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Level 2: On the desk · Lesson 7 of 17

Building a good plan

A truck earns money when it's moving loaded. Every mile it drives empty to a pickup is deadhead, and every hour it sits is lost. Your job is to keep each truck loaded and moving as much as the driver's hours and life allow.

Preplan. The best driver managers know each truck's next load before the current one delivers. A driver who empties at 10 a.m. with a load waiting 20 miles away keeps rolling; one who empties and then waits half a day for a load loses a day of pay and gets frustrated.

Look at the whole picture when picking between loads, not just the rate. A load that pays $200 more but deadheads 150 miles, delivers into a dead market on Friday, and leaves the driver stuck for the weekend is worse than a lower-paying load that sets him up for Monday.

Plan fuel too. Most carriers have fuel networks with discounts, and fuel optimization software tells drivers where and how much to buy. Running out of fuel or fueling off network costs money that adds up across a fleet.

Some plans use relays, where one driver hands a loaded trailer to another, or swaps, so a driver can head toward home while the load keeps going. A good plan also asks the driver: what do they need? A shower, laundry, a doctor's appointment, a day near home. A plan that ignores the driver gets ignored by the driver.

On the desk

Two loads for a truck empty in Atlanta. Load A pays $2,100, deadheads 140 miles and delivers Friday afternoon in Miami. Load B pays $1,850, deadheads 10 miles and delivers Friday in Chicago. Which is usually better?

More info

Terms in this lesson

DeadheadMiles driven empty.
Loaded milesMiles driven with a paying load. Loaded miles divided by all miles is utilization.
PreplanAssigning a truck's next load before the current one delivers.
Empty callThe driver's message that they've delivered and are empty.
RelayOne driver hands a load off to another to keep it moving.
Fuel networkThe truck stops where a carrier gets fuel discounts.

The scenario answers

  1. Two loads for a truck empty in Atlanta. Load A pays $2,100, deadheads 140 miles and delivers Friday afternoon in Miami. Load B pays $1,850, deadheads 10 miles and delivers Friday in Chicago. Which is usually better? Load B, little deadhead and it delivers into a strong freight market. Florida is a notoriously poor outbound market, and a Friday delivery there can strand a truck for the weekend. Chicago has plenty of outbound freight. Look past the rate to what the load sets up next.
  2. What does deadhead mean? Miles driven empty with no paying load. Deadhead is empty miles, usually to get to a pickup. Some is unavoidable; the goal is to keep it low.
  3. A driver will empty at 9 a.m. tomorrow. When should you be working on his next load? Now, before he empties. That's preplanning. A load lined up before he empties means he keeps rolling instead of sitting.
  4. A driver says she needs to be in Dallas on Thursday for her daughter's school event. You have a great load that would put her in Denver on Thursday. What's the right move? Find a load that gets her to Dallas, and tell her plainly if you can't. Drivers remember whether you got them where they needed to be. Plan around it, and if it isn't possible, say so early so she can sort something out.

General training, not legal or compliance advice. Rules are the US federal ones (FMCSA) as of 2026; check the current text and your company’s policies.