Deadhead miles are the miles a service truck drives without a paying job at the end of the leg. In field service they come mostly from the first and last drive of the day, from backtracking across the territory, and from trips that end at a cancelled or no-access job.
The term comes from trucking, where a deadhead leg is a truck running empty to its next load.
How to count deadhead miles
Split every leg of a truck's day into two kinds: legs that end at a job someone pays for, and legs that do not.
Deadhead share = Non-revenue miles ÷ Total miles driven
Non-revenue legs usually include:
- Home or shop to a far first job, beyond whatever distance you treat as a normal start.
- Last job back to the shop or home.
- Backtracking, where the truck returns to ground it already covered. Strictly, these legs end at a job, but the extra distance over a sensible order is deadhead. See backtracking.
- Dead trips, where the customer cancelled, was not home or the job could not start.
- Supply runs that are not tied to a specific job.
Half the day's miles earned nothing.
Why it matters for scheduling
Every mile has a cost in fuel, wear and the tech's paid time. Deadhead miles are the part of that cost that could have been avoided by booking the day differently. They pile up into windshield time, and you can price the hours with the windshield time cost calculator.
Most deadhead is decided when jobs are booked, not when they are driven. A first job booked 30 miles from the shop because it was the first open slot, or a 2:00 on the far side of town because the customer asked for 2:00, creates the empty miles before the truck leaves. That is why the fix sits at booking: check the drive time from where the truck will actually be before offering the slot. CrewLink works this way, computing the drive from the previous job rather than the shop.
A common mistake
Counting only total miles. Total miles go up when you take more jobs, which is good. The useful number is deadhead share, because it separates miles that earned money from miles that did not.
What to take away
- Deadhead miles are legs that do not end at a paying job: far first drives, the drive home, backtracking and dead trips.
- Track deadhead share, non-revenue miles divided by total miles, not total miles.
- Most deadhead is created at booking, so check the drive from the previous job before offering a slot.
Common questions
What is the difference between deadhead miles and drive time?
Drive time counts every minute behind the wheel. Deadhead miles count only the distance that did not end at a paying job. A truck can have high drive time and low deadhead if all its long drives go to work.
Is the commute to the first job a deadhead mile?
It depends on how you define it. Some companies count only the distance beyond a set threshold, others count the whole drive. Whether drive time is paid is a separate wage question for your state and a professional. Whatever rule you pick, apply it the same way every day so the number is comparable.
How do I reduce deadhead miles?
Book first and last jobs near where each tech starts and ends, offer slots that keep a truck in one area, and confirm appointments the day before so fewer trips end at an empty house.