I am new to the brown cafe and was wanting to start a thread on just this subject! (By the way, for future reference, how do you start a thread?) Here's my situation. I have 21 years in pkg car. I have a rural route at a satelite center in my home town and get to go home for lunch on my route. I really like my route and have been on this one for 12 years now. The bs part is my boss installed a preload here (for 8 routes) and instead of starting at 7:45 and loading our own trucks we start at 9:45.Many times we don't hit the road til' after 10:00 because what the hub doesn't get on our trailer, a pkg car driver has to bring out on a shuttle car. We end up working til' 8:00-9:00 many nights a week. On top of that we've had the PAS system for 2 years now and the routes are so screwed up it isn't funny! I had surgery for a ruptured disc in 1999. I had surgery for the same ruptured disc in 2003. UPS fought me on that one but I eventually won. Last April I had surgery on a knee for torn cartlidge from work. As many of you know, this job takes it's toll on the body and mine has had enough! I'm seriously looking at feeders. We will be having a school in Feb. this year and the feeder manager says they have 70 feeder drivers eligible to retire and expect 30-40 to go this year. Right now I would fall smack dab in the middle of 244 feeder drivers seniority-wise and would only move up as drivers retire. It would be hard to give up my situation right now as I love going home for lunch and I really like my route and the people on it. I am looking for some feedback on how the tractors ride. My back still bothers me sometimes and probably always will. I am wondering if a feeder run of 3,4,or 5 hours (and back again) might be worse on my back than what I do now. At least now I drive a couple of miles than get to get up and stretch my legs. I know there are feeder runs that make pickups and switch trailers so I guess one of those would help.I am sorry this is so long winded but since I am at a satelite center I don't get a chance to talk to other feeder drivers much for their input! I appreciate any insight the members can give me. As far as family is concerned, I have 2 kids. One in college and one beyond college and my wife is a school teacher and has plenty to keep her busy if our schedules would end up different. Another concern is if I really hate it or it bothers my back too much I am stuck there for 3 years. Thanks for any input!