Matthew, Director, HaulNet Ltd. Leeds, Yorkshire. HaulNet is run by a working driver.
You have tipped. The next job is the other way, or there is no next job. The trailer is empty, the clock is running, and the diesel is yours. That is empty running. A return load is freight that collects near the drop, so the miles home have something on the back.
Sometimes the reload is a call to a merchant you know. Sometimes it is eight pallets and a third of a trailer, which still beats fresh air. This is how to look for that work, and what HaulNet puts on the job page. If nothing is close enough, the page will not invent a load.
What a return load is, and what a backload is
A return load starts near the end of the run you are on. You deliver, then you collect something else nearby.
Return load, backload and back load all mean freight for the way back. On HaulNet that freight is an open job whose collection sits near the delivery of the job you have open. It is the same list for anyone who can see the job. If you want it, you quote.
Part loads are often the reload that happens
A part load does not need the whole trailer. You might have room for a few pallets after a drop, or a couple of tonnes on a rigid coming back light.
Say what space you have in figures. Pallet spaces, weight, whether it stacks, and the earliest you can get on the bay. "Anything about?" gives nobody a price. "Eight pallets, four tonne, after 2pm, back towards Yorkshire, can wait until the morning" does.
If you are posting the freight, mark it full load or part load and say how many metres of deck you will take. The person quoting is pricing the space you stop them selling to someone else. A date that can move to the morning is easier to fit than one that has to leave within the hour.
What to put on the job so someone can price it
The loads that get a real price have the dull details filled in. Collection and delivery postcodes. What it is, how many, and how heavy. Full load or part load. How it loads and how it tips. Dates, and which of those dates can move. Anything awkward: a farm track, a low bridge, a height barrier, a site that shuts at four, a forklift that is only there in the morning.
A photo of the load and a photo of the yard save a lot of calls.
Before a quote is accepted, the public page shows the town and the postcode district only. Leeds LS9, not the street and not the full postcode. You quote from that. The street address and the phone numbers are shared with the person whose quote is accepted.
Until 1 January 2027 there is no introduction fee, so contact details are shared when the quote is accepted. From 1 January 2027 they are shared once the introduction fee payment is confirmed. If that payment does not go through, the quote is not accepted and the details stay hidden.
Keep phone numbers and full postcodes out of the description. The public place name is the town and the district.
How HaulNet shows work near the drop
Open a job. Under the route map you may see a strip headed "Return loads near delivery". The line under it reads: "Open jobs collecting near this delivery, so you can look for a return." HaulNet measures from that delivery to the collection on other jobs.
Hidden listings stay out. Jobs from suspended accounts stay out. The job you are already on stays out. From the open jobs that are left, HaulNet takes the next 50 by collection date. While quoting is open, a job also has to still be inside its collection window. From that list it keeps collections within 40 miles, and shows up to 5, nearest first.
The miles are a straight line, not the road. They are rounded, and they are shown as at least 1 mile. If the coordinates are missing but the other job collects in the same postcode district as this delivery, it is included and treated as about 1 mile away.
Each row shows the job, the town and postcode district at each end, the approximate miles from this delivery, and a short summary. The summary can include the vehicle size, the body, the weight, and full or part load, when those were filled in. Open the row to send a quote. The quote has a note, which is the place for "Curtainsider, on site after 3, Moffett on."
If none of those 50 jobs sit within 40 miles, the strip is left off the page. A later collection, outside that list, will not appear even if it is next door.
If you already have the job, open it and see what collects near the drop. If you are still pricing the outbound, look before you send the number. The strip is the same list either way. The plain version of this, without the yard talk, is on return loads and backloads.
What it costs
The account is free. One login posts a load and quotes on work. Posting is free. Sending a quote is free. There is no monthly fee.
No fee on any job until 1 January 2027. After that, the first introduction is a flat £5, then 3% (£5 minimum, £30 maximum), paid by the poster only when they accept a quote. If nobody quotes, or they do not accept one, they pay HaulNet nothing.
No fee on any job until 1 January 2027. After that, on a £250 job the fee would be £7.50. On a £600 job it's £18. On anything over £1,000 it's £30, and that's the most it'll ever be. Your first one is just £5 whatever the job.
You pay the person doing the haulage direct. HaulNet does not take the transport money. See the fee details. If the job is not done, report it on the job before the deadline, three full days after the agreed delivery date for new bookings. A report is not an automatic refund. A refund of an introduction fee covers that fee, not the haulage money, and your statutory rights are unaffected.
Artics, rigids, 7.5t, vans and the awkward stuff
A posted job can carry a vehicle size and a body, and the return strip shows them when they were set. Sizes run from a small van and a large van (Luton), through 7.5t, 18t and a 26t rigid, up to a 13.6m artic trailer and a longer semi-trailer. A 7.5t gets into yards an artic will not, and it runs out of payload sooner, so the weight matters.
Bodies include curtainsider, flatbed, tipper, walking floor, low loader, fridge, tanker, box, skeletal and Luton. A curtainsider is the usual one for pallets and general freight. A flatbed is for steel, timber, plant and long or awkward pieces. A low loader is for plant and machinery. If you need the deck height, say so. A curtainsider price for a digger helps nobody.
Car transporter work and courier work go in the description. Describe the cars, or the parcels, and choose the size and body that will carry them. A single car is a different job from a curtainsider of pallets. A van of cartons is a different job from a 26t rigid.
Anyone carrying other people's goods for hire or reward in a vehicle over 3.5 tonnes needs a goods vehicle operator's licence ( GOV.UK, Being a goods vehicle operator). You can look an operator up on Find lorry or bus operators. Document uploads on HaulNet are optional. A Verified documents badge means those documents were checked. It is not a guarantee of the job, and you can quote without it.
How to keep the empty miles from owning the day
A town with yards, a port or a quarry is an easier reload than a one-off farm at the end of a lane. You still ask. You do not build the rate on a full trailer that was never likely.
Price the outbound so it still pays if the strip is empty and the usual calls come to nothing. Fuel, AdBlue and the driver's hours all tick on an empty motorway. The tyres and the finance do not stop because the trailer is bare. Put your own cost in the outbound price when you cannot see a way back.
Do not sit in the lay-by until the hours are gone, waiting on a perfect full load. A modest part load now often beats a trailer that never rings. Once the hours are used, the empty run home is no longer a choice.
If you need something moved, post it. Other drivers see it on that strip when it is an open job collecting near their delivery. A load that stays in a text does not show up for the wagon that tipped down the road. Post the load with the postcodes, the weight, and a date that can move if it can.
On the quote, use the note. What you are on, when you can load, and any gear such as a Moffett or a tail lift. The price on its own does not say you can make the bay before it shuts.
Before you roll
- If you are posting, put the full postcodes in. The public page still shows only the town and postcode district until a quote is accepted.
- What it is, how many, how heavy, and full or part load.
- How it loads and tips, and anything awkward about the site.
- Dates you can live with, not only the ideal slot.
- The vehicle size and the body.
- Open the job you are heading to, or the one you are pricing, and look for Return loads near delivery.
- If you have space left, put the pallet count and the weight in the quote.
One account does both jobs. You post a load and you quote from the same login. The hauliers page is the short version for finding work, and the FAQ covers fees, documents and a job that goes wrong.
Look before you leave
Some drops have nothing within 40 miles that fits the wagon, and the strip stays off the page. Look before you roll, and give the next person enough to price you.
Return loads and backloads on HaulNet. To put your own freight where other drivers can see it, create a free account and post the load.