The art and theory of deadheading. Thoughts and Opinions.

wearing your truck out for very little money

 

Deadhead miles are irrelevant in my opinion and experience.

No need for a master's degree in "deadhead theory."

Although, speaking of deadhead,
Out on the road today I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac.
A little voice inside my head said:
"Don't look back, you can never look back."

 

It all depends on your personal situation I guess. I get just as much satisfaction out of being on the road as I do with working around the house. That being said, i get out of the truck and do things out on the road. I still take time to enjoy life and don't mind being out for a few weeks before taking a week or two off at the house.

To the point on deadheading, everyone factors their costs differently, and weighs their importance differently. This holds true for any business in any industry, and is why some companies fail while others flourish.

I personally don't figure my pay on an all miles basis. I don't get paid to run empty, so I don't count it when figuring up my profit. I do count it as a loss, but I don't figure it in per mile. It costs me roughly $0.35/mile to run empty by my calculations (everyone's costs are different). Then it costs me approximately $130/day for my truck to not move. If I'm looking at deadheading versus picking up a cheap load I take all of that into account. All things being equal when the math is done, including net profit, time/day that I'm empty, and area that im empty in, i will gladly deadhead to pick up better paying freight in order to do my part to keep the rates up. I know someone will come along and haul the cheaper stuff, but if we all said no, it would come up. I can't complain about rates if I'm contributing to the problem.

Essentially what I do is, using your hypothetical, the 3-400 mile d/h would cost me $100-140 to go back, half a day lost @ $65, and roughly $30 in tolls. Added all up, that's a loss of $200-$250, meaning, to me, that load that paid $900-$1000 for the first trip, now only pays me $650-800 on every subsequent load. That's still better than $2/mile if it's only 300 miles, so depending on the freight situation where I'm delivering to, I might be willing to do that. If it's 400 miles, I wouldn't be able to make the loop in a single day, and it's less than $2/mile so I probably wouldn't do that.

 

Mpg wise 8 8.5 empty or 5.5 6 loaded, sometimes it just makes more sense to eat the fuel money than to haul cheap freight and take the chance of loosing time just to pay for fuel. Eat the fuel money and get the satisfaction of telling em where to stick that cheap freight,

brokers will low ball you and know they have the upper hand if they see your truck posted wanting to go to certain market.

 

To me other then the difference in fuel mileage, it costs the exact same to run empty or with a load. There are no backhauls, we drive forward all the time right? lol.

Joe if you ran to Columbus out of Chicago, then triangle back through Indianapolis. I don't care to get into exact rates but you would actually make more coming back with two loads vs the one going out. The time would increase a bit but could still get all 3 loads done in about 1 and 2/3 days. Then reload the 4th load before shutting down to end that 2nd day.

I wouldn't run empty back to answer your question. No way. Your going to rack up unpaid miles so much faster dead heading back. It's hard to put a price on the equipment wear but it's high.

 

Also think of it like this, say you had an owner op leased onto you that you paid 1.50/mi all miles. Would it make sense for you to deadhead him or her back to Chicago to get another load? No it would not, at the very very best you would still lose money. So, it's also not a good idea to do the same in your own asset.

Lastly, I have mixed emotions on "cheap backhaul freight". To me that is a lot different then cheap head haul freight so to speak. You have to get your money getting into the area obviously. Then the return load doesn't seem so cheap because it's the average that matters. It's not the broker scamming you, it's the market conditions dictating that low rate per mile. Your not screwing the broker getting into the area where you got above normal rates, it's just the market dictates that on that lane as well.