Nomadland

I just finished reading Nomadland by Jessica Bruder and watched the movie for the second time last night.  Since I have written about driving around in an RV as a senior housing alternative, I thought that I should comment on this book and movie.

My idea of hitting the road during retirement is very romantic. When we were younger, I thought that being a campground host would be a great thing to do after my husband and I stopped working our day jobs. (I never knew that the campground hosts would have to clean the bathrooms, so that is definitely a downside for me.)

Many of the retirees who are working and living in their RVs or vans do work as campground hosts. Others have jobs at Amazon fulfillment facilities or other big retail operations during the holiday rush, Wall Drugs in South Dakota, harvests of certain produce (like sugar beets), etc. These are hard physical jobs with few benefits except free housing at a nearby campground or RV park. If someone gets injured on the job, they do not get sick leave. The employers like having older people working for them because they are dependable and have good work ethics. But these jobs are hard, even for younger people.  We hear about the strict performance requirements at Amazon. Older workers have the same requirements as younger workers.

The book and movie broke my heart. I still like the idea of being able to drive around the country in a self-contained vehicle, but the work these folks are doing is so difficult. Both the book and movie focus on certain retirees so we know how the job situation is affecting folks in lots of different situations. There are retirees who lost their homes in the 2008 recession and have been living in their vehicles since then; there are those who are estranged from their families and had to leave homes; there are those who lost their jobs and their homes like those who lived in Empire, Nevada. When that little town closed the gypsum mine, everyone lost everything.

Frances McDormand is great in this movie. I am glad she received awards for her performance. The story gave me a whole new perspective on retirement and what some people must do to make a living as they get older. Planning for that stage of life is essential. Driving around the country in an RV is still a great idea, but not if you have to work to support yourself.