I'm Officially On Furlough

I accepted an offer from FedEx to take a 3 month furlough. During this time, I'll collect unemployment but still be covered under my health, vision, dental and life insurance policies. Upon my return to work, FedEx will pay me 300 dollars for each week I was off, minus my insurance premiums.

I've never not worked for 3 months. I'm trying to f figure out what to do to occupy my time. Any suggestions?

Hello Banks, I am just finishing a 5 months hiatus between careers as I start CDL training on Monday. Honestly, I’ve taken the last five months to work on self improvement. Find out which part of my body are ailing and see what exercises I can do to make them stronger especially for having to sit 10 to 12 hours a day driving a truck moving forward. Also reading some books to make me a bit mentally stronger to. Just read a great book called “Stop over thinking” by Nick Trenton.

On a sidenote, starting our garden indoors, and working with our seedlings in plans for our garden has been fun, you may have a prime opportunity if you have space for a garden spot where you live to make some prime plantings for this summer. Anyways, I hope you find something fulfilling during your time off and that you are back on the road ASAP. 👍🏿

Banks,

I used to work for FedEx as well. I have never heard of them doing this. Is this something new they are doing for their drivers? I was a manager in the retail end of the company for FedEx Office so don't know too much about how they treat their drivers except for my regular local ones.

I don't know the rules of being on a furlough like this, but can you do something like DoorDash, UberEATS, etc?

I accepted an offer from FedEx to take a 3 month furlough. During this time, I'll collect unemployment but still be covered under my health, vision, dental and life insurance policies. Upon my return to work, FedEx will pay me 300 dollars for each week I was off, minus my insurance premiums.

I've never not worked for 3 months. I'm trying to f figure out what to do to occupy my time. Any suggestions?

You want to work or improve your mind and body? :)

you may have a prime opportunity if you have space for a garden spot where you live to make some prime plantings for this summer. Anyways, I hope you find something fulfilling during your time off and that you are back on the road ASAP. 👍🏿

I appreciate the kind words, Zen Joker. We have an old saying here and that saying is "nothing grows in the Poconos". The dirt is so hard it's almost unbreakable. Guess that has something to do with the mountains part lol.

I'm not really in a rush to get back to the road. As much as I love it, I want to focus on some other things. I just don't know what those other things are. My first furlough day is tomorrow, so I have some time.

I have never heard of them doing this. Is this something new they are doing for their drivers?

I work for FedEx freight. They've been doing this since December and this is the third round. I didn't have enough seniority for the first round. I got it in the second round, but was involved in a car accident that resulted in my car being a total loss. Because banks are weird right now (no pun intended), I figured it wouldn't be a good time to be on unemployment so I backed out.

I don't know the rules of being on a furlough like this, but can you do something like DoorDash, UberEATS, etc?

That's considered income and I wouldn't qualify for unemployment. The amount of time I'd have to invest in those gigs to make what I'm getting on unemployed makes it not worth it, especially when you consider fuel and vehicle depreciation. I'm not really concerned about money, I'm just looking to occupy my time and find some growth.

You want to work or improve your mind and body? :)

I'm leaning towards the latter 😂... How's your furlough going?

No garden, no worries brother!! 🤠

https://www.gardentowerproject.com/products/garden-tower-2-composting-container-garden

How about some volunteer work, like at a food bank?

Could you volunteer to drive a medical van or drive for a non profit organization?

I know what I would do if I could take that much time off. I would get two knee replacements. But your knees are probably still good, or so I hope.

I was just going to ask how you guys are doing, guess it answers that question.

We seem to have gotten slower as well.

Have you tried fishing? That is what I would be doing

Here's what I've done when I unexpectedly got some paid time off:

Ancestry. For a few hundred bucks you can access millions of records and learn anything you ever wanted to know about your family history going back hundreds of years. Not only do you get historical records (birth certificates, census results, marriage certificates and death certificates) they now have military records and newspaper articles. But wait you say, how am I going to look through millions of records and know which Bob Smith was my ancestor? No problem - Ancestry has an AI program that has already searched all the records and it will give you a short list of the records it thinks belongs to your ancestors.

Learn to fly. Getting your private pilot license is rewarding and gives you the benefit of not having to check in at airports when you want to fly somewhere. Using a Part 61 flight school you agree upon training times with an instructor and learn at your own pace. Most folks earn their license with between 55 and 65 hours of instruction.

Learn a language. Better if you plan on traveling to a country that speaks the language or if you know native speakers of the language you are learning to speak. There are at least a dozen apps that will teach you to speak French, Italian, Chinese or whatever you want to learn. Learn French and plan a winter vacation in Martinique.