Need a job? Try Tupelo

Why oh why can we not get any jobs here?

quote:

Originally posted by SwindleMaster2007:
Why oh why can we not get any jobs here?

I thought at one time we were getting a call center in Muscle Shoals or was that somewhere else?

We got the Walgreens center in the old Walmart building in Muscle Shoals. Huntsville got the Verizon Wireless call center that was just announced

Pretty sad wages for a family, but I suppose welcomed by students.

Walgreen's Call Center jobs are eight bucks an hour.

That dosent make $9.50 right! Walgreens would also be a good job for a student. These are not jobs that you would raise a family on.

Beats flippin' butgers. Did you notice it included benefits?
TUPELO - Employees at Tupelo's NEW Customer Service support center will have more than a job - they will have an on-site fitness center, comprehensive health insurance, tuition reimbursement - and free DirecTV.

i took a road trip down the trace to tupelo the other night and their new khols actually has a shopping center at it and man it's huge. when the toyota plant is done i'm sure more will come.

quote:

Originally posted by excelman:
Beats flippin' butgers. Did you notice it included benefits?
TUPELO - Employees at Tupelo's NEW Customer Service support center will have more than a job - they will have an on-site fitness center, comprehensive health insurance, tuition reimbursement - and free DirecTV.

Yes, it does beat flipping burgers, and although I would never WANT to have to do this sort of work, I would if I had to. Afterall, nine bucks an hour is much better than zero any day of the week, right?

quote:

Originally posted by SwindleMaster2007:
Why oh why can we not get any jobs here?

WE HAVE ADDED OVER 4000 JOBS IN THE PAST 5 YEARS!

If you want more than that you have to move to . . . Well, there isn't a place you can move to that has more than that. Not in Alabama, anyway, and probably not very many in the United States!

Jesus!

And HOW MANY PEOPLE have turned JOB AGE in the last five years????

That would be what makes the difference.

quote:

Originally posted by Heub:
That dosent make $9.50 right! Walgreens would also be a good job for a student. These are not jobs that you would raise a family on.

If you can't raise a family on 9.50 and hour then you should not have a family.

9.50 and hour equates to nearly 20,000 a year. If you add a "low end" benefit package, that actually equates to anywhere from 22 to 25k a year or more.

That is a good wage for a low end job!

quote:

Originally posted by GoFish:

quote:

Originally posted by Heub:
That dosent make $9.50 right! Walgreens would also be a good job for a student. These are not jobs that you would raise a family on.

If you can't raise a family on 9.50 and hour then you should not have a family.

9.50 and hour equates to nearly 20,000 a year. If you add a "low end" benefit package, that actually equates to anywhere from 22 to 25k a year or more.

That is a good wage for a low end job!

GoFish, one reaps what one sows.

With that said, I will have to say that your intolerance for people who ALREADY have families that have for some reason or another lost good jobs and now having to take these jobs to FEED them and with everything going sky-high in price that makes it hard.

I have TWO questions, that I KNOW you won't answer but I am going to ask anyway.

HOW MUCH DO YOU PAY YOUR EMPLOYEES??? AND DO OFFER THEM BENEFITS????

Oh wait, I got another question!!!

Would YOU take that low end job to feed YOUR family?

quote:

Originally posted by excelman:
Beats flippin' butgers. Did you notice it included benefits?
TUPELO - Employees at Tupelo's NEW Customer Service support center will have more than a job - they will have an on-site fitness center, comprehensive health insurance, tuition reimbursement - and free DirecTV.

You still have to buy a house, a car, food and utilites on $9.50 an hour! I use the GSA per deim rates as an indicator for what one should make. The GSA perdeim rate for Tupelo is $99 a day (which is the standard rate for the entire US if a city is not specifically listed) In other words, the Government says it takes $693 a week to have lodging and meals, $9.50 X 40 = $380 a week. I dont think its reasonable to ask people to live on this............But if they choose to, it wont get any better!

quote:

Originally posted by GoFish:

quote:

Originally posted by SwindleMaster2007:
Why oh why can we not get any jobs here?

WE HAVE ADDED OVER 4000 JOBS IN THE PAST 5 YEARS!

If you want more than that you have to move to . . . Well, there isn't a place you can move to that has more than that. Not in Alabama, anyway, and probably not very many in the United States!

Jesus!

4000 Low End jobs because they know people here will take them. We need $80-$150K jobs, not $25K jobs. Subtract the house note on an average home that $25K is more than half gone before you buy a car to get the the crappy job or a meal or two to sustain you.

Oh God, do not move to Tupelo. I urge you do not move to Tupelo.

I am sitting in my office in Tupelo right now, a bastion of tranquility in a sea of fat, stupid, lazy, uneducated dropouts.

I'm moving my family back to Florence asap and COMMUTING from Florence so I don't have to face this mess on the weekends.

Sure we have a good mall and a Kohl's but the traffic, the roads, the schools, the sheer laziness that you encounter at every turn.

Anyone that has to stay in this area is moving to Saltillo, where I actually live, because in Tupelo you are either a factory worker or a doctor/lawyer. That means a strain on affordable middle class housing.

I beg you - stay in Florence. The jobs are coming for north Alabama. Once they see how well you guys run the box car plan others will follow.

Watch Toyota's production after the new plant goes online. Within 2-3 years after that takes place the Highlander and any other car made there will slip dramatically in quality just like all of the cars Nissan makes in their Canton, MS plant. 3 of the 4 cars were recently rated as the worst cars to have if you are trying to get the most out of your vehicle.

Mississippi is a cancer and while Alabama isn't paradise it is soooo much better in every way.

quote:

Originally posted by GoFish:

quote:

Originally posted by Heub:
That dosent make $9.50 right! Walgreens would also be a good job for a student. These are not jobs that you would raise a family on.

If you can't raise a family on 9.50 and hour then you should not have a family.

9.50 and hour equates to nearly 20,000 a year. If you add a "low end" benefit package, that actually equates to anywhere from 22 to 25k a year or more.

That is a good wage for a low end job!

Lauderdale County pays many of its FULL-TIME employees(clerks, secretaries, etc) LESS THAN $8/HR. These 'low-end jobs' are the ones that KEEP the local government RUNNING. Even WITH 'included benefits', these are early-1980s wages, at best.

IIRC, when Walgreens was vying to come into Muscle Shoals, they were touting $14/HR jobs, but when the deal was sealed, these jobs dropped to $8/HR....and this was AFTER a $2MILLION 'incentive'.

quote:

Originally posted by Kindred_Spirit:
And HOW MANY PEOPLE have turned JOB AGE in the last five years????

That would be what makes the difference.

I have no idea what that means.

max your an idiot.

quote:

quote:
Originally posted by Kindred_Spirit:
And HOW MANY PEOPLE have turned JOB AGE in the last five years????

That would be what makes the difference.


I have no idea what that means.

"Carpe Deim"

That's why there are four question marks added to the end of the statement.

You see, the bold purple text lets you know that she means business. I've also noticed that in my limited time reading these forums that this poster likes to enhance her point by putting important parts of her commentary in ALL CAPS.

Bold purple text in all caps...I could hear that from Tupelo sister.

And why stop at one question mark? You see the number of question marks denotes the level of confusion.

One question mark: I'm confused please clarify
Two question marks: Seriously, help me out here
Three question marks: I don't speaka the english
Four question marks: My keyboard is broken and/or I've got to purchase my undergarments at KMart in Cincinnati.

And the malapropisms? Just for fun - keeps you on your toes.

quote:

Originally posted by mustangfan2003:
max your an idiot.

Perhaps, but don't you mean "Max, you're an idiot?"

quote:

Originally posted by Heub:
4000 Low End jobs because they know people here will take them.

Tell us, Hueb, what is the average starting wage of the box car plant?

What about the lighting plant?

The tissue plant?

What is an appropriate wage for "call center" people who have no other skills other than the ability to read, write and talk on a phone?

I won'tr even address your demand for 150k a year jobs. It's jsut so incredible stupuid that I doin't even know where to begin.

quote:

Subtract the house note on an average home that $25K is more than half gone before you buy a car to get the the crappy job or a meal or two to sustain you.

Then how about this: Buy a 2000 dollar used car instead of a 30k car. How about this: If you are stupid enough, you can buy a brand new car these days for under 10k. That's EIGHTY BUCKS A MONTH in car payments! I say "stupid enough" because if you are only making 25k a year, you don't need to buy a new car. Buy a used one instead.

25k a year is **** good money. It's enough to buy a low end, USED car. It's enough to rent a small duplex apartment and put some food on the table. It will be difficult to support a family on 25k so DON'T HAVE A FAMILY unless you are wiling to work two jobs.

YOU might not be able to make it but I made it on much less. So can stupid people.

quote:

YOU might not be able to make it but I made it on much less. So can stupid people.

Yes but if stupid people started doing smart things wouldn't they cease to be stupid? Stupid people do stupid things. You don't end up making $25k for a living because "gee golly gosh I just can't catch a break". Sure there are plenty of dumb people making 6 figures and plenty of smart people making much less but the jobs you guys are talking about won't be filled by brainiacs. You have been to Walgreens lately, haven't you?

Most of these folks "carpe diem" their way into a $30k car...and the real villian here...(drum roll) is the car dealerships and the banks that approve these loans - 72 months for a car!

I don't agree that $25,000 is enough to raise a family on, but I don't think that we should hold out for $85,000 jobs either. how about those jobs in the $35,000-$50,000 range? Those seem to be the ones that are disappearing.

quote:

Originally posted by max:

quote:

YOU might not be able to make it but I made it on much less. So can stupid people.

Yes but if stupid people started doing smart things wouldn't they cease to be stupid? Stupid people do stupid things. You don't end up making $25k for a living because "gee golly gosh I just can't catch a break". Sure there are plenty of dumb people making 6 figures and plenty of smart people making much less but the jobs you guys are talking about won't be filled by brainiacs. You have been to Walgreens lately, haven't you?

Most of these folks "carpe diem" their way into a $30k car...and the real villian here...(drum roll) is the car dealerships and the banks that approve these loans - 72 months for a car!

Yeah, the sharks will eat you if you swim in their waters.

I'm sure y'all won't believe this but I was once stupid, too. No, really, I was. Seriously. I have come precariously close to bankruptcy because of my own shortsightedness and outright stupidity.

At the time, I was absolutely certain that "things would always go this well." Was making 6 figures, humongous house, shiny new cars and all that.

Then my stupidity and shortsightedness smacked me upside the head. Now that I've recovered, I live well within my means.

So, people will learn to live within their means one way or another. Just paying them more money won't make them richer.

quote:

Originally posted by MarianLibrarian:
I don't agree that $25,000 is enough to raise a family on,

I don't believe anyone said you could. What *I* stated was that you could if you took on a second job.

So, kiddies, don't have a family if you only make 25k a year,. It will suck . . . But it's pretty good money for single person just starting out.

Ok, I have never posted on these forums, and I might never post again after this, but, I do feel that I need to respond to a few comments on here.

Heub - "$9.50 X 40 = $380 a week. I dont think its reasonable to ask people to live on this............But if they choose to, it wont get any better!"
I graduated from UNA with a BBA in Marketing about 3 years ago. The highest paying job I could find was $8.50 an hour, because I am young (25) and there aren't many jobs around here in Business that will hire you if you have no experience (even though I worked as a receptionist thru 5 years of college, that't not the experience people look for), so students just out of college, starting out, usually can only find jobs (especially if you are a girl) as a receptionist, office coordinator(which is what I was), etc making only $8.50 an hour. So its not like people always "choose" to live on this amount of money, sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

Max - "Stupid people do stupid things. You don't end up making $25k for a living because "gee golly gosh I just can't catch a break". "
In my case, I guess "gee golly gosh" I couldn't catch a break. I applied for every job I ever saw that was more than what I was currently making and close to what my degreee was in and now, 3 years later, I luckily (as of last month) just got a job making $30,000 a year. Granted I am married and thats not my household income, I dont appreciate the comment, stupid people do stupid things. Sometimes, like I said earlier, you do what you can to build experience and hopefully one day, you do "get a break."

Heub, I do agree with you on the fact that we need more higher paying jobs around this area. Maybe 80K - 150K is a little extreme for Florence, AL, but, it would be nice to have more jobs than just labor, manual, etc.. that required more skill so that when people graduate from UNA, they wont feel like they have to move to Birmingham, Nashville, etc to find jobs. Why have a university in a town where upon graduation, you can't find a job making more than you were making while in school.

quote:

So, people will learn to live within their means one way or another. Just paying them more money won't make them richer.

That is the best statement I've read on here all day... well... no, the second best. The best had to be Sassy Kims "Fair is where you go to eat cotton candy..." but anyway. I have a great friend who the more she makes, the more she spends. She was raised in Florence, worked minimum wage jobs, lived in income-based housing, etc. Now she is making good money ($50,000+ yr) and still has days when she doesn't have gas money, or lunch money, or her checking account is overdrawn. Some people will never learn to live within their means.

quote:

I graduated from UNA with a BBA in Marketing about 3 years ago.

There's your problem...

There aren't any marketing jobs in Florence - at least none that pay well. If you left UNA with a degree in nursing you could have changed out of your cap and grown and into scrubs.

I too spent a year or so looking for a steady job in Florence before finally coming back to Tupelo - that was in 2001.

Needless to say I'm not using may UNA degree for anything, but that is my decision and not the degree's fault.

quote:

Originally posted by T S C:
Now she is making good money ($50,000+ yr) and still has days when she doesn't have gas money, or lunch money, or her checking account is overdrawn. Some people will never learn to live within their means.

I would bet a large sum of money that she (like many people here) blames her inability to make a "decent living" on everyone but herself, right?

BamaGirl, I can feel you. I don't think I could have found a job paying more than $25,000 a year if I had stayed in Florence with my B.A. I took a year off after undergrad and looked for a job and the best I could find was a receptionist position at a doctor's office for $7/hr. (I think the only reason I got that was because I spoke Spanish). I had to leave town and go to grad school (and get in a ton of debt) to find a decent paying job. No wonder everyone I went to college with felt like they HAD to get married as soon as they graduated; it is hard to live on that kind of money.

Marian - Thanks for your empathy.

Max - Next time I go to college to get a degree, I'll remember to get a better one. I work in a hospital, so I know exactly the demand for nurses, but UNA only accepts around 30 students a year into the nursing program. With limited funds, I didnt want to take that risk, plus I dont want to be a nurse. I dont want to just get a degree in something because I can find a job easier with it.

quote:

Originally posted by GoFish:

quote:

Originally posted by T S C:
Now she is making good money ($50,000+ yr) and still has days when she doesn't have gas money, or lunch money, or her checking account is overdrawn. Some people will never learn to live within their means.

I would bet a large sum of money that she (like many people here) blames her inability to make a "decent living" on everyone but herself, right?

She belongs to the "everything is so expensive these days" school of thought. Yeah. New house, new car, lunch out 5 days a week, new clothes every time I see her...

quote:

Originally posted by BamaGirl82:
I dont want to just get a degree in something because I can find a job easier with it.

Agreed. But you DO have a degree. That is very good insurance against never having to work for Walmart the rest of your life. You WILL find your place in life because you are in intelligent person and have the paperwork to prove it.

For what it's worth, I moved here from a big city to make more money. I know that an exception rather than a rule but it does show that the grass is not always greener.

Good luck in your endeavors. With the right attitude and a college degree, you really can do anything. Even here in the Shoals.

Thank you GoFish. Thats what I was trying to point out to max (somewhat). I feel I am an intelligent person obviously because I did graduate from college (only took me 5 years but I did it! ) The point I was making is that sometimes you take jobs making $25K a year (or in my case 18K) not because your lazy and dont try and do better for yourself, but sometimes it because the situation presents itself that way and you do what you have to do to pay bills and maybe get your foot in the door for a better job. Not because "gee golly gosh" you cant catch a break, maybe its the only break you can get for your situation until something better comes along.

quote:

Originally posted by GoFish:

quote:

Originally posted by Heub:
4000 Low End jobs because they know people here will take them.

Tell us, Hueb, what is the average starting wage of the box car plant?

What about the lighting plant?

The tissue plant?

What is an appropriate wage for "call center" people who have no other skills other than the ability to read, write and talk on a phone?

I won'tr even address your demand for 150k a year jobs. It's jsut so incredible stupuid that I doin't even know where to begin.

quote:

Subtract the house note on an average home that $25K is more than half gone before you buy a car to get the the crappy job or a meal or two to sustain you.

Then how about this: Buy a 2000 dollar used car instead of a 30k car. How about this: If you are stupid enough, you can buy a brand new car these days for under 10k. That's EIGHTY BUCKS A MONTH in car payments! I say "stupid enough" because if you are only making 25k a year, you don't need to buy a new car. Buy a used one instead.

25k a year is **** good money. It's enough to buy a low end, USED car. It's enough to rent a small duplex apartment and put some food on the table. It will be difficult to support a family on 25k so DON'T HAVE A FAMILY unless you are wiling to work two jobs.

YOU might not be able to make it but I made it on much less. So can stupid people.

I think that the box car plant is supposed to be about 20 an hour 40K. I dont know about the other two, I assume that the lighting plant is all assembly work and the tissue plant.....I have some experience with papermills in LA and the starting wage is 18 to 20 an hour for a journeyman level person. If you can live on this, more power to you, I cant so I wont take the job, more for you. 150K is not an unreasonable salary for someone with a trade/profession.

quote:

Originally posted by BamaGirl82:
Not because "gee golly gosh" you cant catch a break, maybe its the only break you can get for your situation until something better comes along.

Dang right. You have a wonderful attitude.

I've got some UNA grads who work for me for about that same wage. It's not sad. It's a starter job. I know darn well that if I don't pay them better soon, I will lose them. Your boss knows that, too. Keep your eyes open for those greener pastures. I didn't find mine until age 28 or so.

quote:

Originally posted by Heub:
I think that the box car plant is supposed to be about 20 an hour 40K. I dont know about the other two, I assume that the lighting plant is all assembly work and the tissue plant.....I have some experience with papermills in LA and the starting wage is 18 to 20 an hour for a journeyman level person. If you can live on this, more power to you, I cant so I wont take the job, more for you. 150K is not an unreasonable salary for someone with a trade/profession.

I just don't know how to respond to someone who thinks 20 bucks an hour is poor-man wages.

You are out of your freaking mind.