Should i still go to the oil field?

Want to pay your debt off quickly, go oil field.. you will have no life, work and sleep, and hard to spend money that way. Long term, the oil field is a boom bust industry, and it will bust again. Could be next week, next month, next year... all depends on world events and government regulations...

UPS, not as stressful as your current food service delivery. Long term, as long as you follow their rules.

 

I don't think you understand how pay works with Baker (and many of the other majors).

With overtime, bonuses, per diem, time paid for transport and sleep time, etc, etc, etc your son would be making a HELL of a lot more than $19/hour.

 

Sounds like he got bounced and that was his excuse.

 

Baker Hughes is paying the warehouse forklift driver 26.00 an hour plus a 1500.00 a month housing allowance in Williston right now. Guys that are working rotation are making that plus tons of overtime working 21 days on, 10 off with a 700.00 airfare allowance, fed and housed in a mancamp. Got to be in North Dakota for the top money.

 

Not sure i follow you....what company was he BANKING $1750/wk at? (Me thinks YOUR son must have been doing OT to make $1750/wk).

....why would he leave them?

 

The kid has a work ethic second-to-none, something those with which you must be familiar or who run in your circles must lack to cause your mind to automatically go to the negative and make such an erroneous assumption based on what little was offered in my post. Let's try it again, shall we? He -never- got back with Baker-Hughes because of the low pay offer after three rounds of interviews. They never talked pay until the third round interview and the offer.

 

He worked 70 hours per week for a small fuel tanker company which had a military contract for avgas and JP8. He left because the company lost the military contract and put him on chemicals. He stayed as long as he could...worse work, less money, more hazardous working environment, waiting at mines for half to full days...the list goes on.

 

He was told what he -can- make but it wasn't what he is used to making once the hours are factored in. I told him the job advancement opportunities were good there but 19 bucks for what they were asking is low for an hourly starting wage for that type work when laborers are starting at 25 on the same rigs.

 

I used to work a job where I made deliveries to grocery stores, pulling boxes of fruit off of pallets. Now I work as a Fedex route driver and it is by far more physically intense than the fruit job. I make about 110-140 stops per day. You really have to hustle to get it done in a decent amount of time and I'm usually out on the route about 10 hours each day which doesn't include truck prep or driving to and from the terminal. Every day you'll get a few of the lovely dressers/treadmills/chest freezers on your truck. My favorite today was a lawnmower engine.

The UPS guys I talk to are doing closer to 200 stops per day although they work a much more condensed area than I do. Still though, they tell me they're usually out on their route closer to 12 hours each day. They are in a pretty good situation though. They're unionized, great benefits and obviously they make a whole lot of overtime pay.

Most of us working these jobs can't make a 40 year career out of it, though. Not because anyone isn't tough enough, but because the knees, the back and the hips usually betray you before you can get to that point. That's one of the reasons I'm looking to get out of this and get to the oilfields. Even if the oilfield busts, at least I'll have my CDL to keep me fed.

Not trying to scare you off, but it is a pretty physical job. Maybe check out some Youtube videos or something to see the typical day of a UPS driver to see if it appeals to you.

 

i would go with Ups...cant go wrong with that...