Anyone else seeing a slow down at their company

You know it, I've almost gone back driving 2-3 times, toughing it out for the winter, we will see if I last until the spring LOL.

 

Talking with friends I have still up there it still is. It's regular maintenance and operations only.
When I was trucking up there 2012-18 it was dead. I could hit the 4 lane after grassland, set cruise and almost cross my legs. I called it the 4 lane hwy to no where. Nothing compared to 2000-08. There is zero capital investment going on. In the hey day there was always 20+ billion$ a year.
I doubt thats more ft mac will ever be now. It would take 10 years to plan/get approval in this country, if it was even possible.
I'd say ya got out at a good time.

 

Only regret was buying property up there. Hindsight 20/20.

 

You did way better then people who bought in 2000-2008.
My wife and I looked at moving there in 2002. Looked at a few showhomes with crooked walls for 600k+$. Decided to commute and stuck to it.
Ft mac was awesome for us. It allowed my wife to raise our kiddos full time. And as a dad I was home 56% of the time. (Shift work +holidays)
And fixing stuff destroyed beyond belief made me a better mechanic.
I have freinds that bought mobile homes in 2010. They thought they were getting a good deal because the high water mark was behind them and was only 500k. They are still upside down. My ole buddy that retired up there can't really leave. His grandkids are there for one, and his house lost 500k in value. He was unfortunate. His street was the only street that didn't burn in beacon hill. 1 street of older homes surrounded by an entire new community.

As for a slow down at our company. Nah we are stable, fuel prices are killing us tho.
There is a bunch of new school bus drivers in the industry. Seems to be a lot of former truck drivers that make more $ driving school bus.

 

I had fun in my time up there but the flood 2.5 years ago was the boot in the ### I needed to finally call it quits. I had been talking about leaving for a couple years at that point.

Honestly don't think I'd ever go back, those work hours were getting to me. I'm happy working banker's hours and having a life.

 

Those hours and working conditions have me where I'm at now. Middle aged with some medical issues as a result of it.
The truck driving and bus business was a means to an end. If I was still up there I wouldn't be enjoying the latter part of my life that's for sure. I can still dirt bike/ski/hunt/water ski/wake board with my kids as they become older.
Almost everyone I know that got old in the mechanic trade is broken.

 

So glad I was on the drilling/camp side of things back then, did Ft Mac for SAGD work 2005-2006 a couple times, did my best to stay out of there after that. Lots of Edson/Hinton/GP/Dawson Creek. Company wanted me to move up to The Mac in 2009 to help "Rebuild" after the crash LOL. Managed to get into the office instead (Until Trudeau of course). Went up there trucking once with Mullen in 2019, couldn't believe how dead it was, downright shocking vs 05/06.

 

Not at all. At the safety meeting last week we were told to expect a big surprise in our next paycheck - our Christmas bonus.

Crude oil and fuel hauling is booming. Anyone telling you that will change anytime soon doesn’t understand how our economy works.

Get your hazmat and start driving tankers.

 

It was balls to the wall from 2009 until the end of 2013. You could pretty much work as much OT as they'd let you on site for. 2014 to 2020 it stayed steady until the rona shut it all down.

 

I've been lucky. Most of my work is done on a bench now so I'm hoping that'll prolong my health. That said I've been thinking about maybe sticking it out until around 40 and try something else a little easier.