My Truck Is Empty
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Every hour the truck sits, your fixed costs keep running and nothing offsets them. The decision isn’t whether to find a load; it’s whether to wait here or move somewhere freight actually exists. That comes down to a number most carriers have never worked out.
What sitting actually costs
Add your daily fixed costs: truck payment, insurance, permits, ELD subscription, any fixed wages. Divide the annual figure by 365, not by working days: the payment doesn’t pause on a Tuesday you didn’t run.
For many single-truck operations that lands somewhere between $150 and $300 a day before anyone turns a wheel. That’s your waiting cost, and it’s the number the reposition decision hangs on.
The decision
Compare two things:
Waiting: daily fixed cost × expected days until something decent appears. Be honest about the second number: if the market’s been thin for three days, tomorrow probably isn’t different.
Repositioning: fuel and wear on the empty miles out, against a realistic rate in the destination market.
400 empty miles costs roughly $300 in fuel and wear. If waiting costs $200 a day and the market’s dead for three days, moving is clearly right. If something decent is likely tomorrow, it isn’t.
A cheap load beats an empty move
If you’re going to reposition anyway, taking even a poorly paid load over those same miles is revenue against costs you were paying regardless. The comparison isn’t the cheap load against your rate floor; it’s the cheap load against $0. More on repositioning.
Why it happens repeatedly
Empty days are usually planned in three days earlier, by accepting a good rate into a market with nothing outbound. The load that pays well and strands you costs more than the one that pays less and leaves you somewhere with options.
Before booking, ask what leaves the destination. It’s the cheapest habit in this business.
Where Hey Bubba! fits
Hey Bubba! is an AI back-office automation platform for fleets. It searches continuously rather than when someone has a spare hour, screens loads on net revenue per mile, and plans the reload before the current load delivers, so the truck comes off the dock with somewhere to go.
Frequently asked questions
Your daily fixed costs (payment, insurance, permits, subscriptions, fixed wages) divided across 365 days, not working days. Often $150 to $300 for a single truck.
Compare daily fixed cost times expected wait against fuel and wear on the empty miles. If the market’s been thin for days, moving usually wins.
If you were going to move anyway, yes; it’s revenue against miles you’d have driven empty.
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