Brake pad wear is extremely driver dependent. I get long life out of mine, but a buddy drove hard on the brakes all the time, even when coasting or cruising he would apply them fairly hard to adjust speed, take corners, react to traffic, etc.
The difference I would estimate is mine lasted 4 or 5x longer on a mile-by-mile basis, same vehicle make and model, just based on talking to him and knowing when he had to do maintenance. Manual vs Automatic transmission also makes a difference, and with the proper driving technique they can last much longer on a MT equipped vehicle, and weight of vehicle and cargo also plays a role (a truck that never carries cargo vs. one that usually does, or tows, makes a big difference).
Bonus is if you are easy on brakes you probably also are getting good gas mileage, so the savings are compounded. It's worth teaching new drivers the proper technique, especially if you're the one who buys the parts and does the repairs (or pays for them) on the vehicles they are driving.
It maybe should be said that it's entirely possible to be easy on the brakes and not be a nuisance driver by impeding others, and entirely possible to be a nuisance driver if you don't use the proper technique, so it's not just a matter of coasting to a stop everywhere and calling it good. Drivers who are hard on brakes, especially combined with an Auto Trans vehicle, can be just as bad of a nuisance if they are constantly lighting up those brake lights for no good reason.
I go by the wear indicators or measure, and replace Disk Brake pads at 10% remaining wear. Rotors as required, that can also be measurement based (usually the minimum thickness is cast or stamped into the rotor) or by feel if there is some issue with mounting and they go out of round which is easily felt in the pedal.
For many years I drove various versions of GMC/Chevy 73~80 half tons, which are notoriously hard on front rotors (they were just a bit under-speced by GM and had a tendency to warp if shock cooled, such as going through water after heating them up), but only had to replace them a few times, and most of those due to minimum-thickness being met rather than warping, but twice for that reason (over I-don't-know how many of those trucks, I drove them essentially for 20 years straight and always bought used ones, the most expensive one cost me $2200 and a couple were $800 jobs).
The ¾ and 1-ton versions were perfectly fine that way. The '96 RAM has OK fronts but it's an easy swap to the bigger 1-ton brakes as the hubs are the same. GM uses the same callipers for their heavy duty light trucks so they are cheap.
Of course it's a huge mistake to put off replacement when required as the costs go up considerably if rotors need replacement, so there is no good reason to put it off and no free lunch if you do.