GM Retiree Forced Back To Work At 88 Can Finally Clock Out

Former GM worker lost pension after automaker’s bankruptcy.
Took a grocery job at 82 to survive and pay big medical bills.
Social media campaign raised nearly $2M so he can retire.

The auto industry loves to talk about heritage, as if the workers and customers who supported a brand for decades are like family. But for Ed Bambas, that story took a darker turn when the former General Motors employee found himself working a grocery store checkout at age 88 after losing the retirement he thought was secure.

Bambas retired from GM in 1999 after a long career, expecting to enjoy the later chapters of life in peace. Instead, the 2009 bankruptcy fallout came calling years later. Like tens of thousands of retirees, Bambas lost his pension and much of his healthcare coverage when Old GM restructured its obligations.

Then life piled on more weight. His wife became seriously ill, medical bills mounted, and nearly all of his life insurance vanished. Yep, the new GM’s PR department must be loving this story.

Back to Work

At 82, with his wife gone and savings depleted, Bambas did something he’d never expected to have to do. He went back to work. Not on the GM factory floor, but at a Meijer grocery store outside Detroit, standing on his feet eight hours a day, five days a week, scanning barcodes to make ends meet.

For years, that’s where the story would have ended. Another quiet casualty of corporate restructuring and vanished pensions. Except this time the internet noticed. A young Australian social media influencer, Sam Weidenhofer, met Bambas while visiting the US and filmed him explaining why he was still working just shy of 90.

Cash Flowed In

A GoFundMe campaign exploded. More than 15,000 people donated, some of them dropping in as much as $10k and within days, the total hit $1.7 million, one of the largest individual fundraisers in the platform’s history.

Weidenhofer returned to the store and handed Bambas an oversized check, finally opening the door to a comfortable retirement.

Also: Ford CEO Frustrated He Can’t Fill 5,000 Mechanic Jobs Paying $120,000

The money will easily clear the vet’s roughly $225,000 in debt and finally allow Bambas to see out his old age in comfort. He wants to travel, visit his brother, and get back into golf, Fox8 reports, but says he’ll keep working another month or two, just to wind things down.

That’ll give him ample time to work out what car he should buy with with his new pile of cash. If he’s not too sour with GM, and his ticker is up to it, a 1,250 hp (1,267 PS) Corvette ZR1X has got to be worth a look. What would you buy at 88 with nearly $2 million in the bank?

@itssozer Ed is 88. A Veteran. A man who kept working because of $225K+ in debt he didn’t want to leave to his family. ❤️ And today… we handed him a check for $1.77 million. He cried. We cried. And his life is forever changed. 🥹❤️ Thank you to everyone who made this miracle possible. This is so much bigger than Ed, it’s proof that humanity is still beautiful… #love #kind #veteran ♬ original sound – Samuel Weidenhofer