Why are professional pilots so cheap (for no reason)

wheelsup

wheelsup

Well-Known Member
So I thought I was cheap...I've recently flown with some REALLY cheap CA's, and it got me thinking.

  • One guy I flew with drives a 19 year old Honda as a primary vechicle and lives in an RV.
  • Another CA drives a 22 year 17 year old Chevy (again as primary vechicle).
  • We pretty much all take the newspapers from hotels or seatbacks, I'e never seen anyone buy one before.
  • ~50% of us take our primary food to work, and eat it on overnights, rarely eating out. If we do, it's a $4 sub from Subway, and we complain we didn't get the 10% "employee discount" that would've saved us...$0.40.
  • We pretty much all take food from the hotel breakfasts to eat later.
  • I personally drive 55 mph on the highway because my gas mileage is 25%-30% better than 65 mph.
Why are we, collectively as a group, such tightwads? I tell ya, if a company needed to make cost cuts they should hire a pilot to head the committee.
 
To be fair, I don't think this is limited to pilots - and it's not neccessarily being "cheap" - it's being frugile. A lot of the financially well to do folks I know are incredibly conscious of where their money goes - that's probably how they got there in the first place. Between my wife and I, we make well over $100k a year, but drive cars with a combined age of 20 years. Why? It frees up money we could spend on more important things, like vacations, dinners out, etc.

Cheap is not pitching in when friends order pizza - frugile is whipping out your coupon.
 
I'm not cheap, I drive a bimmer and live a lavish lifestyle in my state of the art trailor decorated in Art decco style with paintings of famous cartoon characters. :p
 
LOL - I noticed that on this last few trips. Some folks will haul 50 pounds of crap just to avoid buying any food on the road. One Captain didn't want cheese on the sandwich he did buy " . . . because it's $.40 . . . screw that!!".

I get per diem, so I eat.

Now, I DO bring my own alcohol with me!!:D
 
Alot of pilots have multiple ex-wives or kido's running around... so that six figure paycheck easily gets whittled away...
 
Why not drive an older car? If there's nothing wrong with it, and it's a paid off vehicle, why take on the expense of a new car? If it's an unsafe rustbucket that's leaking oil and every other fluid possible and held together with duct tape, now, okay, please get something newer and/or more mechanically sound! Bill bought his current car new in 1997 when his 1988 Olds Delta 88 got stolen from the employee lot at ORD. He is still driving that car, it's been paid off for many years now, and is a sound, reliable vehicle.
 
mtsu_av8er said:
LOL - I noticed that on this last few trips. Some folks will haul 50 pounds of crap just to avoid buying any food on the road. One Captain didn't want cheese on the sandwich he did buy " . . . because it's $.40 . . . screw that!!".

I get per diem, so I eat.

Now, I DO bring my own alcohol with me!!:D
Click to expand...

Lloyd makes me laugh. :D
 
MQAAord said:
Why not drive an older car? If there's nothing wrong with it, and it's a paid off vehicle, why take on the expense of a new car? If it's an unsafe rustbucket that's leaking oil and every other fluid possible and held together with duct tape, now, okay, please get something newer and/or more mechanically sound! Bill bought his current car new in 1997 when his 1988 Olds Delta 88 got stolen from the employee lot at ORD. He is still driving that car, it's been paid off for many years now, and is a sound, reliable vehicle.
Click to expand...

:yeahthat:

Plus, eating out is unhealthy and unnecessarily expensive. Much better to bring healthful food from home.

A dollar spent today is a dollar I just have to re-earn tomorrow; a dollar saved is another 5 minutes closer to retirement. :D
 
Minnesota_Flyer said:
:yeahthat:

Plus, eating out is unhealthy and unnecessarily expensive. Much better to bring healthful food from home.

A dollar spent today is a dollar I just have to re-earn tomorrow; a dollar saved is another 5 minutes closer to retirement. :D
Click to expand...

Unhealthy - yeah, but expensive - not really if you're single. You can go get bunch of groceries for 100 bucks and sit on the couch and eat for a week or go out every day and buy some big MacNasty meal for 4.99 what's cheaper? Not that I like that crap, but it is cheap though.
 
skidz said:
Unhealthy - yeah, but expensive - not really if you're single. You can go get bunch of groceries for 100 bucks and sit on the couch and eat for a week or go out every day and buy some big MacNasty meal for 4.99 what's cheaper? Not that I like that crap, but it is cheap though.
Click to expand...

True. I wasn't really thinking about that because I don't eat fast food. So when I used to eat out every day, it was at a deli counter or something similar and lunch ends up running $6-8. I can bring leftovers from home and have lunch and mid-morning/afternoon snacks for <$5. Save $2/day adds up.

Besides, if you add on the cost of your triple-bypass to the McNasty meal, it's not so cheap. :D
 
wheelsup said:
So I thought I was cheap...I've recently flown with some REALLY cheap CA's, and it got me thinking.

  • One guy I flew with drives a 19 year old Honda as a primary vechicle and lives in an RV.
  • Another CA drives a 22 year 17 year old Chevy (again as primary vechicle).
  • We pretty much all take the newspapers from hotels or seatbacks, I'e never seen anyone buy one before.
  • ~50% of us take our primary food to work, and eat it on overnights, rarely eating out. If we do, it's a $4 sub from Subway, and we complain we didn't get the 10% "employee discount" that would've saved us...$0.40.
  • We pretty much all take food from the hotel breakfasts to eat later.
  • I personally drive 55 mph on the highway because my gas mileage is 25%-30% better than 65 mph.
Why are we, collectively as a group, such tightwads? I tell ya, if a company needed to make cost cuts they should hire a pilot to head the committee.
Click to expand...

My car is 18 years old with 192,000 miles. I keep it because it gets over 30MPG, I don't have a car payment, I can do about 90% of the repairs in my garage, and I don't car if it gets dirty or dinged in the employee lot. I'd like to keep it until I hit 250,000 miles, but if it's still running I'll debate going for 300,000.

mtsu_av8er said:
LOL - I noticed that on this last few trips. Some folks will haul 50 pounds of crap just to avoid buying any food on the road. One Captain didn't want cheese on the sandwich he did buy " . . . because it's $.40 . . . screw that!!".

I get per diem, so I eat.

Now, I DO bring my own alcohol with me!!:D
Click to expand...

I bring my own food with me, but mostly because of health reasons. I gotta watch what I eat so I don't start looking soft.
 
continuing the days from when we weren't paid so well, maybe?

or thinking of the f word...fur...fur.....fur bah I can't say it
 
mtsu_av8er said:
LOL - I noticed that on this last few trips. Some folks will haul 50 pounds of crap just to avoid buying any food on the road. One Captain didn't want cheese on the sandwich he did buy " . . . because it's $.40 . . . screw that!!".

I get per diem, so I eat.

Now, I DO bring my own alcohol with me!!:D
Click to expand...


and they don't share.... :mad::sarcasm:
 
I'm a bit frugal, but when I want something, and I can afford it, I buy it...then again, I don't fly for a regional :D
 
I'm not a professional pilot, but I like to save money on things that I NEED to buy so that I have more money to spend on things I WANT to buy.

If I save money on food and transportation, I have more money to spend on skiing and hockey.
 
wheelsup said:
Why are we, collectively as a group, such tightwads?
Click to expand...
Because that really cool job, flying really cool planes, to really cool places, while making a decent livable wage, could all be gone... tomorrow.

Thus is the industry we have chosen.

Bob
 
MQAAord said:
Why not drive an older car? If there's nothing wrong with it, and it's a paid off vehicle...
Click to expand...

Exactly! First off, an expensive vehicle doesn't mean you're rich...it means you can make a car payment. Second, I could drive almost anything I want but choose to drive an economical pickup that allows me to haul things, be comfortable, and still get very good gas mileage. Before I bought my new truck in 05 I drove the previous one 190,000 miles over 12 years virtually problem free. If I have my way I'll drive my current one till the wheels fall off too.

The hard part about money isn't getting it, its keeping it.
 
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