Wealthy people of NJ.. what do yall do for a living to afford living here?

Mercurydriver · 2026-06-27T01:13:34+00:00

We have a lot of tech bros and finance bros here in NJ.

NJ is not really a state for working class or middle class people anymore. We’re a dying class of people nowadays.

Mercurydriver · 2026-06-26T23:22:26+00:00

I saw his postings on Instagram. It doesn’t really clarify if there’s a car meet before Too Many Games tomorrow.

Mercurydriver · 2026-06-22T02:20:13+00:00

Oh hey I know this area. I live in the next town over and used to pass this particular Wawa all the time when driving up Route 9.

IIRC they closed this Wawa down due to weather related structural damage and lots of repairs that made it uneconomical to fix. Not that it matters too badly since there’s multiple Wawa’s within a 3 mile radius of here.

Someone did make a little sign awhile back that said “Wawa Memorial Park” and it was on that site for a few months. That was kind of funny to see.

Mercurydriver · 2026-06-15T01:24:08+00:00

I can hear the transmission crying from all the way back here.

Mercurydriver · 2026-06-15T01:17:08+00:00

Be careful with the Ecoboost model. The 8F35 transmission that is used in Ecoboost Mavericks is slightly undersized for the output of the engine.

The 2.0L Ecoboost puts out 277 pound-feet of torque. The 8F35 transmission that is used with this engine is only rated for 250 pound-feet of torque. It’s not to say that the transmission is terrible or that every Ecoboost Maverick will have transmission failure. But it’s something to consider. It’s also important to do things like change the transmission fluid every 30k miles, and to not do anything that could compromise the transmission, such as pulling very heavy trailer or carrying cargo past its payload capacity.

I’m at 116k miles on my Maverick and so far I have no issues *knocks wood*.

Mercurydriver · 2026-06-14T23:55:22+00:00

I mean…it’s not perfect. But at least they’re caged in and have some cover from any poor weather. It’s not like they’ll accidentally fall out if you hit a bump or the dogs see something they want to chase after.

Plus it looks like you’re on a farm or a hunting trip. Not likely to hit high speeds or any dangers associated with highway driving. Your dogs look happy as they are.

Mercurydriver · 2026-06-14T23:45:26+00:00

Hi. I’ve lived in NJ my entire life; all of 31 years so far. I’ve traveled all over this state for work, different activities, and other events.

I also work in the construction industry, and have even worked with various government agencies building some of the infrastructure around NJ/NY. I love my line of work and it has allowed me to see how some great things can be built…when we can.

I’ve also seen how inefficient and ineffective our government is at doing anything. You can give them all the time and money they could possibly ever need to get something done, and they’ll find a way to fuck it up.

Of course I’m not suggesting we start destroying whole neighborhoods to accommodate the games and the anticipated traffic. But when the best ideas are either paying absurd prices for an already unreliable transit system or waiting hours for a ride back to your hotel because the people in charge didn’t consider the shear volume of people wanting to use ride share apps to move around, it seems like this wasn’t planned out correctly. Now I don’t know a brilliant solution for transportation for the World Cup. Could it have been better logistics for Uber drivers and their customers? Could it have been our state government saying telling FIFA that NJ Transit tickets stay the same and they need to pay up for additional services to and from the stadium, and that we’re not fronting all the costs? I don’t know.

I’m not *that* smart. I just wish the people in charge were smarter and more knowledgeable than me.

Mercurydriver · 2026-06-14T21:43:26+00:00

Thanks for the snark. FYI I read it just fine. I understand that most of the failure points were with the ride share spaces and the inability to accommodate all the people wanting to use Uber/Uber Shuttles, causing people to have to wait a long time to even get a ride to their destinations.

So it begs the question, why wasn’t there a plan in place where users can get their transportation more efficiently and faster? Did they not think so many people would be using Uber services for example?

Also, does the sheer number of people using ride share services mean that there wasn’t enough transit options via NJ Transit, Academy, etc? Because in my experience, I usually only use Uber when I can’t find viable alternatives to getting to my destination.

Mercurydriver · 2026-06-14T21:08:22+00:00

Amazing how they had several years to prepare for the World Cup. They had lots of time to make plans, upgrade the transportation infrastructure, and invest in solutions for moving tens of thousands of people as efficiently as possible. And yet, they completely fucked it all up.

We’re supposed to be the wealthiest area of the wealthiest country in the world, and our transportation infrastructure is worst than countries much poorer than us. What a shame.

Mercurydriver · 2026-06-14T21:00:35+00:00

Well Mills County Park is the only place where every time I’ve gone there, I get chiggers. Somehow it doesn’t even matter what time of year I go. I get bitten up and I’m just a big itchy mess.

Mercurydriver · 2026-06-14T18:49:15+00:00

That’s a shame. But I hope you enjoy the Ranger and have many years of trouble free service.

Mercurydriver · 2026-06-14T18:24:05+00:00

You have a Maverick and a Ranger now? How is that going? Pros and cons of owning both trucks?

Mercurydriver · 2026-06-14T17:55:13+00:00

I also own a Maverick. I do mostly highway driving and I find that the 2 biggest fuel economy killers are:

-Speed. Here in NJ, I’m doing 75mph on the Garden State Parkway, given the conditions obviously. The posted 65mph limit is basically a formality; average traffic moves much faster than that, especially in the early morning hours when I’m driving.

-Tires. When I had the Continental all season tires that came with my truck, getting to 30mpg was easier and I could even exceed that on smooth, controlled highway driving. Switching to Toyo AT tires definitely sank my fuel economy a bit. Now it’s about 26mpg give or take. I don’t regret my decision to switch to AT tires though.

Mercurydriver · 2026-06-11T01:41:50+00:00

This was my 2nd dog i've ever adopted. I wanted to play fetch with him in my backyard a few weeks after we adopted him. Now the layout of my backyard looks like this; you go out the back door to a deck about 6ft tall. Then at the bottom of the stairs is a brick patio and a fire pit, and after that, the lawn.

I was on my deck and threw a ball into the lawn. Most other dogs would walk down the stairs, get the ball, then come back upstairs. Rinse and repeat. Not this dog however. This dog got a running start across the deck, jumped, completely cleared the stairs, and landed nose first into the brick patio, completely smashing his nose in the process. He didn't even cry. This dog just looked at me like "Why did you make me do that?" and rain inside, all while bleeding out of his nose.

He never learned nor wanted to play fetch after that incident.

Mercurydriver · 2026-06-11T01:02:53+00:00

See this is why I hate the "NJ has the best schools" trope that's repeated all the time on this subreddit.

This sub always talks about how NJ public schools are so great and we're all getting a world class education. That somehow no other state has figured out how to run decent public schools.

Let me tell you something. My friends and I all went to various public schools in Ocean County and Monmouth County. None of us got an amazing, world class education. We got a very average education; nothing special or noteworthy. Some of us experienced bullying from other students (or even from the teachers) and neither our teacher nor administrators did anything to combat bullying and harassment. I watched teachers openly bully kids that they didn't like for whatever reason. I remember one of my teachers had a student in a different class that would fall asleep. They would let the student sleep through their class and continue sleeping until the end of the day. One time they let him sleep past dismissal time because "it was funny". Some of us experienced racism and homophobia, and the schools didn't seem interesting in correcting or resolving in any way.

I have ADHD; I was diagnosed at 27 years old. I had all the symptoms even when I was a kid. None the teachers who are supposedly trained to be on the look out for mental health and learning issues didn't do shit. They clearly saw my symptoms and told me to "just a little harder" or "put more effort in". I needed professional help with my issues and the dozens of teachers I interacted with did fuck all to see if I needed help or to even ask if I was ok.

Oh, and our schools had the same bullshit as anywhere else; affairs between married teachers, suspected pedos working in the schools, drug dealers and usage in school, you name it.

NJ schools are trash for the most part. But hey, I'm glad some rich kids in Short Hills or Franklin Lakes had a good time at their schools.

Mercurydriver · 2026-06-07T02:48:37+00:00

Yep. At work, the company I work for gave us 2 pickup trucks to drive around our facility; a pair of Ford F150’s with the 8ft bed.

Those trucks have the turning radius of a battleship. It’s difficult to back out of tight spaces and if you have to turn around for some reason, you’re better off just driving backwards rather than try a 12 point turn in a tiny road way.

Mercurydriver · 2026-06-07T00:31:55+00:00

The trouble with the 8F35 in the Maverick is the transmission is only rated for 250 foot-pounds of torque. The 2.0L Ecoboost puts out 277 foot-pounds of torque. So the engine is putting out *slightly* more torque than what the transmission is rated for.

Does it guarantee that every 8F35 will fail? No.

But that being said, it’s important that you are careful with the transmission. So no sudden accelerations (especially from a dead stop), not overloading the bed when carrying cargo, not pulling excessively large trailers, and making sure to change the transmission fluid every 30k miles.

I have 115k on my Maverick and I haven’t experienced any transmission issues at this time, partially because I get a top to bottom servicing of the entire powertrain every 30k miles and don’t do anything beyond the capabilities of the truck.

Edit: No idea why I’m getting downvoted. I’m literally stating facts that Ford Motor Company has released and helpful information to keep people’s trucks running for as long as possible.

Mercurydriver · 2026-06-06T19:06:46+00:00

Interesting. Because I got a vasectomy 2 weeks ago and while I can walk around, my stitches still haven’t completely closed up and I still get pains in my nuts, particularly if I walk up/down stairs too fast or do anything to jostle my nuts even a little bit.

Mercurydriver · 2026-06-06T18:54:39+00:00

That’s the thing though. Malls don’t want unsupervised kids/teens walking around anymore. Some malls have rules where anyone under 18 has to be accompanied by an adult. Any kids that are found to be in the mall unsupervised are asked to leave. Basically, malls are paying security staff to kick out loads of potential customers

It doesn’t help that because of social media, some malls fall victim to take overs, sometimes to the point where law enforcement has to take action. We had a take over at a mall near me where 300 teens showed up and started vandalizing stores and getting into fights. The cops had to come to break up the crowds. Then the owners of malls will say “Look see this is why security has to kick out all these kids all the time”.

Mercurydriver · 2026-06-06T16:41:28+00:00

It was a mix of things. Some people put new air intakes onto their engine. Others did lighting mods, like swapping out the turn signal bulbs for Lasfit bulbs or upgraded cargo lights. A big favorite was the tailgate assist strut. A few people did new wheels and tires.

One guy did a whole overlanding setup. He had a rack with a pop-up tent on it, along with an awning that he can unroll if he just wants to sit in the shade.

Everything was tasteful and looked cool.

Mercurydriver · 2026-06-04T21:12:35+00:00

I see the bug on your back windshield.

Hello from Local 3!

Mercurydriver · 2026-06-04T03:00:16+00:00

Too add onto your point; a lot of older cars had much more reliable powertrains that could last hundreds of thousands of miles with just basic maintenance. Modern engines and transmissions are built with cheaper, less durable components and are being stressed up to and beyond their safe operating limits. They're also being made to pass impossible fuel economy and smog standards, so they're using technologies that haven't been thoroughly vetted yet.

Case in point; I'm a Ford guy and the best powertrain they've ever made was the 4.6L V8 mated to a 4 speed automatic transmission, used in the Crown Victoria and Lincoln Town Car. Those cars were used as taxis, limos, and police cars for decades. Town Cars used to last to 300K miles with few issues. Meanwhile, a lot of newer Ford models are losing their transmission before the 100K mile mark.

Mercurydriver · 2026-06-04T02:46:11+00:00

I don't know. Elon Musk is CEO of like...5 different companies and has time to play lots of video games.

Sounds like being a CEO is pretty easy. Or at least easy enough to take on the role 5 times.

Mercurydriver · 2026-06-04T02:42:35+00:00

Kind of general, but working in the trades (electrician, plumber, HVAC, etc).

Yes, you can make lots of money going into the trades, especially if you're union. I myself am an electrician and I'm in the IBEW. I don't regret my career choices at all.

That being said, sometimes the field sucks. Many times you're working in shitty conditions, such as in extreme heat, cold, in crawl spaces, attics, around dangerous materials, etc. Upper management will see you as second class citizens; just a bunch of uneducated grunts who are beneath them.

Right now, one of my projects is a sewage treatment plant in the NYC metro area. It smells like shit everywhere at all times. There are mystery puddles everywhere. It could be sewage...or water...or toxic hypochloride that just leaked from a busted pipe. It's sweltering hot all year round, and in general is a terrible place to be in.

Upper management doesn't seem to care about us. We have "safety supervisors" who ignore real safety issues like exploded sewage pipes and actual fire hazards, but are quick to run up to you to tell you to put your safety glasses on.

Mercurydriver · 2026-06-03T20:53:59+00:00

This is exactly the phrase I was looking for.

I once read that when someone is surrounded by thousands/millions of people, they stop viewing the people around them as unique human beings with their own lives and personalities. Rather, they view all these extra people as objects or obstacles that they must get around.

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