It is a term that started some years ago. If I remember correctly, the term started with shippers who used to haul their own products. They would look for anything to pay their fuel or defer some of their operating costs to get back to haul their own freight, thus the name back haul. From a freight haulers stand point, the term should not exist. It is a way for shippers and brokers to justify paying a cheap rate. I don't consider the words as valid in my business. I NEVER use the term back haul. Each load should stand on it's own merit. I don't do back hauls.

I dunno man......75,000 pounds of cargo is a lot of cargo. Your talking 11 to 12 axles involved at least. Now....a gross vehicle weight of 75,000...that is entirely different. :p

I caught that too. I think everyone was talking about gross.... or at least I hope so.:eek1:

You got me there, guys. I meant gross, not load weight. :o

lol, you guys are too quick. I was going to jump on the 75,000 thing. Hey, thats not much weight if you have a Kawasaki tractor.

My question is whether this is a drop and hook or a live load and how long it takes to load it. If your going right back to the yard with it from where you dropped then mileage is ok I guess as long as it not every time then the company is using you to haul freight for free. This is called scratching each others back. You do them a favor by hauling back like this and then if and when you want a day off you don't expect a huge fuss over it or something like that.
I wonder though. If they told you differently when they hired you have you asked them about it? Ask nicely dont storm in with an attitude.
I started working nights and around 0300 all I want to do is get home and to bed so I can sure understand the sentiment.

I believe he said that they did tell him when he started. In any case, a driver is paid to drive a truck. It should not make any difference to the driver whether it is loaded or not. Although he didn't mention how he was compensated other than the additional $15, I would expect that he is paid mileage. If that is the case and he is paid for all miles driven as he is in other circumstances, then I don't see why there should be any complaints. I would never expect a carrier to share the revenue with me unless I worked percentage.

Hey, Jonp, we linehaul guys never get paid by the mile, just daily pay, plus these $15 extras now and then. And no, it's not a live load. No loading or unloading, just a dropyard. The heavy trailer is already there, waiting for me. I just drop my regular load there, and hook up to the heavy "backhaul" trailer, instead of an empty, and off I go, crawling up the hills at 45 mph and whaling down the other side at 85 mph :eek2: ( well, I could, but i put on the jake brake and do 70). Like I said it adds that 20 minutes, and sets me back 20 minutes into my next day, which is a big deal for me.
I guess I have too much stuff to do around the house, better get a maid, or a concierge, or something. :) So, yeah, I guess I should be a team player and just do it, and be happy to add some profit to the company that employs me.


When they hired me they said something about backhauls, and about being flexible. Can't remember exactly.

Now about the paid backhauls : They have 2 locations for these. One is the 45 minutes extra for $15, that doesn't seem so bad.

But there is another one that is farther off the route, and adds an hour and 15 minutes to the driving time, and about 2 hours to the whole day. This one they added about a year ago, and I think they finally dropped it, knock on wood. Still only $15 extra. This was the one nobody wanted. The OTR drivers were telling us linehaul guys we should just say no, since it was too close to the 11 hours. They sent us out in icy weather too, for this backhaul. Said just get a motel if you run out of hours, or pull over and sleep in the day cab for 10 hours. Nobody ever got a motel or pulled over, but I would guess some drivers had to go over the 11 hours a few times.


I'm not too smooth with authority figures, so I try to avoid them as much as possible, but I have mentioned to my terminal manager that I don't like the backhauls, when the subject arose. Also bitched about it in a nice way to the dispatchers when they gave me these faraway backhauls. All of us linehaul drivers made it clear we didn't like the faraway backhaul, since it was so close to the 11 hours, and the manager was always "checking into it".


We only get about one backhaul a week now, per driver, and not the faraway one, so lately it's not too bad. We were getting 2 or 3 per week for a while there.

what a *****!! you got a job dude..alot of guys would kill for your job. home everyday and a steady paycheck.

omg - i'd hate to see you working otr. crying about taking an extra 20 minutes - boo freakin hoo. do you cry as much if you get into holiday traffic, construction delays or accidents?