Unsure about the future of Pharmacy?

[MountainPharmD]

I have another option for you. Forget Medical or Dental school, shoot forget healthcare all together.

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/109258/ups-thinks-out-of-the-box?mod=career-leadership

UPS says it will need to hire 25,000 drivers over the next five years to replace retiring Baby Boomers. Candidates vying for a driver's job, which pays an average of $74,000 annually,.....

Damn $74,000 a year to drive a UPS truck! If I wasn't already a Pharmacist you could count me in for this.

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[WVUPharm2007]

They've got one hell of a good union, those drivers.

 

[Aznfarmerboi]

How about them WV coal miners? I heard they make 70k to start out of HS

 

[PolarBearFire]

To be fair, realistically you can't be a truck driver for more than a couple of decades. I know mailmen and truck drivers who have only been on the job for a mere 10 years, and they have all sorts of bad back and knee problems, etc. Truck drivers like coal miners are selling their health and time. With pharmacy you can do it until you're senile(I'm pretty sure I've seen one case).

 

[StaviZFingerZ]

UPS truck driving is for wussies like you. Real men drive big rigs.. That's what I'd do.

I talk to big rig drivers once in a while when I'm filling up at a truck stop. I met a dude who said he has no address... he lives in his truck driving back and forth. Which makes sense I guess if he's single and is never home. And listening to CB is an entertainment in itself.. I just can't do it if kids are around..

 

[MountainPharmD]

To be fair, realistically you can't be a truck driver for more than a couple of decades. I know mailmen and truck drivers who have only been on the job for a mere 10 years, and they have all sorts of bad back and knee problems, etc. Truck drivers like coal miners are selling their health and time. With pharmacy you can do it until you're senile(I'm pretty sure I've seen one case).

Do not be so sure about that. There are plenty of Pharmacists with bad backs and knee problems. Standing all day long has its toll on the body as well. Plus there are bowel issues from not eating right and never getting to go to the bathroom. Its tough out there!

 

[MountainPharmD]

UPS truck driving is for wussies like you. Real men drive big rigs.. That's what I'd do.

I talk to big rig drivers once in a while when I'm filling up at a truck stop. I met a dude who said he has no address... he lives in his truck driving back and forth. Which makes sense I guess if he's single and is never home. And listening to CB is an entertainment in itself.. I just can't do it if kids are around..

Funny you should mention this. A really good Army buddy of mine tried to convince me to do this a few years ago. He wanted us to be a tandem team. We would drive routes that would take us past all the major skydiving drop zones in the United States. Basically he wanted to live out of the truck, parking at drop zones during our down time for a few weeks at a time. He claimed it was possible to make a 100k a year doing this. I suppose I could still do it if I get tired of pharmacy. What to do about the wife and kids though? Hmmmm.

 

[carbox]

its very hard to become a ups driver. They usaully only promote within the company and you would have to spend years of loading up trucks with boxes at horrible hours and in extreme temps...it sucks lol....but once you get past that you will be making good money with one of the best benefit packaged offered by any other company.

 

[MountainPharmD]

its very hard to become a ups driver. They usaully only promote within the company and you would have to spend years of loading up trucks with boxes at horrible hours and in extreme temps...it sucks lol....but once you get past that you will be making good money with one of the best benefit packaged offered by any other company.

That is what confused me about the article. They make it sound like you can fill outan app and become a driver. Many years ago I tried to get on with UPS. All they had open were positions in their warehouse. Everyone started there and then got promoted. They hired alot of college kids for the summer and breaks. I had a guy in my pharmacy school class who got promoted to some kind of management position while in pharmacy school.

I wonder if they would do a direct hire since I have my PharmD?

 

[samuricool]

its very hard to become a ups driver. They usaully only promote within the company and you would have to spend years of loading up trucks with boxes at horrible hours and in extreme temps...it sucks lol....but once you get past that you will be making good money with one of the best benefit packaged offered by any other company.

while this may be true, there are plenty of people who manage to come in off the street. I put in almost 10 years with UPS, at one of the best HUBs in the country, and believe me there were plenty of people who didnt start with the company and driving trucks. Yes, most are from within in the company though. Which is of course the hardest part. When you start out (depending on where, but overall this is mostly true) you will only make $8.50 an hour and are only guaranteed 17.5 hours a week. After your first year you will get a week of vacation and then two your second year. Also after a year you will get insurance. Easily some of the best insurance there is, too. When I was an operations manager, the hourly employees had better insurance than I did (not to mention that insurance for all hourly/union employees is completely free). However, when I also was working part-time at a pharmacy, my insurance was still better than the pharmacists. The union is what really holds you back from moving up the chain to be a driver, because it is all seniority based. So have fun busting your hump on the waiting list for a year or two or more just to have some old timer out bid you for the job.

The guys who drive the package trucks (the ones that actually drop off packages at your front door) are the ones making in the range of 70-80k. The actual truck drivers are making way more than that.

And as far as truck drivers breaking down early, it all depends on the person. My dad has been a truck driver since he was 20, and he is now almost 65. Still healthy as a horse. At one point he was a driver for the phone company and at another even had his own business moving people from the west coast to the east coast and back. He was one of those without an address. Hell, during vacation he would still rather drive to where ever it was we were going than fly (whether it be florida, arizona, california) just because he loved to drive that much.

 

[StaviZFingerZ]

Funny you should mention this. A really good Army buddy of mine tried to convince me to do this a few years ago. He wanted us to be a tandem team. We would drive routes that would take us past all the major skydiving drop zones in the United States. Basically he wanted to live out of the truck, parking at drop zones during our down time for a few weeks at a time. He claimed it was possible to make a 100k a year doing this. I suppose I could still do it if I get tired of pharmacy. What to do about the wife and kids though? Hmmmm.

Oh yeah...that truck driver said he's from KS and now makes over $200K per year and tried to convince his buddy to go in with him...instead the buddy went into pharmacy..and is now miserable.

Woah.. maybe he's talking about you???



Take the kids and wife on the road with you... it'll be like road trip everyday! Rock on!

 

[mintleif]

I have another option for you. Forget Medical or Dental school, shoot forget healthcare all together.

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/109258/ups-thinks-out-of-the-box?mod=career-leadership



Damn $74,000 a year to drive a UPS truck! If I wasn't already a Pharmacist you could count me in for this.

Now I know why Passion4sci kept talking about going to truck driving school.

 

[waterloggedfrog]

I work at a hotel where about 70% of our business comes from truck drivers and we also run a shuttle down to the frieghtliner place where all the broken-down trucks go. Most of the truckers I've talked to don't make anywhere near 100k a year and they lose a lot of time waiting to drop loads off or waiting to pick them up. And if your truck breaks down you've got to just stay in a weird place at a hotel not making any money for days and days until it's fixed. The quickest someone gets their truck fixed is about a week and if they're lucky enough to work for a good company they just get enough money to cover the room and maybe 5 dollars for food a day. I think the worst part about it would be the waiting to pick up a load/drop one off. I guess if you love driving it would be a good job for you though!

 

[Sparda29]

Yeah, another reason why I might not want to become a truck driver, especially if I'm transporting highly variable materials is because the potential for truck hijackings.

 

[Passion4Sci]

In addition to their great salaries, they get a lot of exercise!

 

[StaviZFingerZ]

The quickest someone gets their truck fixed is about a week

BS.

Even an engine rebuild doesn't take that long. I'm not a frequent customer of Freightliner but I'm there annually to get my chasis serviced. It doesn't take no week to fix a big rig.

 

[type b pharmD]

BS.

Even an engine rebuild doesn't take that long. I'm not a frequent customer of Freightliner but I'm there annually to get my chasis serviced. It doesn't take no week to fix a big rig.

yeah it seems like it takes a week in the north pole on that ice road tv show though, maybe thats what he was thinkin about. Of course thts when you have like one mechanic and 15 broken down trucks. Anyone else love that show?

 

[diastole]

My brother was one of those truck drivers who lived out of his truck with a dog. I don't think he liked it much and I'm pretty sure he wasn't making close to $100,000 a year. It seems like a pretty lonely existence. No wife, no girlfriend, hard to keep up with friends. Now he is an unemployed truck driver who had to live with my parents for a year and counting. I'll take pharmacy any day.

 

[mintleif]

yeah it seems like it takes a week in the north pole on that ice road tv show though, maybe thats what he was thinkin about. Of course thts when you have like one mechanic and 15 broken down trucks. Anyone else love that show?

I've seen it a few times. Pretty interesting show.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

How about them WV coal miners? I heard they make 70k to start out of HS

Yeah, if you're cool with the constant threat of being killed in an explosion hanging over your head every second of the day.

 

[Sparda29]

Move to Suffolk County in New York and apply for either the police department or state trooper. They make like $60K out of the academy. All you need to apply is to ace the civil exam and high school diploma. Usually make $100K+ overtime + etc bonuses, benefits after 5 years. Retire after 20 years with half pay of your highest earning year.