Deadhead miles: the fuel bill nobody puts on the estimate

The mower ran fine. The crew worked hard. The truck still burned a tank zigzagging across town because Tuesday’s route was built like a grocery list, not a loop.

Wrong pin. Forgotten gate code. “Quick stop” that was 18 minutes away. That’s deadhead — miles you drive that never appear on an invoice.

What it costs

Fuel, windshield time, overtime creep, and fewer stops per day. Even a quiet $8–$25 per truck per day adds up across a season. Worse: rushed last stops mean callbacks, which create more miles.

Where the miles hide

• Routes sorted by “who called first,” not geography.
• Addresses typed wrong once and never fixed.
• One-off jobs dropped into a dense day “because they’re close” (they aren’t).
• Techs freelancing the order without telling the office.

The Monday fix

For one week, run this rule:

• Office owns the stop order the night before.
• Techs don’t reshuffle unless a customer cancels.
• Every wrong address / locked gate gets logged with a photo of the issue.
• One-offs go on a dedicated “swing day,” not stuffed into the densest route.

Make it stick

Cluster by neighborhood. Protect dense days. Treat deadhead like a cost of goods — because it is.