Is it just me or did volume drop off recently?

I screwed up and lost my job at a place I’d been at for 12 years. (Also, my health had taken a turn for the worse, so I was dealing with doctors for the past few months.) but I’m getting to the point the bills are coming and I’m looking for another job (possibly driving, possibly not) and it seem (though I could be wrong) all those CDL-A needed signs that seemed to be everywhere have suddenly disappeared.

Could be I’m just not traveling in the same circles I was, but even the paper/want ads look a little light. Less small companies and more “you wanna drive a truck? Come to (state on the other side of the country) and drive an owner fleece for cents per mile, 28 days a month!” When it seems like just in November people were falling over each other just to get you to be a yard switcher.””

Did I miss something? Did freight rates collapse after Black Friday fizzled? Is there a deluge of layoffs? I’ve lost my ear to the ground in the industry and I’m not spending 3 nights a week ease dropping at the fuel desk anymore, so a little info would be great.

(FYI, I picked up a small job making arrangement deliveries just before the holidays and they wanted me to stay through until Valentine’s. I’m making 1/4 what I was making before but it’s time to go back to a real job.)

 

I thought one of the advantages of trucking is that I’d be able to do it into my 70’s, because compared to a lot of jobs I’d had in the past (where they look at how tall I am and hand me a shovel, maybe *I* want the easy office job!) I thought it would be less physical.

But I’ve never been quite right since Covid (or the vax. Take your pick) my vision got worse, my weight shot up and I developed sleep apnea. I was having blackouts behind the wheel and passing out regularly. I knew I was on borrowed time but I’d just gotten a huge raise, and I needed every dime I could sack away.

Well, I got caught and tossed aside, and after 15 years being stuck in the grind I’m not sure I want to go back. I’m scheduled to sit down with a career counselor next week and I’d really like to see what other options are available. Bottom line is I have an income target I need to make. So I’m not gonna take any job just to be working, I have to make at LEAST 80% of what I was making before. So we’ll see how it goes.