[Brown67]

Anyone get tired of driving and move to an office job or something else in the transportation industry. What do you do and how does the pay compare to driving? I can retire in 5 years and thinking about the future. No idea what I'll do or even if I'll retire. Just looking at options.

[golfhobo]

Originally Posted by Brown67

Anyone get tired of driving and move to an office job or something else in the transportation industry. What do you do and how does the pay compare to driving? I can retire in 5 years and thinking about the future. No idea what I'll do or even if I'll retire. Just looking at options.

That's a very good question/(thread) Brown! I've been thinking along the same lines myself lately.

For NOW.... I'm not tired of driving, but... you never know when a "medical condition" could end your career, and what would you want to do then? Could I be a dispatcher? Is there anyone amongst us that doesn't think we could do a BETTER job? LOL.

I've also noticed these little "courier" vans zipping by me across the country. I could still DRIVE, even if I didn't want to wrangle a truck. Wonder what THEY pay?

You might not have (or see) the option... working for Brown... but, you could buy a cheap truck and do a little "local" work (like produce from the field to the shed?) I'm hoping to have owned my truck for the last 5 years or so before "retiring," and expect to be able to make a few "additional" bucks over my Soc Sec and retirement annuity.

But... I keep talking about DRIVING, and you want to know about staying HOME! Does Brown have a "recruiting" office? How about "safety" or "training?"

How about getting out there "on the floor" and making sure that the right freight is on the right trailer... and it gets CLOSED OUT before the driver shows up to hook to it? (I'm talking about a supervisor/manager level job here... not a "packer."

How about going to work for the D.O.T. in "inspections" or "Carrier auditing/enforcement?"

Give me a clue. What do you LIKE to do when you're not driving?

What do you think you're good (or best) at?

Another REALLY good thread! Lots to learn and SHARE here! [after all... we're ALL getting old!]

BTW.... good to see you checking in, Brown!

[GMAN]

There are a number of jobs within this industry which have nothing to do with driving. I have worn a number of hats over the years, in my own business. Safety, dispatch, operations, etc., are a few positions which don't require driving. Then there are positions in maintenance. Find something that you are interested in and find a job in the business that will match.

[Brown67]

That's the thing I have no idea where to go after I retire. I can leave in 5 years, but I'm sure I'll hang on past that. The route I run now is pretty sweet and easy to do. Swap a few trailers around town and then run to Denver and back. I start at 1520 and finish at 0100. Usually in bed by 0230. 6 weeks of vacation which jumps to 7 weeks in 2015. It will be hard to leave behind the money too. I took home about $82k this year and should be a little hire than that next year. Once I retire my retirement will be about 1/2 of what I what I make now.

Can't really move around inside of UPS. I would have to go into management and there is no way I will do that. They can't get any driver to move into management anymore. Managers are treated really bad and drivers know it. Can't tell you how many mangers have told me over the years what a mistake it was to go into management at UPS. Long hours and a lot of stress to meet numbers.

I don't know; just curious to see what is outside of UPS that others have done. The only thing I have thought about is something seasonal at Rocky Mountain National Park. They have buses that run from Estes Park into the Park itself. The drivers only work from late spring to early fall. No snow and I would still have about 6 months off a year. That might interest me. Not to mention the views can't be beat.

[SaferTransportationInc]

a good option would be going into sales or customer service...we had a driver go off to do sales at petroleumtraders and he loves it. The pay isn't as high as driving but not far from it.

[Brown67]

Sales and customer service are part of management. Very stressful. Might look at what we call article 22.5 jobs. They are inside jobs that pay less than we make with no overtime, but they are low stress and no driving. We have two in our center and they run the customer counter and then do some clerking or help and the small sort at night. They don't open up very much so timing would have to be right.