This
seems to be absolutely true. I don't keep up with this daily, but most recently when asking inbound supervisor about the actual freight level, it's up year over year. Even said to have had record day recently.
Most recent quarterly report shows the same. Revenue per ship, up. Average daily ships, up.
http://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0001048911/07bd70ac-5257-481e-86e1-f647b6443aa8.pdf (see page 20)
Since the report, things may be flat, compared to record setting past months. Very likely SHORT of
projected levels. The big difference
for most locations seems to be staffing. They
finally are fully staffed - for the time being, as evidenced by the short list of internal job openings. Only (literally) a
couple of driver positions open, system wide.
As noted by others, certain lanes are up, while others are down. Also, most city drivers are thrilled to be rid of the 12-14 hr days, while others long for and expect them.