little known secret to increase time for riding the r3r that i found...

Jealous! I have three classes left to complete my Master's and hope to move into 'semi-retirement' in a year or two.
 
I'm hoping to retire by 60 (55 now). My area was hit hard hard by the recession. It hasn't sprang back much. Company's are taking full advantage of the fact that jobs are scarce. Every year our benefits get a little more watered down. My plant now works a 3-2-2-3 schedule. Two 12 hr. shifts, 7 days a week. So you basically work a couple days, have a couple days off. Sounds good. In reality sucks. I have nearly an hour drive each way so when I'm "on", I have NO time to do anything but run home, eat, shower and jump in bed, if I want to get 7 hrs. of sleep. I also get no overtime anymore, even for the weekends. Because we have been split into (4) "crews", we only have half the number of maintenance people in the plant at one time. You pretty much have to wear roller skates to keep up. I've never been a big fan of unions, having worked as a supervisor in a couple of UAW represented plants, but am starting to see why they were conceived in the first place. Industry has enough people in government under their thumb now to make sure the unions never get a foot hold again. My state recently became a "right-to-work" state thanks to our "one tough nerd" governor. That means if you work in a unionized plant, you are not required to pay union dues if you choose not to. That will probably be the final nail in the unions coffin. Just hoping I can tough it out these last five years. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I just hope the tunnel isn't longer than I think it is :(
 
sigh... update time... backstory: my son got hired into the co 2 years ago... so they put up a couple req's for my group while i was deciding to leave, and he applied for one...

so i told my boss i'd hang out for a couple months to train him... so now it looks like i get a little sweetener to hang out for a couple more months - the date is now june 1 it seems, and a bit of extra gas money to boot...
 
I'm hoping to retire by 60 (55 now). My area was hit hard hard by the recession. It hasn't sprang back much. Company's are taking full advantage of the fact that jobs are scarce. Every year our benefits get a little more watered down. My plant now works a 3-2-2-3 schedule. Two 12 hr. shifts, 7 days a week. So you basically work a couple days, have a couple days off. Sounds good. In reality sucks. I have nearly an hour drive each way so when I'm "on", I have NO time to do anything but run home, eat, shower and jump in bed, if I want to get 7 hrs. of sleep. I also get no overtime anymore, even for the weekends. Because we have been split into (4) "crews", we only have half the number of maintenance people in the plant at one time. You pretty much have to wear roller skates to keep up. I've never been a big fan of unions, having worked as a supervisor in a couple of UAW represented plants, but am starting to see why they were conceived in the first place. Industry has enough people in government under their thumb now to make sure the unions never get a foot hold again. My state recently became a "right-to-work" state thanks to our "one tough nerd" governor. That means if you work in a unionized plant, you are not required to pay union dues if you choose not to. That will probably be the final nail in the unions coffin. Just hoping I can tough it out these last five years. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I just hope the tunnel isn't longer than I think it is :(

i started at the van nuys, ca, camaro/firebird plant a couple months after i turned 18... was all set to 25 and out at 43... so much for that... but if i can pull this off it'll be okay, i turn 54 on saturday... i would have liked to have a bit more in the pot, but if you can't retire on what i've got then you will just end up working forever...
 
Pushed that button in Jan, you will not regret it. Warning...the 'Honey do' list can take a LOT of time!
You will wonder how you ever had time to do what you were doing while working. Enjoy!
 
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