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I spent decades in a stressful job that paid $30,000. At 53, I left to become a mailman and nearly tripled my salary.

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This interview is based on a conversation with Jim Lexa, 63, a letter carrier from West Seneca, New York. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I never started out in journalism because of the money. I could have earned higher wages by staying in my job straight out of college, working in the kitchen of a diner chain.

Instead, I was bitten by the writing bug as a high schooler, when I was hired by a local town newspaper in Lily Lake, Illinois, to cover all high school sports, particularly football.

Those were the years I learned basic journalism rules, such as spelling people’s names correctly and getting the scores right.

I got my journalism degree and, after a brief stint working at the diner, landed a sports reporter job at a regional newspaper group in Amarillo, Texas. My salary in 1984 was $230 a week.

The popularity of newspapers dropped

It was exciting to write about teams like the Dallas Cowboys, and there was a lot more to it than game coverage. I enjoyed meeting people and telling their stories.

In 1998, I moved to the copy desk, where my responsibilities included clearing the front page and assigning tasks.

Then the popularity of newspapers began to dwindle. Circulation dropped. The publishers stopped hiring people, and you’d see offices being closed off. Then came the pay cuts.

Management always said they were for the good of the company. Still, when my $37,500 annual base salary was reduced to $30,000, I started to seriously worry.


A man holding a cat

Lexa started to feel burned out in journalism. 

Courtesy of Jim Lexa



I’d go to the grocery store with a calculator to figure out what kind of food I could afford. If one of my pets got sick, I’d be concerned about paying the vet bills.

By early 2015, I was feeling burned out. Constantly meeting deadlines and filling the pages was getting to me. The stress wasn’t worth the amount I was paid.

I took a deep breath and quit, moving to DeKalb, Illinois, where I did handyman, painting, and cleaning work.

I was promoted within 2 years

Still, I felt like I needed a proper, new direction. It felt late in the game to make a career change at 53, but I heard they were hiring at the post office and was hired in November 2015.

My entry-level job as a clerk was the brief stepping stone to becoming a city carrier assistant in January 2016. About two years later, I was promoted to letter carrier after I moved to Buffalo, New York.

You have a few days’ training, and then you’re out on your own, which was scary. At first, I’d spend ages poring over maps, but as time passed, I got to know my routes well.


A man and woman on vacation standing in front of the ocean.

Lexa enjoys eating out with his wife, Charlotte, now his salary is higher. 

Courtesy of Jim Lexa



In my current position, I earn $34.26 per hour, with overtime at time-and-a-half after eight hours and double time after 10 hours. During COVID, I was putting in 60 hours a week.

This past year, I topped $85,000 — nearly three times as much as my base salary in newspapers. My wife and I don’t have to worry about dining out, and we enjoy nice vacations together.

I’m much less stressed

One of the best things to come out of all this is feeling the fittest I’ve ever been. I use a postal vehicle, but I walk 12 to 18 miles a day. If it’s just my route, it’s probably around 30,000 steps daily.

During the winter, when it’s really snowy, and I get a lot of overtime, I can get in as many as 40,000 steps. I’m 5’8″ tall and weigh 160 pounds.

I’m so glad that I made the switch. I’ve got a decent salary with less stress, good benefits, a friendly relationship with my regular customers, and a spring in my step at 63.




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Sales reps at $11 billion AI startup ElevenLabs have to bring in 20 times their base salary, or they’re out — VP says

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At $11 billion AI startup ElevenLabs, the message to sales reps is simple: Hit 20x your base salary, or you’re out.

Speaking on the 20VC podcast on Friday, Carles Reina, VP of sales at the voice-cloning startup, talked through its “ruthless” quotas.

“So if I pay you $100,000 a year, your quota is $2 million. That’s it. If you don’t achieve your quota, then you’re going to be out, right?” Reina said. “And we’re ruthless on that end.”

ElevenLabs — which was recently valued at $11 billion after closing a $500 million funding round — operates in micro-teams of five to ten people each, according to CEO and cofounder Mati Staniszewski, who spoke on a separate 20VC podcast episode in September.

Reina said he prefers to operate in smaller teams that hit their quotas, and pay them more.

Small teams have become a growing trend in tech, with AI startups touting their ability to scale with far fewer employees by working alongside AI agents.

LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman wrote in January that a team of 15 people using AI can rival a team of 150 who aren’t.

Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg said on a Meta earnings call in July that he has “gotten a little bit more convinced around the ability for small, talent-dense teams to be the optimal configuration for driving frontier research.”

Reina said the “ruthless” quota has been successful at ElevenLabs, saying on the 20VC podcast that more than 80% of reps hit their sales quota.

ElevenLabs did not respond to a request for a comment.

He added that the firm compensates both the account executive and customer success manager if they upsell a company within the first 12 months.

“I’m paying double, but I don’t care,” Reina said. “It makes perfect sense because then I have these two people busting their ass to make sure that they actually can make more money, which is fantastic for me as a company.”

The push for higher performance isn’t limited to AI startups.

In April, Google said it was restructuring its compensation structure to increase rewards for top performers. “High performance is more important than ever,” Google’s head of compensation told staff at the time.




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Nike salary data reveals what employees can make at the sportswear giant

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As Nike continues its quest to come back as a dominant retail force, the sportswear giant has continued to invest in tech and design jobs.

Publicly available work visa data, which companies are required to disclose to the US Department of Labor, gives an idea of how much Nike’s employees bring home and some of the roles it has invested in.

Nike had about 755 open positions worldwide listed on its jobs board as of February 13. In January, the company also said it planned to lay off 775 employees at its distribution centers, citing efforts to accelerate the use of “advanced technology and automation.”

Nike had several leadership shake-ups in 2025, including promoting at least four insiders to senior roles reporting directly to CEO Elliott Hill.

Hill, who rejoined the company in October 2024, has told investors that Nike is aligning its employees around five key action areas: culture, product, marketing, marketplace, and connecting with consumers on the ground in their communities.

That strategy plays into Nike’s efforts to focus its marquee brands — Nike, Jordan, and Converse — on key sports such as running and basketball. It’s also pushing a new collaboration, NikeSKIMS, an athleisure brand for women.

“We are in the midst of realignment at Nike,” Nike said in a July statement to Business Insider. The realignment and sport strategy aim to “create sharper distinction and dimension” for its brands, the company said.

Here’s what some key Nike roles can earn, based on work visa data for the year ending September 30.

The salary data includes information from Nike Inc. and some subsidiaries, such as its retail services arm and Air Manufacturing Innovation division. It reflects US-based roles and, given that it’s based on H-1 B visa disclosures, tends to skew more tech-focused.

Data and engineering roles: Software engineers can earn more than $300,000

Software Engineer: $124,592 to $203,581 a year

Software Engineer I: $120,000 to $144,612 a year

Software Engineer II: $152,007 to $178,231 a year

Software Engineer III: $139,845 to $180,353 a year

Senior Director, Software Engineering: $301,378 a year

Data Engineering: $104,500 to $175,000 a year

Data Analytics: $114,600 to $118,398 a year

Director, Supply Chain AI/ML Engineering: $252,535 a year

Design roles: Some designers make around $200,000

Designer II: $94,691 a year

Materials Designer: $100,000 a year

Senior Digital Product Designer: $155,810 a year

Senior 3D Designer: $106,605 a year

Director, NikeSKIMS Apparel Design: $244,466 a year

Manager roles: Managers can take home more than $270,000

Senior Manager, Software Engineering: $273,156 a year

Delivery Excellence, Uniform Operations Manager: $164,439 a year

Senior Product Manager: $153,431 to $169,744 a year

Manager, Data Engineer: $168,031 to $213,190 a year

Senior Program Manager: $147,434 a year

Supply Chain Intelligence Manager: $158,311 a year

Marketing roles: Some marketing jobs can earn as much as $425,000

Lead Professional, Sports Marketing: $128,434 to $143,251 a year

VP, Global Brand Marketing, Women’s: $425,000 a year

Have a tip? Contact Jordan Hart via email at jhart@insider.com or Signal at jordanhart.99. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here’s our guide to sharing information securely.




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Berkshire Hathaway’s new CEO has a higher salary than Warren Buffett

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  • Berkshire Hathaway disclosed that Greg Abel will make $25 million in his new CEO role.
  • Abel’s pay is a significant increase from Warren Buffett’s famous $100,000 salary.
  • Abel is expected to maintain Berkshire Hathaway’s investment philosophy.

Berkshire Hathaway is paying its new CEO, Greg Abel, $25 million each year, a big bump from Warren Buffett’s pay.

The company disclosed Abel’s annual cash salary in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. He took on the role at the Omaha-based company on January 1.

Buffett, who retired last year, famously took an annual salary of $100,000 with no bonus or stock awards for over 40 years. Bloomberg estimates his net worth at $150 billion, the tenth-richest person in the world.

As Berkshire Hathaway’s former CEO and current chairman, Buffett recommended to his board of directors how much he should be paid and set compensation for Abel and other executives.

Abel, who was previously Buffett’s deputy, was paid $21 million last year. CEOs of S&P 500 companies were paid an average of $18.9 million in 2024.

At Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting last year, Buffett, who is 95, announced that he would be stepping down after 55 years as the conglomerate’s CEO. Hours later, the board unanimously voted for Abel to replace him.

“I think the time has arrived where Greg should become the chief executive of the company at year end,” Buffett told the audience at the meeting.

Abel, 62, has been Berkshire Hathaway’s vice chair of non-insurance operations since 2018. He’s also chair of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, which Buffett hailed as one of the conglomerate’s four “jewels” in his annual shareholder letter in 2021, the same year Buffett first tapped Abel as his successor.

Investors expect Abel to maintain the company’s current investment philosophy. He is known for having a more hands-on leadership style than Buffett.




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