[lee martell]

I never see him on commercials. Maybe John has a cable show.
His financial nest should be pretty well feathered after that show and residuals.

[Vince Ferrer]

He is not only an actor but a serial entrepreneur. When the show Cheers was ending I saw an interview with each of the cast members, asking them about what they were going to do. Everyone else talked about what acting roles they were doing next. John talked about a company he was starting that focused on biodegradable packaging material for shipping. (Those peanut looking Styrofoam type things) If you watch the video at the link, he refers to it, and that he eventually sold it and it is used worldwide.

He also has done a show about travelling around and touring American Factories.

John Ratzenberger's Made in America, Bodine

[max americana]

Oh yeah, he could not work for the next 10 years and the money keeps coming in. No worries about that here in Hollywood. If your rep is an idiot, you wont see a dime.

[ExNewsExSpook]

He has also appeared in every film made by Pixar; they consider Ratzenberger their “good luck charm,” and that’s a gig that pays well.

I admire his work—and that of Mike Rowe—on behalf of the skilled trades and manufacturing. To be fair, many of the low-skill manufacturing jobs will never come back. But on any given day, there are between 400-600,000 advanced manufacturing positions that go unfilled, simply because most workers lack the necessary training. You can train someone for one of those jobs in 3-9 months, but many are unaware of these opportunities.

An even bigger problem: the myth that you can only succeed with a college degree. Those unfilled advanced manufacturing jobs start off at $40-45K a year, plus overtime and full benefits. Many skilled trade positions pay even more, especially after a few years on the job.

Unfortunately, most young people—and their parents—would rather go deeply in debt for a worthless degree that gets them a job at Starbucks.