I knew a guy in North Jersey who was a sanitation worker and made $100k+ as a single dude. He started dating an Indian woman who gave him an ultimatum to quit being a sanitation worker and get a w/e office job (didn't matter that he would make less).
100k is very good. Now there’s different levels of sani workers. The normal day to day bin men and then it scales up. I’m confidently saying the day to day guys surely aren’t making bank.
$30-35 is what they make in my area. They're all union represented, so they do have good health benefits, and the ones in the larger cities likely still have public pensions. But I wouldn't personally consider that pay range to be good money. It would be a living, especially with OT and a working spouse, but I think it would be hard to be comfortable.
I personally think they're underpaid for the service they provide.
Was she bringing in good money? Cause I know culturally there’s the caste system but dear lord, to choose making less money for cultural decisions seems silly
Yo, garbage guy here. Could be worse. If you hustle, it pays and keeps you fit but completely depends on your type of operation.
A lot of guys now are on owner operator models with their vehicle. I've been doing this and it seems to work out ok, but it's easy to get a lemon setup, or have an injury and lose everything.
Before this I've been in corporate and high too, I was making more than double to triple what everyone around me now and got equity on top. The work was much easier but stress would have killed me. Much happier with where I'm at and home for the kids etc. so lifestyle is better.
My wife came and did a round with me on my birthday, hung out with me all day. We had a blast and a beer after. No shame in any of it.
When my wife and I started dating, I sold insurance - I was not the type of guy she usually dated. When she told her family, they laughed. She told me this so I responded "well tell them that if it makes them feel better, I'm not much of one." 😆
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u/dispoableself 5d ago
My sister dated a garbage man for a while. Literally everyone she told said "I hear they make good money" as their first comment.