I actually factor commute time and gas against my paycheck when job hunting to get a more realistic image of my take home.
Say I’m getting paid 10/hr for full time, 5 days a week at a job that’s 10 miles from home, and my car gets 20mpg in city.
40hrs*$10=400
(20mpg/10miles2way trip) 5days = 5 gallons of gas a week.
Gas here is is about $3.80*5days= is $19 that comes out of the 400 we make each week so we actually get $381
But factoring commute, that’s 40hrs + 10min a day travel time = 41hrs, 40min.
381/41.667=$9.14/hr
That’s not even considering commute traffic, vehicle maintenance, fluctuating gas prices, out just basic ass income tax. At the end of the day, this job is only paying about $7.15/hr which is less than I’d make walking to a minimum wage job within 5min.
Coincidentally, this is why it’s so hard for rural communities to get out of poverty, at point I was doing 1hr, 43min in commute to a job that paid 10.30/hr 5 days a week. I was barely scraping by and to take any other job was going to net me negative money.
Correct, but it’s also the time you lose when commuting, which also forces you to sit still. If you work 8 hours/day and have a 1 hour commute, then you’re effectively locked up for 10 hours per day.
So currently I’m choosing between two jobs, one is a 15 min walk, the other with a 1 hour drive. It’s going to be the 15 min walk, easy, and the 1 hour drive would need a significantly higher paycheck for me to consider it seriously.
My commute sucks ass. With traffic it’s about 3 1/2 hours a day in the car.
But I do get a $300/month gas stipend and the job does pay about $16/hr more than I made doing a similar job with about 2 hours a day in traffic. So the money part works out. I also live alone, so there’s less reason to want to spend more time at the house than if I had a family.
I actually factor commute time and gas against my paycheck when job hunting to get a more realistic image of my take home.
Say I’m getting paid 10/hr for full time, 5 days a week at a job that’s 10 miles from home, and my car gets 20mpg in city.
40hrs*$10=400
(20mpg/10miles2way trip) 5days = 5 gallons of gas a week.
Gas here is is about $3.80*5days= is $19 that comes out of the 400 we make each week so we actually get $381
But factoring commute, that’s 40hrs + 10min a day travel time = 41hrs, 40min.
381/41.667=$9.14/hr
That’s not even considering commute traffic, vehicle maintenance, fluctuating gas prices, out just basic ass income tax. At the end of the day, this job is only paying about $7.15/hr which is less than I’d make walking to a minimum wage job within 5min.
Coincidentally, this is why it’s so hard for rural communities to get out of poverty, at point I was doing 1hr, 43min in commute to a job that paid 10.30/hr 5 days a week. I was barely scraping by and to take any other job was going to net me negative money.
I do it easier:
Add a shitload more if America because #mercenaryHealthcare
Correct, but it’s also the time you lose when commuting, which also forces you to sit still. If you work 8 hours/day and have a 1 hour commute, then you’re effectively locked up for 10 hours per day.
So currently I’m choosing between two jobs, one is a 15 min walk, the other with a 1 hour drive. It’s going to be the 15 min walk, easy, and the 1 hour drive would need a significantly higher paycheck for me to consider it seriously.
My commute sucks ass. With traffic it’s about 3 1/2 hours a day in the car.
But I do get a $300/month gas stipend and the job does pay about $16/hr more than I made doing a similar job with about 2 hours a day in traffic. So the money part works out. I also live alone, so there’s less reason to want to spend more time at the house than if I had a family.