August 8, 2026
A logistics glossary for tycoon players: deadhead, backhaul, drop and the rest
Transport tycoons borrow their vocabulary from real freight, and most of the words arrive with an idea attached. Learn the term and you usually find you have learned a decision you were already making badly. This is a working glossary — the words that matter, what they mean in the industry, and how each one shows up in a game built on real logistics.
Deadhead
Industry: running a vehicle with nothing in it. Classically, the trip home after a delivery when no return load was found.
In a game: the distance between where your vehicle is standing and where the cargo is waiting. You burn fuel, you spend time, you wear the vehicle — and you earn nothing for any of it. Deadhead is the single most under-appreciated cost in the genre, because the contract board advertises what a job pays and says nothing about what it costs to go and start it. A lucrative contract on the far side of the city can easily be worse than a modest one down the street. Experienced players stop asking "what does this pay?" and start asking "what does this pay from where my truck actually is?"
Backhaul
Industry: the load you carry on the return leg, so the trip back is not deadhead. Whole businesses exist to match them.
In a game: the fix for the problem above, and usually the first genuinely clever thing a player learns to do. Instead of delivering and driving home empty, you look for something — anything — that needs moving back toward where you want to be. The pay on a backhaul is often unremarkable, and it does not matter: you were making that trip regardless. Any revenue on a leg you had already committed to is close to free money.
Payload and volume
Industry: payload is how much weight a vehicle may legally carry; volume (or cube) is how much space it has. Freight is described as "heavy" or "bulky" depending on which limit it hits first.
In a game: two separate ceilings, and cargo stops at whichever it reaches first. This is why a van full of furniture can be completely full while barely loaded, and why a small load of building material can max out a vehicle that looks half empty. Players who track only one number end up buying the wrong vehicle — a big payload rating is no help at all if what you keep hauling is bulky and light.
Drop, multi-drop and milk run
Industry: a drop is one delivery stop. Multi-drop means several on one trip. A milk run is a fixed circuit collecting or delivering at each point along the way — named for exactly what you think.
In a game: the difference between a simple haul and a route you have to plan. Multi-drop contracts pay better because they demand more of you: the order of the stops matters, the cargo has to coexist in the same vehicle, and every extra stop is more time with goods on board. They are also where the biggest efficiency gains live, because you are amortising one trip across several payments.
Full load vs part load
Industry: a full truckload moves one customer's freight point to point. A part load shares the vehicle between several customers, which is cheaper for each of them and more complicated for the carrier.
In a game: the decision to combine contracts. Consolidating several jobs into one run is almost always more profitable per kilometre than running them separately — but only if the cargo tolerates the company and the whole set fits at once. This is the mechanic that turns a delivery game into a planning game.
Dwell time
Industry: time a vehicle spends sitting — loading, unloading, waiting for a dock. Not driving, not earning, still costing.
In a game: loading and unloading are not instant, and bulky cargo takes longer to handle. It sounds like a small detail until you plan a route with many stops and discover the vehicle spends a meaningful share of the job standing still. Dwell time is also the hidden argument for a second vehicle: one truck cannot load and drive at once, but two can.
Last mile
Industry: the final leg to the recipient's door — the shortest part of the journey and, per kilometre, easily the most expensive one.
In a game: the dense, awkward end of a delivery, where the streets get narrow and the risk per kilometre climbs. A route that was uneventful for its whole length can still go wrong in its final stretch, which is why slowing down at the end of a valuable run is usually the right call.
Utilisation
Industry: the share of time an asset is actually earning. The number fleet managers live and die by.
In a game: the reason a modest vehicle that never stops working beats an impressive one that waits around for the perfect contract. Once you are paying drivers, utilisation stops being an abstraction and becomes the whole game: idle staff cost you exactly as much as busy ones. Most players who stall in the mid game have not run out of money — they have run out of work for the people they hired.
Why the vocabulary is worth having
None of these words are decoration. Each one names a decision that a well-built logistics game will put in front of you whether or not you have a term for it — and having the term makes the decision visible. Once "deadhead" is in your head, you cannot unsee the empty kilometres. Once you know what utilisation is, an idle vehicle starts to look like what it is.
Drive Your Way is a logistics tycoon played on real city streets, where all of the above are things you actually do rather than words in a manual. Take your first contract and see how many of these you were already doing by instinct. Our guides go deeper on each.