The empty-truck problem
A huge share of truck miles are run empty. A carrier delivers a load, then drives back with nothing, burning fuel and time to reposition. Those "deadhead" miles are pure waste — paid for by someone, emitting carbon for nothing.
Backhaul is the fix: find freight to put on that empty return leg so the trip does useful work in both directions.
How it applies to boxes
Boxes are a near-perfect backhaul cargo. They are bulky but light, they are not time-critical, and they flow naturally back toward the places that consolidate and reuse them.
So when a truck delivers your box order, it can collect your surplus and spent corrugated on the way back, instead of returning empty. One trip, two useful loads.
The double win
Most sustainability moves involve a cost trade-off. Backhaul does not, which is why we build it into how we serve customers wherever the geography allows.
- Cost: the return miles were already being paid for, so collection is cheap.
- Carbon: no additional truck, no additional fuel — you use capacity that would have been wasted.
- Diversion: your surplus flows into reuse instead of a landfill.
“Backhaul is one of the rare moves that cuts cost and carbon at the same time, with no trade-off.”
Making backhaul work
Backhaul depends on matching flows: a delivery going one way and a pickup that fits the return. The denser our delivery network in an area, the more return legs there are to fill, and the more of your surplus we can collect cheaply.
That is why telling us about recurring surplus is worth it even if it is modest — it lets us fold your pickups into lanes we already run.
Ask for it
When you place an order, ask whether we can backhaul your empties on the delivery. When you have surplus, tell us where you are and we will look for a lane already serving you.
It is the greenest, cheapest way to move boxes, precisely because the truck was going to make the trip anyway. Filling that empty space is free efficiency, and it closes the loop.