Y'all ever wish you would have gone to college instead?

[KoennenTiger]

Damn bro you drove your ex wife to become an alcoholic. That's rough, mines not there yet maybe in couple more years she'll be there

My ex wife? She drove herself I was just along for the girl power ride. I'll get back to you with my current wife since I'm trying something different.

 

[Redtag]

Dont agree. God forbid any of us loose this job, but if any of us were to; where would you be then. Nothing wrong with having a back up plan. Dont have to start from the bottom again.

Agreed,those at top rate that happen to loose this job must have been in shock trying to adjust to making half or less of what they made as a full rate driver.

If I lost this job I could swing wrenches at another shop and may make close to the same money but without the benefits and to be honest at my age I don't think I could keep up with the young guys and work flat rate.

It's always good to have a backup plan...

 

[MethodsMan]

I never went to college. My brother has multiple degrees. I make more than he does. Not by a lot, but the total package, pension and all is much better.

Its all about the fit for you. I prefer being outside and on the move. Interacting with people. The trade off is that working in the snow and summer heat can suck. Winter time dropping off packages and smelling dinner cooking and families eating as I awkwardly walk up to their porch in the dark to deliver their next new trinket. Knowing that I’m eating leftovers that night after I knock out these 50+ stops I got left.

But knowing when I’m 56 I’ll have my 30 years in as a driver, ready to retire. With 25 of those years maxed out 401k contributions and a generous pension (west coast fund). Without ever paying a dime of student loans. My friends will still have 10 more years left pushing the pencil and working for the man.

All in all, I don’t regret my decision one bit. There’s not one day where I’m looking at a clock and counting down the time until I get to clock out.

Go to the gym. Stay in good shape and you’ll be fine physically.

 

[Wally]

Now marry a gal that earns big AND makes a great sammich! Let you college buddies choke on that!

 

[MECH-lift]

I love seeing all the “ college” kids I went to school with at home with mommy jobless cause of covid.....meanwhile @MECH-lift is making the big bucks

 

[Fido]

Trade work is better than a 4 year college degree

 

[MECH-lift]

@Poop Head where are u ?

 

[zubenelgenubi]

View attachment 326928
@Poop Head where are u ?

Where is Poop Head? | Life After Brown

I know everyone feels it when @Indecisi0n steps away. The site just devolves into complete chaos without the best moderator to keep us all in line. I think we all feel adrift, however, without the true heart and soul of Brown Café, @Poop Head, to ground us. Where are you, stinky prince?

www.browncafe.com

 

[SaladTosser]

I went to college. Now I owe student loans and still work here. Feeder pays more than the job I wanted anyway.

 

[Jones]

I'm retired, all of my friends with advanced degrees are still working. On the flip side they all make pretty good money and seem to enjoy their jobs more than I ever did.

 

[Re-Raise]

I graduated with a BS in Business Administration in 88.

I was already working as a preloader making about 18k and was helping my father farm, making another 10k or so not working many hours.

The town I live in everyone knows everyone, so the local bank called me shortly after I graduated and the Board of Directors offered me a loan officer position that I hadn’t even applied for making 21k a year. I knew drivers made about 45k at the time and I liked physical work more than sitting in an office all day.

A friend of mine took the bank job and he has moved up to Bank President. Not sure what he makes, but we live about the same lifestyle here in the Midwest. We both built new homes with inground pools and our kids are best friends.

There were some bad weather days when I really questioned my life choices lol, but I just retired at 55 with a pension for life and he is still working

 

[old levi's]

finished BBA while working at ups

 

[Est.1998]

Coming from a guy who has worked a ton of jobs.......we really do have a pretty sweet job...... If you have the balls for it (that includes the women). If you have the mental strength it's really not a bad gig at all. It's just physically draining. I don't want to be one of those guys who can't play golf at 55 cause their knees or back are so bad.
But don't you ever feel like a corporate tool? Cause that's what we are....corporate henchman. Just a bunch of numbers. If you won the lottery tomorrow and retired they would just replace you with the next donkey. Financial stability comes at the cost of relinquishing your professional self worth.

I'm late to this party, but there's nothing you can do as a living being that can't be replaced. It's called the circle of life.
In order for life to continue, everything must be replaceable.

We do leave a mark in the world. We deliver medical equipment to hospitals and we are the damn delivery Cupid for valintine day, the Easter bunny, and last but not least the jolly old fat men on Christmas. That's how I look at it. Think of all the bikes we delivered for a child that asked Santa for on Christmas.
I tell my fellow co-workers this at least once a week.
It isn't just air fryers and mattresses we deliver each day.
I realized this after delivering to elderly people confined to wheelchairs, parents of disabled kids, medical facilities.
Even the items we feel are silly, like hair weave, holds value in this world and we are the ones that bring it.
Trust me, we are leaving our mark in this world.

 

[quad decade guy]

I'm late to this party, but there's nothing you can do as a living being that can't be replaced. It's called the circle of life.
In order for life to continue, everything must be replaceable.

We do leave a mark in the world. We deliver medical equipment to hospitals and we are the damn delivery Cupid for valintine day, the Easter bunny, and last but not least the jolly old fat men on Christmas. That's how I look at it. Think of all the bikes we delivered for a child that asked Santa for on Christmas.
I tell my fellow co-workers this at least once a week.
It isn't just air fryers and mattresses we deliver each day.
I realized this after delivering to elderly people confined to wheelchairs, parents of disabled kids, medical facilities.
Even the items we feel are silly, like hair weave, holds value in this world and we are the ones that bring it.
Trust me, we are leaving our mark in this world.

A little too self-reverent for me. In the end we deliver stuff to peoples/businesses homes/places. We have a a good. steady, high paying job with relatively free health care. Generally it's stable and secure(for now). I have 4 degrees in Aviation. They have been earned over the 40 years I've worked at UPS. Mainly when I was in Automotive and then Feeders. Pkg car didn't allow for anything but Pkg(too unpredictable). I've never used my education. We can't transfer and UPS isn't interested. My Brother is a degreed Civil Engineer. I make substantially more than he does and have better retirement and benefits. I make more than anyone I know with a few exceptions. Most likely more than anyone on my cul de sac. Would I do it differently? Absolutely. I would have moved heaven and earth to finish my 4 year degree as soon as possible after high school and went rotc military career active. Probably even receiving college credits in high school. Although I don't know if that was possible then. I didn't really have any kind of guidance from my parents. They just said you are going to work and go to college. And that's what I did.

Regrets? a few...

 

[rickyb]

I did go to college myself and it was a total waste of my life back then. When I imagine how much farther I could be in my pension credits, how many more years at top rate, rather than getting a useless degree, a few ten thousand dollars more debt, and a degree that got me nothing.

My little brother got a masters degree in chemistry now. I don't think he'll ever reach my pay. My gosh I didn't even add in our insurance, or vacation.

Top that off with he's got over $100,000 in student loan debt. I mean what does he even do? He talks like a friend@g and his * is * . He does nothing. He gets government grants to do "experiments", then he writes about them. The only goal? Get more of that sweet government cash.

He talks fast but he's doing nothing.

His wife hates how much more successful in buying stuff I am than he, she talks the brown stuff all the time. After she gets home from her crud job. My wife don't work she's busy being barefoot and pregnant again. Three months pregnant weighs 106 pounds. His angry wife works in HR with her four year degree, 165 pounds, and somehow she got a $100,000 in debt as well!!!! She runs marathons or something all of her does. I tell him my wife just made a loaf of bread and yeah that's the kids yelling in the background.

He tells me if he could pay the payments he's looking at $1600 a month!!! My mortgage is less than that!

I paid off my student slave debt for my worthless arts degree. Now I pick up and set down boxes for a living. But I do like to imagine what if I would have just started picking up and putting down boxes even sooner? I don't even have to go into debt to do this. I get paid.

Heck I have learned more from listening to audiobooks at work then I learned at uni.

How about it box monkeys. Do you wish you would have gone to get an official college degree tm?

Maybe one day be center mngr?

some school is good some aint.

good that u are unionized.

the student debt is a form of social control. obviously workers are going to be more obedient when they are in debt. US has highest student debt in the world.

you obviously have some skill at UPS so another questoin would be how transferable and valuable is that skill should you get hurt or fired? and how much do you value your job?

 

[NAHimGOOD]

I'm late to this party, but there's nothing you can do as a living being that can't be replaced. It's called the circle of life.
In order for life to continue, everything must be replaceable.

We do leave a mark in the world. We deliver medical equipment to hospitals and we are the damn delivery Cupid for valintine day, the Easter bunny, and last but not least the jolly old fat men on Christmas. That's how I look at it. Think of all the bikes we delivered for a child that asked Santa for on Christmas.
I tell my fellow co-workers this at least once a week.
It isn't just air fryers and mattresses we deliver each day.
I realized this after delivering to elderly people confined to wheelchairs, parents of disabled kids, medical facilities.
Even the items we feel are silly, like hair weave, holds value in this world and we are the ones that bring it.
Trust me, we are leaving our mark in this world.

I'm all weepy now.

 

[wht1zzfe]

I had a free ride through college. CS major. Hated it. Decided not to go back my senior year. Now I drive this ugly brown package car. I just want to work on bikes but not get paid like I'm working at McDonalds.

 

[Overpaid Union Thug]

College no. Trade school yes.

 

[Whither]

I had a free ride through college.

Same, academic scholarship. Got a bachelor's in philosophy 15 years ago but had little interest spending several more years in school to become a professor, lawyer, or the like. Several drivers at my building also have 4 year degrees.

I tend to think the grass is always greener. My wife is a union electrician, and plenty of her coworkers can't believe someone with a college degree would 'settle' for construction work. I've spent most of my life working crap jobs that I loathed for crap money and no benefits. I'm not here to sing the praises of UPS, but, in addition to the money and bennies, I will say the job doesn't leave me stressed out. Sure there are rough days, but I'm usually too tired to care once I get home, and when I tell work stories to others it's as if the events happened to another person.

If the job market was bad when I graduated, it's only gotten worse since 2008 and the ongoing Covid fiasco. Along with unions, decent-paying jobs are going extinct. 'The market' has no use for either.

 

[104Feeder]

I loved college and have a useful degree but decided to drive instead of going to law school. I use my college education every day and have no regrets. If I didn't enjoy this job I'd just go to law school (and that can be done without going into ridiculous amounts of debt). All of my friends have degrees and make similar or more money but work in offices and that's just not me. They pay eye popping premiums for health insurance and retirement is a decade further off than mine. They work a lot less but have stresses I can't relate too. They envy my vacation time while I envy their bank holidays and that they can make happy hour every day.

I'm tired of the "college is not for everyone" argument. That's a cop out to avoid admitting you are afraid at failure. I took 4 years of Latin and sucked so bad at it but I was there every day doing the work and putting in the effort. College basically teaches you critical thinking skills and that is a value in every facet of your life.

Go to college early, go late when the opportunity is available or when an unplanned opportunity presents itself. Just go.