What's under your lip/in your nose right now? - Part 2

[rothenbj]

Hard to believe it's 4:30 in the morning, Feb 16th, no heat turned on and it's 74 degrees in the house. I know it's going to change soon, but I like it. The longer I can go without firing up the fireplace the better it will be. I have no desire to need fuel this winter. I can't imagine how expensive it might get by the middle of winter. The price of fuel oil is already up 13% from when I bought it in early September.

 

[Doffy]

Hard to believe it's 4:30 in the morning, Feb 16th, no heat turned on and it's 74 degrees in the house. I know it's going to change soon, but I like it. The longer I can go without firing up the fireplace the better it will be. I have no desire to need fuel this winter. I can't imagine how expensive it might get by the middle of winter. The price of fuel oil is already up 13% from when I bought it in early September.

I know that there's a time difference between Australia and you, but February?

 

[hittman]

Hard to believe it's 4:30 in the morning, Feb 16th, no heat turned on and it's 74 degrees in the house. I know it's going to change soon, but I like it. The longer I can go without firing up the fireplace the better it will be. I have no desire to need fuel this winter. I can't imagine how expensive it might get by the middle of winter. The price of fuel oil is already up 13% from when I bought it in early September.

Feb 16th? I know what you meant. Today is the coolest morning we’ve had so far in the 40’s. Supposed to be somewhere in the 60’s for a high. What do gasoline prices look like there? We’re up to about $3 a gallon.

 

[Doffy]

We are still mostly in the teens Celsius or 60s F half way through spring

 

[rothenbj]

I know that there's a time difference between Australia and you, but February?

That's what happens when you start posting at 4:30 in the morning and I know exactly what happened. lol Right before I was on here, I was on FB responding to a post from a friend that was battling quitting smoking. I had said on Feb 15th it would be 12 years since I quite and I had bounced into here to see my cigarette count and dollars saved to encourage him to keep fighting the desire.

I saw that it had been a while ago that someone had posted in here so I jumped in and left the post. February was still in my mind.

 

[rothenbj]

Hitt, regular is $3.43 on the low end. I put gas in the Can Am earlier in the week, it takes hi-test, it was nearly $4. I put in $20+, highest I ever saw. I happened to look up fuel oil prices and it was $3.79. In early September, I filled up for $3.29. That's over $100 difference in less than a month and a half. I was going to be lazy and just use oil until the weather got really cold before I started burning but these prices convinced me to forget that idea.

I've got over 5 cords split so far under my canopy and 6 inside my woodshed so I'm plenty good even without filling the other half of the canopy area and I will be filling it this week. I've cut up all but one of the large pieces of oak on the left side of my drive and I would have gotten that cut up if the darn chainsaw would have cooperated. I put a ripping chain on that one but the saw has never liked being turned on and off. Worst saw I ever bought and it's supposed to be good.

Doffy, how are they treating you over the Covid issue? I've seen some pretty ugly stuff.

 

[hittman]

My wife talked me into having a yard sale yesterday. What a waste of time. All day and we made $100 and still had a ton of stuff to carry back into the garage. She hasn’t said anything yet but I’m hoping she’s willing to donate what’s left.

 

[rothenbj]

I've had the same problem around here Hitt. She's finally willing to get rid of some of the junk, but has a new "plan" for furniture restoration. Hasn't sold a darn thing so far but sure is filling space up with a lot of junk.

Don't know if you have anything of any value but FB marketplace is a good place to test the waters. I've sold a pull behind lawn vac, a self propelled lawn vac that needed a carb, a couple cases of old oil that I was never going to use at this point, a wheel barrow and an old but very good condition seed spreader. Tuesday I might have a trailer hitch Thule bike rack sold. I'm somewhere around $700-800 in the black. I've got two snow blowers for sale with only slight interest but I'll sit on both until people need them.

 

[hittman]

I've had the same problem around here Hitt. She's finally willing to get rid of some of the junk, but has a new "plan" for furniture restoration. Hasn't sold a darn thing so far but sure is filling space up with a lot of junk.

Don't know if you have anything of any value but FB marketplace is a good place to test the waters. I've sold a pull behind lawn vac, a self propelled lawn vac that needed a carb, a couple cases of old oil that I was never going to use at this point, a wheel barrow and an old but very good condition seed spreader. Tuesday I might have a trailer hitch Thule bike rack sold. I'm somewhere around $700-800 in the black. I've got two snow blowers for sale with only slight interest but I'll sit on both until people need them.

Everything is small items or clothing for the most part. My wife actually said she’s going to take stuff to donate tomorrow. I’m just glad I don’t have to carry it back down to the basement.

 

[rothenbj]

Hitt, almost forgot my biggest sale, my original '05nscooter that I bought back in '07 for $3,500 and sold for $2,400 this Spring and that was a steal. I priced it to sell and the guy knew it as he couldn't find one for less than I originally paid. He'll be loving it next year when gas prices are ungodly.

 

[Waho]

When we helped my wife's grandmother move, we ended up with her hoard in our garage. It's just knick knacks and other assorted junk, but my wife wants to have a garage sale. I've been trying to convince her it'd be way less hassle to just get a dumpster and heave it all in. No one wants all the personalized chotchkys and there's nothing with any value. Mainly I just want more than a little path from the back door to leave the house, it's literally stacked floor to ceiling.

My wife did unfortunately have a miscarriage a while back. There wasn't any reason, 1 in 4 chance yadda yadda, but still sucks. I did get 5 days of bereavement to cover my wife's surgery which was nice to be able to be there for her physical recovery and mental health.

It's been quite nice only working 5 days what with the chip shortage. For a while there Flint Assembly was the only GM assembly plant in America even running. I'm not looking forward to when supply stabilizes and we likely end up going "critcal." They cancel all vacation time, deny any "non essential" sick leaves, every day is a "blackout day" (disciplinary actions for using call in sick days), and work us 90 days straight. They can also force 12 hours, but that's less likely as we're a 3 shift plant. Only way out of it is to get hurt at work or die.

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[hittman]

When we helped my wife's grandmother move, we ended up with her hoard in our garage. It's just knick knacks and other assorted junk, but my wife wants to have a garage sale. I've been trying to convince her it'd be way less hassle to just get a dumpster and heave it all in. No one wants all the personalized chotchkys and there's nothing with any value. Mainly I just want more than a little path from the back door to leave the house, it's literally stacked floor to ceiling.

My wife did unfortunately have a miscarriage a while back. There wasn't any reason, 1 in 4 chance yadda yadda, but still sucks. I did get 5 days of bereavement to cover my wife's surgery which was nice to be able to be there for her physical recovery and mental health.

It's been quite nice only working 5 days what with the chip shortage. For a while there Flint Assembly was the only GM assembly plant in America even running. I'm not looking forward to when supply stabilizes and we likely end up going "critcal." They cancel all vacation time, deny any "non essential" sick leaves, every day is a "blackout day" (disciplinary actions for using call in sick days), and work us 90 days straight. They can also force 12 hours, but that's less likely as we're a 3 shift plant. Only way out of it is to get hurt at work or die.

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I'm really sorry that you and your wife had to go through that. I can't even imagine.

 

[rothenbj]

Sorry about that Waho.

I'm wondering when the chips are going to flow again. Things are really starting to look a lot bleak. You guys weren't around during those 70s years as an adult. It wasn't pretty and this is looking like it could be a lot worse. Just pray the Libs don't pass their big plan, it will sink us. Someone said that oil might hit $200 that would be make auto travel almost non-existent.

 

[Waho]

When I first got transferred to Flint, gas was $4.25-ish. The amount I saved in just gas moving down here paid most of my mortgage, and the car I had at the time got roughly 32mpg. I certainly don't want to go back to that.

I'm caught in a weird spot. GM says it wants the whole fleet electric by 2035, except the heavy duty trucks that I work on that they want electric by 2050. Electric vehicles require about 30% less manpower to build so being in the last bastion of internal combustion engines helps me out being lower in the seniority totem pole. But if gas/diesel prices skyrocket and my plant cuts a shift, that puts me on the street. If the normal amount of retirements keeps up I make the cut in about 5 or so years, fingers crossed.

Strange that putting 12 years in, over a third of my life, is still low on the totem pole. They cut/eliminated pensions and health insurance after retirement and now wonder why people won't leave.

 

[hittman]

When I first got transferred to Flint, gas was $4.25-ish. The amount I saved in just gas moving down here paid most of my mortgage, and the car I had at the time got roughly 32mpg. I certainly don't want to go back to that.

I'm caught in a weird spot. GM says it wants the whole fleet electric by 2035, except the heavy duty trucks that I work on that they want electric by 2050. Electric vehicles require about 30% less manpower to build so being in the last bastion of internal combustion engines helps me out being lower in the seniority totem pole. But if gas/diesel prices skyrocket and my plant cuts a shift, that puts me on the street. If the normal amount of retirements keeps up I make the cut in about 5 or so years, fingers crossed.

Strange that putting 12 years in, over a third of my life, is still low on the totem pole. They cut/eliminated pensions and health insurance after retirement and now wonder why people won't leave.

I don't know much about union negotiations but am surprised that they agreed to stuff like cutting that stuff out. My father in law retired from Ford a long time ago and has a good retirement pension and great insurance.

 

[Waho]

They gave up a ton during the bankruptcy in the name of job security. Anyone hired after Jan 1 2007 was a tier 2, topping out at $10 less per hour, comparatively bad health insurance, and no retirement benefits. We got the wage and health insurance back, but not after retirement or the pension. It was pretty easy for the membership at the time to give up a bunch of stuff that wouldn't effect them anyway I guess.

Now we have a PSP that GM puts in 6% of our weekly gross pay and I throw in another 10% of my weekly pay. Then when you retire, whatever is in your PSP GM matches into a health savings account in lieu of health insurance.

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[rothenbj]

Waho, so many questions. First on the electric car plan. So they, as well as every auto maker is gearing toward totally electric in basically 13 years. That pretty much says almost all the autos on the road will ne electric in 20 years. Now we're already seeing brownouts and rolling blackouts in CA with all their effort toward electric and they're far from totally mobilized with electric.

Batteries will need to be produced in the US unless we've already become the United States of China by then and even if we remain as USA aren't the Chinese pretty much cornering the market on the minerals needed to produce batteries? Then technology has to improve so that battery charges last longer and charging is much quicker. Maybe every car will be equipped with a wind turbine to generate electricity while your driving. It's a shame I'm not going to be around to see how this all works out.

The other thing you brought up, PSP, personal savings program was the only thing I could think of. Is that correct? It made sense to me when you started out but then you brought up doubling the amount by the company upon retirement for a health savings account. Is this some form of program that addresses both retirement and health as opposed to a 401k program and, if so, do you invest those funds your contributing in something?

 

[rothenbj]

Hitt, talking about FB Marketplace must have been a kick start. Sold the 9hp snowblower for $250 and I have someone that wants to see my tail hitch bike rack.

 

[hittman]

Hitt, talking about FB Marketplace must have been a kick start. Sold the 9hp snowblower for $250 and I have someone that wants to see my tail hitch bike rack.

Congratulations on the sale. Our leftover yard sale stuff is gone to donations.

 

[Waho]

Waho, so many questions. First on the electric car plan. So they, as well as every auto maker is gearing toward totally electric in basically 13 years. That pretty much says almost all the autos on the road will ne electric in 20 years. Now we're already seeing brownouts and rolling blackouts in CA with all their effort toward electric and they're far from totally mobilized with electric.

Batteries will need to be produced in the US unless we've already become the United States of China by then and even if we remain as USA aren't the Chinese pretty much cornering the market on the minerals needed to produce batteries? Then technology has to improve so that battery charges last longer and charging is much quicker. Maybe every car will be equipped with a wind turbine to generate electricity while your driving. It's a shame I'm not going to be around to see how this all works out.

I can't speak to the other auto makers, but GM has a battery plant in Michigan and they're building another in the US currently but I don't remember where. It's in partnership with LG. Still have the lithium mineral problem as you mentioned.

Yeah, just transferring carbon from vehicle exhaust to fossil fuel power plants to keep up with that increased demand. Unless they start mowing down forests for more space for solar/wind which is self defeating.

The other thing you brought up, PSP, personal savings program was the only thing I could think of. Is that correct? It made sense to me when you started out but then you brought up doubling the amount by the company upon retirement for a health savings account. Is this some form of program that addresses both retirement and health as opposed to a 401k program and, if so, do you invest those funds your contributing in something?

Yeah, personal savings plan. It's some sort of hybrid thing that avoids taxes somewhere, I'm fuzzy on the details. I have mine invested in a mutual fund that automatically transfers money from higher risk to lower risk as you near a target retirement date.

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