Key takeaways
- Thirty-eight per cent of our miles run on trucks already making the journey, at a fraction of the headhaul rate.
- Lane structure beats distance: Des Moines is closer than Springfield and costs more per box.
- A two-day delivery window frequently moves a load onto a return leg and is the cheapest concession a buyer can make.
- Backhaul availability collapses during harvest and before Christmas, which can add forty per cent to a lane.
A customer in Springfield and a customer in Des Moines order the same four hundred boxes at the same grade in the same week. The Springfield delivered price is fourteen per cent lower. Neither of them negotiated anything. The difference is that we have a regular return lane out of Springfield and we do not out of Des Moines.
What a backhaul is
A carrier delivering into Kansas City with nothing booked for the return leg has two options: run empty, or take whatever pays something. A load of banded boxes going the direction the truck is already heading is close to pure margin for them, which is why it can be priced at a fraction of the headhaul rate.
Thirty-eight per cent of our miles run this way. It is the single largest reason a used box can be delivered four hundred miles and still undercut a new box made two hundred miles away.
Why this makes pricing look inconsistent
Customers occasionally suspect that delivered pricing is arbitrary. It is not arbitrary, but it is genuinely lane-specific in a way that catalogue pricing cannot express.
| Destination | Distance | Lane type | Freight per box | Delivered per box |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Topeka, KS | 65 mi | Own truck, metro | $0.42 | $8.17 |
| Springfield, MO | 215 mi | Regular backhaul | $0.88 | $8.63 |
| Des Moines, IA | 195 mi | Headhaul, no return | $1.55 | $9.30 |
| Tulsa, OK | 250 mi | Regular backhaul | $0.95 | $8.70 |
| Denver, CO | 600 mi | Brokered truckload | $2.10 | $9.85 |
| Atlanta, GA | 800 mi | LTL | $3.40 | $11.15 |
Note that Des Moines is closer than Springfield and costs more. Distance is a rough proxy for freight cost; lane structure is the real driver.
How to make your own lane cheaper
- Ask what capacity exists on your lane before assuming a quote is fixed. Sometimes waiting four days puts you on a return leg.
- Be flexible on delivery date. A two-day window is often worth several hundred dollars against a fixed appointment.
- Combine collection with delivery. If we are taking empties out of your building, the inbound leg is already paid for.
- Order in trailer-efficient quantities. Four hundred and eighty flattened boxes and six hundred and ninety flattened boxes cost nearly the same to move.
- Consolidate with a neighbour. We have run shared loads for two businesses in the same industrial park more than once, and both paid roughly half.
The seasonality nobody warns you about
Backhaul availability collapses during agricultural harvest and again in the weeks before Christmas, because every trailer in the region has a paying load in both directions. A lane that is cheap in May can be forty per cent dearer in October with no change to the boxes.
If your requirement is predictable, book it outside those windows. If it is not, tell us the flexibility you do have and we will work around the peaks.
Questions