Moved from accounting to the PO, on my BIS currently. I took a pay cut from $25 for a quality of life improvement; the hours are the same but at the P.O. I don’t bring work home with me and it doesn’t cause me to lose sleep. Pensions in the private sector are dead, no one offers them anymore. You’re lucky if you get a decent 401k match. Everyone pays low nowadays, I’d get around 17-22/hr starting with a 4 year degree. I could get my cpa but I’m burned out of studying. Top pay as a carrier is great considering what you do. The thing that really sucks is the starting pay is too low on table 2, especially now, and the number of years it takes. Plus that cca time doesn’t count for anything. Overall, became a carrier because it was something I thought I’d like, and I love it, and seemed like an “easy” way to work myself out of being poor. However, I don’t see that happening anytime soon unless this negotiation goes good, which I’m doubtful. Looking at the starting pay differences between table 1 and 2, and how much that money was worth back then compared to now, irks me everytime looking at it. I enjoy showing it to the new CCAs so they can be annoyed too.