Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

berri

I think this is my take on what may happen with teaching and police. Many people will stop majoring in education because over time you will make more in other fields with a college degree. All the political and legal hassles will drive people away from becoming police. As for $69K, depends where you live. Probably decent pay in small town Midwest and South, but lousy money in places like Chicago or Seattle. Plus teachers have become de facto babysitters for parents who don't work with their kids. But I think the problems in the US education system go way beyond just teachers.

explorerx4

I'm going to pull a driver100 and just post a link about the cost of living in Lexington, KY.
https://www.bestplaces.net/cost_of_living/city/kentucky/lexington-Fayette

Here is where I live:
https://www.bestplaces.net/cost_of_living/city/connecticut/farmington

I think the numbers are from a few years ago.

xwesx

henryn said:

PF_Flyer said:

It's also my oldest daughter's birthday today, and she and her hubby are up in the MA/NH area driving around on a little vacation. The both have flip phones, so MY phone keeps ringing as they call to have me check online when certain attractions open or close today. So now I get to spend the rest of the day answering my phone, "Hello, you've reached the internet!"

Normally I wouldn't ask, but now that you've opened this particular can of worms: Why do they only have flip phones? I know a few elderly people who only have flip phones, but no younger people. None.

Yeah. I couldn't stand to have a flip phone. That would drive me insane!

explorerx4

Back at the end of 2002, my kids got Samsumg flip phones.
After 2 years, they got new ones which I think had the slide out keyboards.
I took over the phone and used it for the next 8+ years, before I finally got a smart phone.
Must have dropped it a 100 times.
After that old Samsung sat on the shelf for over 2 years, my wife picked it up and hit the green power button.
It powered right up. Any questions?

fintail

Starving cops? Maybe in craphole places, but not in my area. 6 figures isn't uncommon with OT, and the bennies are platinum. Must be a regional thing, even today, some regions of the country are much more first-worldy than others, and the gap will only be wider in another generation.

Teachers, especially new ones, are underpaid in most places - as the source of their funding never wants to pony up. Oh yeah, maybe we should just be thankful a chosen lucky group are paying taxes at all, it has been trickling down wonderfully for the past 35 years, lolol.

thebean said:

time.com/longform/teaching-in-america/

I believe this is why the US is going to decline fairly rapidly in the next 20-30 years. We can never hope to attract great people into teaching when we pay them like this. It's disgraceful to pay celebrities millions a year and starve teachers, police, and firefighters.

fintail

They'll really need to incentivize the pricing I have seen so far, as it all seems to be about double the price of a normal lease plus expenses. I don't value the ability to switch cars that much. I'd like to see the fleet for these exchange cars, too - I get a feeling it will be a lot of models with basic equipment.

Sadly, we also know what happened to Saturn by the late 00s.

dino001 said:

I'm reading more and more companies push their "subscription" plans for the vehicles. Volvo seems to be in the forefront. Subscription seems to be an essentially all-inclusive leasing program (rental with insurance) with slightly different rules regarding the mileage and more flexible terms on turn-in. What's interesting, they are removing the dealer from price negotiation, probably paying them a flat fee for the transaction. This of course means that if the fee is generous, they will be pushing it hard, if not, you won't see any info there and your salesman will be going deaf every time you mention word subscription.


However, some people may go for it, as "set it and forget it" type of a program. I also doubt that "no price negotiation" stance will last. Saturn dealers also started as "no negotiation" place and by mid 2000s they were just like everybody else.

fintail

But you're a Luddite, you guys just got an indoor outhouse, right?

Last year I visited my 85 year old aunt, and she proudly showed me how she can manage her home wifi network from her smartphone. That was pretty cool.

That being said, my ~70 year old mom got a top of the line iPad for Christmas a couple years ago, I think she mostly uses it to play Yahtzee and do online jigsaw puzzles. She has a smartphone though, with a $100/year prepaid plan.

xwesx said:

Yeah. I couldn't stand to have a flip phone. That would drive me insane!

stickguy

local cops around here do well with OT (most departments are set up to use OT instead of more staffing), and the real money is "side jobs". Those cops sitting in their car all day by road work? Getting paid a lot for that. Same when a store hires them to be on site for some reason.

ab348

Most cops and firefighters are 6-figure types here. Teachers get there if they are admins or very senior with multiple degrees but even new ones start out around the same as the one in the article and have the benefit of automatic raises if they take courses to upgrade their certificate plus lots of vacation time too of course. 

imidazol97

Mr_Shiftright said:

They seem to be very good at helping people walk backwards over cliffs, too, or video taping somebody bleeding to death in the street.

You know we're over the brink when the signs have to say this:

bwia

driver100 said:

I think we have covered cell phones pretty well. I just have my Pay As I Go $100 a year phone....in the U.S. $3 a month, so if I can call if I am going to be late for dinner.

Everything but service providers. We have Consumer Cellular with 4G service provided by AT&T and I have nothing but good things to say about them. Two lines, unlimited voice and 3 gigs of data all for $40.00 a month. Their phones are inexpensive too, we have the Samsung Galaxy J7, $150 and Galaxy J3, $100 Smartphones both with 16GB of memory.

Consumer Cellular is marketing primarily to the AARP crowd but their service is available to all. We had AT&T before but we were being ripped off at $120 per month for 1GB data, 300 voice minutes and 500 texts. Now we are getting 3+ times the service at 1/3 the price. By the way, Consumer Reports and others have rated Consumer Cellular's service as the best and I'm inclined to agree.

jmonroe1

bwia said:

driver100 said:

I think we have covered cell phones pretty well. I just have my Pay As I Go $100 a year phone....in the U.S. $3 a month, so if I can call if I am going to be late for dinner.

Everything but service providers. We have Consumer Cellular with 4G service provided by AT&T and I have nothing but good things to say about them. Two lines, unlimited voice and 3 gigs of data all for $40.00 a month. Their phones are inexpensive too, we have the Samsung Galaxy J7, $150 and Galaxy J3, $100 Smartphones both with 16GB of memory.

Consumer Cellular is marketing primarily to the AARP crowd but their service is available to all. We had AT&T before but we were being ripped off at $120 per month for 1GB data, 300 voice minutes and 500 texts. Now we are getting 3+ times the service at 1/3 the price. By the way, Consumer Reports and others have rated Consumer Cellular's service as the best and I'm inclined to agree.

I've thought about going to Consumer Cellular but as I mentioned last week Mrs. j and I are on Son #1's plan and pay $55 a month for unlimited calls and data for both phones with T Mobile but we both have old Samsung Galaxy 3 phones. And I just invested $8.98 for 2 new Samsung batteries on Ebay, so no sense wasting that now.

FWIW, I ordered the batteries last Thursday and they said it would take a week. They lied, got them in the mail (USPS) this morning. Came from Upland CA. Surprised the hell out of me.

jmonroe

dino001

berri said:

I think this is my take on what may happen with teaching and police. Many people will stop majoring in education because over time you will make more in other fields with a college degree. All the political and legal hassles will drive people away from becoming police. As for $69K, depends where you live. Probably decent pay in small town Midwest and South, but lousy money in places like Chicago or Seattle. Plus teachers have become de facto babysitters for parents who don't work with their kids. But I think the problems in the US education system go way beyond just teachers.

She lives in North Carolina, hardly most expensive place in the country. I agree, the mandates put on teachers are getting completely ridiculous and keep increasing.

stickguy

I wanted to retire to NC before my daughter decided to come back up here after college (she went to school there). I could live like a relative king on $69K/year, because housing prices are dirt cheap compared to NJ.

xwesx

imidazol97 said:

Mr_Shiftright said:

They seem to be very good at helping people walk backwards over cliffs, too, or video taping somebody bleeding to death in the street.

You know we're over the brink when the signs have to say this:

Good idea, but bad placement. Nobody is gonna see that sign, because they are all looking DOWN! You have to put the sign in bright colors on the sidewalk.

Or, have some sort of RFID technology in the post that detects the device in operation, sounds a loud noise, and jolts the clueless passerby into attentiveness.

Or, just let natural selection do its thing.


I vote for the last option!

dino001

stickguy said:

I wanted to retire to NC before my daughter decided to come back up here after college (she went to school there). I could live like a relative king on $69K/year, because housing prices are dirt cheap compared to NJ.

Probably the case outside of Charlotte, Research Triangle, and beaches. But even those are not highest cost of living areas, comparatively, either.

BTW, my mother is a retired teacher. What Polish government paid here was a welfare, not salary, so I know how bad things can be when teachers are not valued. We were fortunate that my late dad made decent living and got decent pension. She takes 85 percent of it (surrendered her own in exchange) and barred an economic disaster (not completely impossible, considering current idiots in charge of Polish economy), she is set. Without my father’s pension, if she had to live on her own teacher pension, I’d probably be sending money there.

thebean

jmonroe1 said:

what happened to the nicely equipped fun to drive turbo? Back to a strippo putt putt mobile instead? By the time you get it and upgrade the inferior parts, might as well get the nice car instead.

Don't worry. By next week we'll see this change at least twice. jmonroe

^^^
This times a thousand.

dino001

Lol, be nice, let the man be a Hamlet (to be or not to be) for a few more times.

driver100

iluvmysephia1 said:

Thanks for that, driver100. I am focusing now on a 2018 Nissan Sentra S in Super Black. Selling for $13,490. 6-speed stick. First thing I'll buy for it is some cool wheels. Comes with hubcaps. I want a good Warranty.

btw....I like that red one with the black wheels....but, I wonder if it will hold its looks in 5 or 6 years, or look like a car with a vinyl roof.

driver100

jmonroe1 said:

driver100 said:

I think we have covered cell phones pretty well. I just have my Pay As I Go $100 a year phone....in the U.S. $3 a month, so if I can call if I am going to be late for dinner.

C'mon man what's so bad with a dinner that is a little over cooked? I think you're afraid of being chased around the table. It's time to man-up. :@

jmonroe

I try to be as nice as possible to Mrs D., so that I won't get chased around the table.....with a frying pan.

roadburner

In other news, I'm calling the dealer tomorrow to see what kind of deal I can get on the 2017 Wrangler I found in August. We both really like it and anyway, there are no other compact sized vehicles with true off road capability to be found.
Most of all, I'm still counting my blessings that the GLA sold.

driver100

stickguy said:

I wanted to retire to NC before my daughter decided to come back up here after college (she went to school there). I could live like a relative king on $69K/year, because housing prices are dirt cheap compared to NJ.

Don't move until they clean up from Florence.
What a thing to live through. What do you do when your home is destroyed.....possibly your work place too. And, then dealing with insurance companies. Talk about distressing.

stickguy

Driver, at least wheels are easily changed if they become out of style. the whole front end, well, you are stuck with that if you get something "edgy"

stickguy

driver100 said:

stickguy said:

I wanted to retire to NC before my daughter decided to come back up here after college (she went to school there). I could live like a relative king on $69K/year, because housing prices are dirt cheap compared to NJ.

Don't move until they clean up from Florence.
What a thing to live through. What do you do when your home is destroyed.....possibly your work place too. And, then dealing with insurance companies. Talk about distressing.

yeah, not something I would ever want to do. at least it is a relatively small area really hammered. If I had gone, would have been more inland. they did not really get much rain even.

nyccarguy

roadburner said:

In other news, I'm calling the dealer tomorrow to see what kind of deal I can get on the 2017 Wrangler I found in August. We both really like it and anyway, there are no other compact sized vehicles with true off road capability to be found. Most of all, I'm still counting my blessings that the GLA sold.

I was thinking of you the other day.  I saw my 1st JL 2 Door Wrangler.  It was a Sport S with an Automatic and the standard soft top.  Tech & towing package.  I’m so used to seeing the JLU , but the 2 door looked like a proper wrangler.  Talking to the guy, he said he loved it.  

Mr_Shiftright

thebean said:

time.com/longform/teaching-in-america/

I believe this is why the US is going to decline fairly rapidly in the next 20-30 years. We can never hope to attract great people into teaching when we pay them like this. It's disgraceful to pay celebrities millions a year and starve teachers, police, and firefighters.

Yep---poor teachers and smartest immigrants quitting and going home, or deciding to go to the UK, EU or remain working in Asia or India instead--a "brain drain". Almost 50% of our current PhD candidates in the "hard sciences" are on immigrant status.

sda

driver100 said:

stickguy said:

I wanted to retire to NC before my daughter decided to come back up here after college (she went to school there). I could live like a relative king on $69K/year, because housing prices are dirt cheap compared to NJ.

Don't move until they clean up from Florence.
What a thing to live through. What do you do when your home is destroyed.....possibly your work place too. And, then dealing with insurance companies. Talk about distressing.

Worse yet, most did not have flood insurance. In our area there was a lot of random flooding with many trees down, some on cars, houses, etc. because of wind and saturated soil. On a minor note, a window in one of our bedrooms sprang a leak at the header and made a mess. Luckily I found it early on and was able to minimize the damage. The insurance adjuster will come on Saturday.

henryn

For those who like T-Mobile, but would like to save even more -- Teltik. Google it.

28firefighter

Our bill comes out to $36/line including taxes for Unlimited LTE, 20 GB LTE Mobile Hotspot, unlimited HD streaming, Unlimited GoGo Inflight, plus all the international benefits. I doubt we could beat that anywhere. 

iluvmysephia1

2018 Nissan Sentra S

This is the one. Super Black - for $13,490 and everything Nissan packs in to this Sentra, this deal is a screaming bargain. The dealer is open till 9:00 tomorrow night. The Mrs.and I are going west to Las Cruces tomorrow anyway to take our son to some job interviews and we might take the Chow Chow with us. He wants to leave about 9:00. I plan on making a stand and holding to it at Las Cruces. She can come with me to Phoenix, or, I will take her home to Alamogordo and then backtrack my way back to Las Cruces, NM, then I'll up I'm head west to Phoenix. It's Avondale Nissan - same ownership group I bought my 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer GTS from.

This will be my New World Order Datsun 510. I knew there was a reason I loved this 2016 and/on Nissan Sentra. They took a cue from the old 510 in designing the new Sentra and it looks good on the base model. 5 years and 60,000 mile Powertrain Warranty coverage is included.

Michaell

iluvmysephia1 said:

2018 Nissan Sentra S

This is the one. Super Black - for $13,490 and everything Nissan packs in to this Sentra, this deal is a screaming bargain. The dealer is open till 9:00 tomorrow night. The Mrs.and I are going west to Las Cruces tomorrow anyway to take our son to some job interviews and we might take the Chow Chow with us. He wants to leave about 9:00. I plan on making a stand and holding to it at Las Cruces. She can come with me to Phoenix, or, I will take her home to Alamogordo and then backtrack my way back to Las Cruces, NM, then I'll up I'm head west to Phoenix. It's Avondale Nissan - same ownership group I bought my 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer GTS from.

This will be my New World Order Datsun 510. I knew there was a reason I loved this 2016 and/on Nissan Sentra. They took a cue from the old 510 in designing the new Sentra and it looks good on the base model. 5 years and 60,000 mile Powertrain Warranty coverage is included.

Geez, iluv, you could have at least found a dealer on the east side of the Metro Phoenix area. Avondale is way on the west side of town.

What happened to the used SR Turbo? At least that would have had some fun baked in.

28firefighter

I’m still stuck on driving 8 hours for a Nissan Sentra. You really can’t strike a deal for one of these in El Paso, Las Cruces, or heck even in Albuquerque?  Just because it isn’t advertised doesn’t mean you can’t get it....

Also, please get the SR Turbo or something. Don’t just get the S. 

28firefighter

Nissan of Las Cruces has 9 Sentra S manuals that they have to be choking on. If you’re serious about this, walk in, point to the one you want and offer 13,5 plus tax and registration. If they say no, by all means drive away to Phoenix. 

dino001

So next week 10 percent tariff on everything from PRC, 25 percent from January. Chinese are vowing response, not just tariffs, but possible embargos and other administrarive measures, e.g. they have monopoly on rare Earth metals. So far no deal with Canada, Europe, not even Mexico. Are we winning yet?

driver100

stickguy said:

Driver, at least wheels are easily changed if they become out of style. the whole front end, well, you are stuck with that if you get something "edgy"

Good point stick. It is hard to change that gold trim they put on Toyotas and Lexus years ago. It looked nice at the time, but, now it looks tired

driver100

jmonroe1 said:

stickguy said:

what happened to the nicely equipped fun to drive turbo? Back to a strippo putt putt mobile instead? By the time you get it and upgrade the inferior parts, might as well get the nice car instead.

Don't worry. By next week we'll see this change at least twice.

jmonroe

lol.....we need a new topic on Edmunds;
The car I wish I Could Buy.......This Week!

driver100

iluvmysephia1 said:

2018 Nissan Sentra S

This is the one. Super Black - for $13,490 and everything Nissan packs in to this Sentra, this deal is a screaming bargain. The dealer is open till 9:00 tomorrow night. .

They must have used a whole can of tire blackener on that baby!

nyccarguy

driver100 said:

jmonroe1 said:

stickguy said:

what happened to the nicely equipped fun to drive turbo? Back to a strippo putt putt mobile instead? By the time you get it and upgrade the inferior parts, might as well get the nice car instead.

Don't worry. By next week we'll see this change at least twice.

jmonroe

lol.....we need a new topic on Edmunds;
The car I wish I Could Buy.......This Week!

We already have that. It's called Chronic Car Buyer's Anonymous or as we affectionately refer to it: "As The @breld s Turn."

stickguy

Agreed about shopping local. If they have a glut, they will deal. And most dealers even more so if you have an ad. If nothing else, worth a try. Plus you can drive it there, to make sure you even like it.

ab348

Mr_Shiftright said:

Yep---poor teachers and smartest immigrants quitting and going home, or deciding to go to the UK, EU or remain working in Asia or India instead--a "brain drain". Almost 50% of our current PhD candidates in the "hard sciences" are on immigrant status.

The recent spat between Saudi Arabia and our idiot Canadian federal govt politicians that prompted SA to recall all their nationals from Canada uncovered a dirty truth about our university system, at least in the area where I live. A good chunk of the seats in our medical school and other post-grad programs were filled with foreign students, many of them Saudis. Why? In part it is because our universities see them as cash cows. They charge them more, they have no fellowships or scholarships to deal with, and according to their calculations these types of students are hugely profitable, hence the opening up of spots for them. This would be no surprise to anyone here who has recently been an inpatient at a local hospital, as I would say the majority of residents and interns are foreign nationals. Their recall resulted in near-panic for the medical system here as suddenly a big part of the doctor base would be forced to leave.

snakeweasel

fintail said:

No more bitter than those (of similar demographics around here) complaining about people getting things for free in terms of the social safety net. You and others definitely sound "bitter" about that. Everyone gets something for free, in their own way. That was kind of my point. It might relate to glass houses or something like that IMO, if there is a benefit not remotely attainable by other investors/savers, one supported by another party, it is subsidized. If a fund is not solvent with member contributions, it is subsidized by the someone (the employer, or in more base terms, public funds). I can't think that public sector pensions, which generally provide benefits far better than those available to private sector workers who would make the same contribution, aren't subsidized. How much harder is it for a 25 year old public sector worker saving, vs a private sector worker? When I was 25 and still starting out, I couldn't afford to save as much as I do now, and job security was much less. Maybe it was different in prior generations. I think now, public sector is often 90% of the pay (at the very worst) with 100% of real-time benefits, 200% of the job security (especially after 5-10 years) and 300% of future benefits. This isn't going to end well. In my anecdotal experience, I have no public sector friends who are starving to support a future pension.

You sound bitter. Employer matching is hardly a "subsidy". It is a benefit like dental care or vacation time or any other employee benefit. I can tell you that for the first part of may career I certainly didn't see it that way. "Why is all this money deducted every paycheck from my take-home?" was a typical complaint. That was particularly hard to swallow in the early years when you were just getting started and money was tight. It's hard to appreciate the value of a retirement pension when you are in your 20s. The argument that was made to me back then was that it was a trade-off - I could make a lot more in the private sector, but the pension and benefits were usually not as good and job security wasn't great. I know lots of people who left government jobs for the private sector pot of gold. It's simply a choice one needs to make. Now you may have a valid gripe against companies in the private sector no longer offering pension plans as was once typical for larger operations. And it is also true that mismanagement of a lot of pension plans both public and private caused a lot of problems. But let's be clear - when you look at the way investment funds have grown over the last 20-30 years, even with the periodic corrections in the market, a decently-managed pension plan should have no difficulty being sustainable long-term.

I think the bitterness comes not from people using the "safety net" but from people abusing it. as much as 50% of those funds are wasted due to corruption, think of what we could do for the truly needy if it wasn't for the corruption. 

snakeweasel

Drivingfool said:

I just got a new iPhone 8 Plus last month but got it at a very good price from "OfferUp", an app where folks near me sell stuff they want to get rid of. I've bought a few items on there with excellent results so I went for the new 8 Plus also. Works great and just got a Samsung Fast Charger because it has the new Qi technology. Great battery life and a home button. Finally wiped clean my 6s Plus yesterday, the one with the newer battery, and will either sell it on the same website, try a phone store/pawn shop or just give it to the wife if she wants to change from her Android smartphone which doesn't have much storage. Another reason I upgraded was to get more storage, had 32 gigs but wanted 64, which I now have. So I'm set for another couple of years. Have no problem getting a year old unit and paying a fraction of the price for brand new. Works for me. The Driving Fool

That's one of the things I like about Samsung, if I need more storage space all I need to do is get a new SD card. Plus when I do get a new phone all my stuff is on the SD card so moving all my music, pictures and stuff is a breeze.

fintail

History proves that trade wars aren't winnable. But maybe this time it will be different.

It's a great distraction from the corruption and malfeasance at home. Which sinister coward with ties to a certain location just east of Poland is next?

dino001 said:

So next week 10 percent tariff on everything from PRC, 25 percent from January. Chinese are vowing response, not just tariffs, but possible embargos and other administrarive measures, e.g. they have monopoly on rare Earth metals. So far no deal with Canada, Europe, not even Mexico. Are we winning yet?

snakeweasel

jmonroe1 said:

@nyccarguy, I just wait for the yard to dry out before I mow it. Do remove the snow on the deck away from the house every storm. May not clear the whole deck, but don't want to risk it getting overloaded. Composite material decks still need to be power washed a time or tow per year, although not painted/stained.

Your deck should be able to handle the snow load better than your roof. So I wouldn't worry about your deck until your roof collapses. jmonroe

Just had our roof inspected, other than some very minor hail damage it was in pretty good shape and we don't need any work done on it. its 16 years old now, original roof to the house.

fintail

And not to mention, no iTunes, software so invasive and clunky it could count as a virus.

How much of that "corruption" mentioned earlier is perks and bennies given to leadership? Regarding corruption, you can try to limit it, but it will always exist at some point.

snakeweasel said:

That's one of the things I like about Samsung, if I need more storage space all I need to do is get a new SD card. Plus when I do get a new phone all my stuff is on the SD card so moving all my music, pictures and stuff is a breeze.

fintail

If I was shopping for a base S, I'd want it for 13.5 OTD. I have to believe there will be more than a couple remaining during December desperation sales events.

28firefighter said:

Nissan of Las Cruces has 9 Sentra S manuals that they have to be choking on. If you’re serious about this, walk in, point to the one you want and offer 13,5 plus tax and registration. If they say no, by all means drive away to Phoenix. 

driver100

nyccarguy said:

driver100 said:

jmonroe1 said:

stickguy said:

what happened to the nicely equipped fun to drive turbo? Back to a strippo putt putt mobile instead? By the time you get it and upgrade the inferior parts, might as well get the nice car instead.

Don't worry. By next week we'll see this change at least twice.

jmonroe

lol.....we need a new topic on Edmunds;
The car I wish I Could Buy.......This Week!

We already have that. It's called Chronic Car Buyer's Anonymous or as we affectionately refer to it: "As The @breld s Turn."

But CCBA is for people who actually do buy a car

iluvmysephia1

If I was shopping for a base S, I'd want it for 13.5 OTD. I have to believe there will be more than a couple remaining during December desperation sales events.

Just so happens we're going to Las Cruces today. It's a lot closer than PHX, and they have 9 base Sentra's in stock. I'll offer $13,500 out the door, after the trade-in is figured in and all. $13,500 OTD. Get a test drive in and make sure I like it. There aren't any SR Turbo's nearby. Over. Out.

graphicguy

For those of you who have a recent iPhone, with the iOS 12 update, WAZE now works with Car Play. It has it's own icon on the car screen. Used it last night. Not a hitch.

Google Maps is supposed to be right around the corner, too.

nyccarguy

@iluvmysephia - here you go. It shouldn't be too far out of the way to take a test drive:

https://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/cto/d/2011-mini-cooper-turbo-fully/6700784512.html