Retirement decision day!!!

Congrats. I have 24 years left to go before retirement, but I'm already looking forward to it, lol :-)

I really need to retire, The off-road tires on my truck make driving difficult and loud going down the freeway. I will probably re-tire with simple M/S rated light truck tires. What do you think?

Congrats Reyn.
Ive 30 odd years to go.
Im hoping to find a job I love so Il never want to retire.

My parents retird last year and are enjoying many holidays.
I hope your time from now to your retirement date flies by.

My trucks usually operate right here in the immediate Timberland neighborhood, Dys - I find the Off-Road rubber quite satisfactory given the local paucity of pavin'. 'Course, the winter snowcover is another strong argument for an agressive lug-based tread design. Mrs Timber's Regal sees pavement on a reagular basis, so its outfitted with M^S rubber ... adequate mosta the time, though she sometimes has trouble makin' it up the driveway here at home followin' a decent snow.


Oh, and congrats on the retirement tidings, Reyn, and a hearty welcome to A2K. I'm pretty much retired myself, but I was dumb enough to retire to a hobby farm equipped with a century-plus old house. Well, at least I've got the time to take care of mosta what needs to be done


Seriously - wouldn't trade a minute of it for anything involvin' cities and neighbors and deadlines and traffic and such. Taxes are damned reasonable too, and no mortgage. Plenty of compensations. This'll do just fine.

Thanks, guys! Looking forward to having more time to spend here!

A gas meter reader...that doesn't sound like such a bad job. Did you like it?

Congratulations on your impending retirement, Reyn. I probably have around 30 more years to go...crap, thanks a lot for reminding me.

And electric, too.

On a good day, it can be an okay job, but most people see you just walking from house to house and figure that's an easy job. There's a lot more to it.

The number 1 problem, as you could well imagine, is the dogs, or rather some dog owners' lack of responsibility. A meter reader comes in frequent contact with all kinds of dogs. For me, I have a very large rottweiler population to deal with on my routes, which are a mixture of walking city routes, and driving rural ones.

It's the rural ones that are most dangerous. We frequently have to phone ahead to make access to properties safe. Also, for owners to unlock gates, etc.

A secondary problem is "pot grow-ops". We have a huge problem with this in British Columbia. Many of them are fronted by the "Hell's Angels" motorcycle gang. They don't do the dirty work, but they're in the background. Frequently, they are operated by Vietmese groups. I have never seen a grow-op in active operation, but am worried about accidently discovering one. I have seen the aftermath of ones taken down. Many times, firearms are kept on the properties and dogs, especially pitbulls.

Overall, I have not enjoyed my time doing this work. Many things have changed since I started this line of work in 1974 (with short periods of other work in-between). There is much pressure to complete routes by the company - unreasonably, in my opinion.

Now, with me being in my 50's, it's a bit more challenging. It's definitely a young man's job, but I have raised a family of 4 on my income, so not actively complaining.

Good luck with your own retirement plans! :wink:

Thanks!

Forgot to say, "You're Welcome".

I'm ever so polite....