Every Empty Mile Costs More. Here's How to Stop Paying for Them.

Diesel is up, and you can't control the pump. You can control how many gallons your fleet burns hauling nothing.

For a 100-truck fleet, every point of deadhead burns about $95,000 a year in diesel. This guide shows where those empty miles come from, and how fleets are cutting them by planning across the whole fleet instead of one load at a time.

The math on one point of deadhead

Small percentage. Big diesel bill.

Fleet optimization cuts empty miles by planning across your whole fleet instead of one load at a time. Here's what each point is worth.

10M

miles a year

100 trucks × 100,000 miles each

100,000

empty miles

1 point = 1% of total miles driven empty

15,400

gallons of diesel

at 6.5 mpg

$95K

a year, per point

at October 2026 diesel prices (EIA)

Cut deadhead 3 points and that's about $285K back. Running 50 trucks? Cut it in half. It's still real money.

Industry average deadhead is 16.5% (ATRI). ATRI's average is about 86,000 miles per truck, so scale to your own fleet.

The Fuel Problem Is a Planning Problem-1

What you'll learn

What one point of deadhead really costs. The math for a 100-truck fleet, and how to run it with your own numbers.
Why diesel has outrun crude. What's driving prices in 2026, and why you should plan for them to stay high.
Six steps to cut fuel waste across the fleet. From fleet-wide planning and load chains to what you pay at the pump.
Five signs fuel is eating your margin. A quick self-check your ops team can run this week.
Why some deadhead is worth it. The goal is the most margin per mile, not zero empty miles.

Who this guide is for

Owners and ops leaders

at fleets where fuel is the line item that moves the P&L

Dispatch teams

covering loads fast but losing sight of where trucks end up

Growing fleets

watching deadhead creep up while freight volume holds steady

You can't control the price of diesel. You can control how much of it your fleet wastes.

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