What is a backload?
A backload is a load a driver picks up on a journey they were already making, usually on the way back to base after a delivery, so the miles are not run empty.
Backloads exist because a lorry running empty still burns fuel, still costs the driver a day, and earns nothing. If a driver delivers from Leicester to Glasgow, the run home is dead miles unless they find something to carry.
That is why backloads are cheaper than a dedicated run. The driver is not pricing the whole journey, only the extra cost of loading, securing and delivering along a route they were taking anyway. A poster gets a lower price, a driver turns a dead leg into paid work.
On HaulageBoard, backloads are tagged so movers can filter straight to them, and completing one earns 30 points on your Road Score. Empty miles are the thing a load exchange exists to kill.
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Written by the HaulageBoard team. Last updated 23 August 2026.