I wore boots for almost my entire feeder career (29 years). Went thru quite a few pair. Each and every pair has their pros and cons. Only pair I ever bought that I wore right out of the box and never had any pain/break in time was a pair of wolverines. Loved those boots. Only problem, I walk on the side of my foot and I wear the soles out. Wolverines (at least then) cannot be resoled since the soles were molded to the shoe to make it waterproof. Wore some redwings. Expensive boots, seemed heavy on my feet. They can be resoled over and over. The resole job alone costs more than most boots of other brands. Rule of thumb, you get what you pay for. Buy a cheap pair, they will usually fall apart or leak quickly. To me, the shoes were very important, being as you are on your feet a lot. My last 5 years of work, I actually went back to a black pair of work shoes. I bought a pair of SAS (San Antonio Shoes) They are a mostly southern thing and there are several stores near me. I like going to the store because you can buy them off the rack, or they can your measure your feet and custom fit you. They do sell online and they aren't cheap (around $185-200) but they are worth the money to me. The pair I have on right now are probably 8 years old, and I wear them every day. I just hit them with a little black dye and good to go for another year.
gets pretty deep at UPS. 
