Trucking for Fun Is No Fun: The Hidden Cost of Cultural Habits

Summary: Long-standing traditions and informal norms within trucking companies can unintentionally undermine financial performance. While these habits may be rooted in loyalty, pride, or a desire to maintain relationships, they often lead to underpriced loads, overlooked inefficiencies, and decisions that prioritize familiarity over profitability.

“Trucking for fun is no fun” is a phrase used by KSM Transport Advisors (KSMTA) in client work and internal analysis to describe a specific and recurring truckload behavior. It captures a pattern where carriers knowingly haul freight that fails to perform on a core operating ratio or FreightMath^™ operating ratio basis. These decisions are deliberate responses shaped by operating culture, habit, and short-term convenience rather than long-term contribution.

Viewed one load at a time, these moves often appear rational. Each one solves a real operational problem in the moment. The risk is not the individual decision. The risk is accumulation. In today’s freight economy, there is no margin capacity to absorb repeated, structurally unprofitable behavior.

Defining Fun Freight

Fun freight is any freight accepted for reasons other than its contribution to network profitability.

It includes freight hauled to reposition drivers who live outside the carrier’s strategic footprint.

It includes long-haul freight accepted to satisfy driver preference instead of reinforcing network structure.

It includes volume moved to preserve utilization while quietly eroding density, predictability, and margin.

Across a fleet, fun freight becomes a persistent and often invisible source of profit erosion.

Density as the Structural Backbone

FreightMath density research consistently shows freight network density is the primary structural driver of truckload profitability. Density is created through repeatable freight patterns that reinforce one another, not by spreading capacity across more markets. It compresses empty miles, stabilizes driver schedules, reduces variability, and lowers the cost required to generate margin.

As established in prior FreightMath density research and reiterated most recently in our article “Freight Network Density: A Key To Cracking the TL Profitability Code” the most revealing comparison occurs when freight operating inside a defined strategic footprint is measured against freight moved outside that footprint.

The Verdict: In-network freight consistently exhibits far higher density, while out-of-footprint freight is scattered and expensive. Freight moved inside the strategic footprint is typically 20% to 25% more profitable than freight moved outside it.

Density is not a byproduct of profitability; it is the engine behind it.

Why Density Matters More Than Ever

Density improves both sides of the profitability equation simultaneously. When freight activity clusters tightly within core markets, trucks spend less time repositioning, fewer miles are wasted, and more cycles are completed with fewer variables.

From a FreightMath perspective, density delivers three reinforcing performance advantages:

• Improved Predictability: Dense networks rely on repeatable freight flows rather than opportunistic volume. Planning becomes more reliable, driver schedules stabilize, and reliance on volatile spot freight is reduced.
• Improved Cost Efficiency: Dense freight reduces empty and repositioning miles and shortens the distance between revenue moves. Assets generate more paid miles with less wasted time and fuel.
• Improved Velocity: Velocity reflects how quickly a tractor completes a freight cycle and is redeployed productively. Dense networks reduce dwell, shorten cycle times, and create more revenue opportunities per asset each week.

Fun freight undermines all three advantages. It scatters capacity, increases variability, and breaks repeatability. The cost is not immediate, but it is inevitable, and it ultimately shows up in network balance and profitability.

The Myth of “No Options”

Many carriers believe that in today’s freight economy they have no choice but to take all available freight. This belief reflects the condition of the network rather than the condition of the market.

From a FreightMath perspective, a lack of options is a symptom of low density. When freight is scattered across too many markets and repeatability is weak, every load feels necessary. Planning becomes reactive, and marginal freight is treated as survival freight because alternatives do not exist inside the network.

Density changes that equation. As repeatable freight concentrates within a defined footprint, optionality increases. Repositioning distances shorten. More acceptable loads exist at the same time. Pricing discipline becomes possible even in soft markets.

Taking all freight may keep trucks moving in the short term, but it reinforces the very conditions that eliminate choice over time. Carriers do not lack options because the market is weak. They lack options because their networks lack density.

The Home-Time Subsidy

One of the most common sources of fun freight is hauled to get drivers home when they live outside the carrier’s strategic footprint. The justification is familiar. Driver retention matters. Hiring is expensive. A single unprofitable move feels insignificant compared with replacing a driver.

FreightMath analysis shows the cost is cumulative. Repeated repositioning from noncore domiciles absorbs a structural subsidy. Empty miles increase. Balance deteriorates. Cycle times lengthen. Pricing discipline weakens as sales teams learn which freight must be taken regardless of margin.

This is not a driver problem. It is a network design failure. Fun freight becomes the mechanism that masks the mismatch until profitability reveals the underlying issue.

The Long-Haul Productivity Fallacy

Another embedded fun behavior is accepting long-haul freight to let drivers stretch their legs. Long miles feel productive and support utilization optics. In isolation, a long-haul move at a marginal rate can appear acceptable.

FreightMath density research shows that length of haul without repeatability undermines performance. Long-haul freight that bypasses core markets often replaces multiple dense, high-contribution turns with a single marginal move. Tractor positioning becomes unpredictable, increasing repositioning miles and disrupting driver cycles.

Aggregated across the fleet, these decisions thin density and weaken network control. In strong markets, the damage is hidden. In soft markets, it becomes visible quickly.

Owner-Operator Models Do Not Isolate Risk

Carriers often argue fun freight does not matter if it’s hauled by owner-operators or lease-purchase drivers. The assumption is that shifted ownership reduces cost and risk. From a FreightMath perspective, that assumption is flawed.

Owner-operators operate under the carrier’s authority and pull the carrier’s trailers. Every mile they run carries enterprise risk, influencing accident exposure, cargo claims, and long-term insurance cost. Risk is incurred per mile, not per ownership structure.

Owner-operator miles also shape density, lane balance, and cycle time just as company equipment does. Any perceived margin relief is often an illusion. Capacity committed to exceptions is capacity not reinforcing dense, repeatable freight.

If freight touches the network, it carries risk. If it carries risk, it must carry contribution.

Utilization Without Contribution

Fun freight persists because it hides behind utilization metrics. Trucks are moving. Drivers are paid. Revenue is booked. FreightMath draws a clear distinction between motion and contribution.

When carriers protect utilization optics at the expense of margin, they trade structural health for short-term comfort. Density-driven utilization compounds efficiency. Exception-driven utilization compounds variability.

Actionable Strategy for Eliminating Fun

Breaking the “fun cycle” requires structural discipline:

• Align domiciles with the strategic footprint.
• Evaluate every lane on a FreightMath operating ratio basis.
• Use density as a gating mechanism for freight acceptance.
• Expose exceptions and make their cost visible.
• Incentivize margin-adjusted outcomes rather than motion.

“Trucking for fun is no fun” is not an argument against flexibility or driver needs. It is a KSMTA framing of a simple truth. Profitability is cumulative. In a freight economy with no room for error, carriers that tolerate small, justifiable losses will continue to work hard while failing to achieve durable financial results.

To learn more or discuss any of the ideas shared above, please contact a KSMTA advisor via the form below.