Every empty mile costs you fuel, hours, and wear — and pays you nothing. You can't get deadhead to zero, but the difference between 8% and 18% deadhead is a mortgage payment every month.
Why deadhead happens
Freight isn't symmetric. Markets that consume more than they produce — think resort regions, or dense retail corridors — pay well inbound and poorly out. A load that looks great on rate-per-mile can be a trap if it strands you 200 empty miles from the next decent pickup.
The dispatcher's job: think two loads ahead
Good dispatch prices a load by the round trip it sets up, not the single haul. That means sometimes taking slightly less on paper to land in a market where three brokers are fighting over trucks. A dispatcher who knows your lanes builds chains: today's delivery is positioned inside tomorrow's pickup radius.
This is also the honest argument for percentage-of-gross pay: when the dispatcher's compensation rises with yours, they profit from smart chaining, not from just keeping you moving.
What you can do from the driver's seat
Tell dispatch your true constraints early — home time, regions you won't run, how long you'll sit for the right load. And track your own deadhead percentage weekly. It's the single best question to raise in a monthly call: 'my empty miles are trending up — what's the plan?'