Curious about Backhauling

It all depends on the type of authority your company has. There are 3 different types of authority as i understand it and you can have 1 or ALL 3 it all depends on which one they have. Or they could be doing trip lease for those times and leasing the authority for that one particular load. That is up to your legal dept to figure out.

 

Based on the definition below I would have to say no, they are not breaking the law. However, when it comes to trucking it seems every state has the power to interpet things as they see fit.

Generally a back haul is any return load taken after the delivery has been made. An example of this would be the collection of supplier loads from the supplier by the retailer for delivery into the retailer’s own RDC.
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Here's an example of what that definition means . I used to work for a moving supply company . I would deliver boxes and moving supplies to movers . When I empty I would go to a supplier and get a lot of boxes or moving pads and bring them to our warehouse from which they would be shipped to customers . My employer was a private carrier and not for hire . The did not have MC authority and owned everything that was on their trucks .
If the load Wooly Rhino brings back to Denver is not products bought by his company for resale to his company's customers and is being hauled only as freight very likely it is illegal but more info is needed .

 

If I understand you correctly, your company isn't doing anything wrong. It is their freight, they can do what they want with it. They can even contract it out to another carrier, even without broker authority, if they have an agreement in place as a shipper.

You said that your company isn't a trucking company, per se. I am guessing that you are part of their private fleet? Or am I wrong?

I would just ask your manager the innocent question of why they do it that way. The answer may suprise you. They may not want to burn up a team's hours waiting for four hours at the delivery point. Maybe the last otr driver before you hated doing city deliveries. Maybe the dock is too tight for a sleeper and they send a daycab. Many OTR drivers would kill to drop all of their loads at their terminal.

Unless I am missing something. Let me know.