Freight Volume in a recession? What to expect.

I went through the 2008 recession and my pay didn't drop even one penny because I pulled reefers.
For Owner-Operators, I have no idea about that.

 

As a OO flatbed....my worthless opinion is that the freight is still moving...just not with OO's. We don't have the money to run cheap but we do have the sense not to. A burned in sense that only someone that owns AND runs a truck can have.

 

Flatbed in my area, is about 38% of what it was January of 22.

 

I'm been using ITS as a gauge. Checking it's total flatbed loads every Wednesday at noon within 500 miles. Been doing that since I started. So almost 2 years of data there.

Surely not an ideal time to OO

 

One thing that is different between now and pre pandemic levels even if they are similar is capacity. 21-22 saw an upswing in new entrants. Reason why we had $120k 5 year old 500k Cascadias.

 

@Jumpman --

Did you ever get a CDL yet?

Are you still located in Nevada? If so--to what city there are you closest?

Are you still mainly interested in doing flatbed duty? Or....are you also open to other types of freight, as well?

Yes....technically the answer to all of the above could be, "that's none of your business"....but if the Forum knows where you stand on the above qtns--the Forum can help you make better choices, and get your started in the CDL world.

To answer your initial query above--yes, freight volumes are down considerably from 12-18 months ago. Swift and JB Hunt have both recently posted sobering news about their first quarter 2023 results.

Also--a lot of the job ads that I saw posted 12-15 months ago...are now gone.

Translation: for you, that probably means that you need to be more careful than say, 12-15 months ago, with your choice of a carrier......to stay busy running loads.

For example: it might well make more sense at this point.....to look harder at doing reefer loads....as opposed to (just) flatbed. If your next job is "food" or "food related"....you are more likely to stay busy and still make decent money.....even if freight volumes/rates continue to get worse, elsewhere.

-- Lual