Hourscheckedfirst
Every option is tested against the driver’s remaining driving time and duty window. The ELD is the record. HaulStream reads it and never works around it.
A Thursday decision, seen clearly
Every truck drives home.Make the drive back pay.
HaulStream finds loads along the way back, checks them against your driver’s hours and the night they need to be home, and shows your dispatcher what each one earns once the empty miles are counted. Your dispatcher decides. Your driver gets home.
Empty miles countedHome time respectedDispatcher decides
Thursday, 14:00, Joliet, Illinois. Ray’s trailer is empty. Pick a sign.
The empty mile
One mile in six goes nowhere.
Across the US industry, about one truck mile in six is driven empty. And an empty mile costs the same to run as a loaded one: the driver, the truck, the tyres, the fuel.
Industry averages from the American Transportation Research Institute: 16.7% of miles driven empty in 2024, and a record $2.34 average operating cost per mile in 2025. Your own fleet’s figures will differ.
Not every empty mile can be avoided. Some can. The skill is knowing which, on a Thursday afternoon, with a driver who wants to get home.
Thursday, 14:00, Joliet, Illinois
Ray’s trailer is empty. Home is Indianapolis. What next?
Change it and watch which option HaulStream suggests. The dispatcher still makes the call.
Loaded, earningEmpty, costing
Illinois and IndianaRoad miles are approximate
Driver’s daily log, Thursday Ray Example, unit 214. Times are local.
RayMessage from dispatch
Drafted by HaulStream. Dana in dispatch edits and sends it.
Not sent automatically
How we route
Three rules we don’t bend.
A good backhaul for the spreadsheet can be a bad one for the person driving it. These are the limits every suggestion has to pass before a dispatcher sees it.
Hometimecounts
When a driver says they need Friday night, that’s a constraint, not a preference a better rate can overrule. Drivers who get home stay.
Dispatcherdecides
HaulStream ranks the options and drafts the message. A person reads it, changes it if needed and sends it. Nothing is booked on its own.
Detention
Timestamps, not arguments.
When a truck waits at a dock, HaulStream records when it entered the facility’s boundary and when it left, then does the arithmetic the same way every time. A clean record shortens the conversation with a shipper. It doesn’t guarantee they’ll pay.
Unit 512, Memphis shipper Sample record
- Entered the facility boundary. Appointment was 08:30; free time starts at check-in.
- Assigned door 14.
- Loading finished, paperwork pending.
- Left the facility boundary.
Time on site3h 14m
Free time in the agreement− 2h 00m
Billable at $75.00 an hour1h 14m
Detention to invoice$92.50
Rate and free time come from the carrier’s agreement with the shipper, not from HaulStream.
Your fleet
Count your own empty miles.
Put in your numbers. The defaults are industry averages, so change them. You’ll see what the empty miles cost you each week, and how many would earn instead if you loaded a share of them.
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