details are the ones a dispatcher or billing desk can verify later: who approved the change, when it happened, and which document shows it.
Example in real use
A dispatcher has two load options after a delivery in Columbus, Ohio. Load A pays $2.80/mile loaded, 540 loaded miles, but requires 130 deadhead miles to reach the shipper. Load B pays $2.55/mile, 590 loaded miles, with only 25 deadhead miles. Load A total miles: 670, revenue $1,512. Load B total miles: 615, revenue $1,504.50. Load A earns $2.26 per total mile; Load B earns $2.45 per total mile. The lower posted rate won.
Where it shows up
Empty miles appear in dispatch planning and lane review when the truck moves without freight.
What to check first
- Reason for the empty move.
- Miles before pickup and after delivery.
- Repeated empty movement on the same lane.
- How the empty move affects total-mile revenue.
Common mistakes or confusion
- Comparing loads by loaded-mile rate without factoring in deadhead to reach the pickup — two loads at the same rate can have very different total-mile revenue depending on how far the truck has to drive empty to start.
- Not tracking empty mile percentage over time — without the metric, there is no visibility into whether routing decisions are improving or worsening.
- Accepting heavy deadhead to chase a marginally better rate when a load with less deadhead and a slightly lower rate would generate the same or better day's revenue.
Related terms
Commonly confused with
Related guides
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Last updated: 2026-05-07