Long Commutes Are Sucking the Life Out of You

[TomEV]

Originally Posted by mechman600

On the short commute, the engine and cat do not get a chance to warm up, whereas on the longer commute it does. Just a question to ponder.

Short commutes are bad on an IC vehicle as well. I know someone that only lived one mile from work, but many days he did not walk because of rain or snow. Because the engine never warmed up, water condensate fell into the oil and turned it brownish after about six months. (he did not have a bad gasket or other leak). Because of this, he had to change the oil more often than he would have liked. The exhaust system is also rustier than one would expect on a relatively new vehicle.

In this case, short IC commute = extra pollution from cold cat and extra oil changes -and probable replacement of the exhaust system much earlier than a vehicle driven on a 30 mile commute.

[jojogunn]

I live in the antelope valley of southern california. A few years ago, I drove 60 or so miles to an interview in the Los Angeles area. On the way home, I started calculating how much drive time I would have to put in. Adding that to my 40 hour work week brought the total to 60 hours. Then I divided that by the weekly paycheck I would have received. The job did not look good at that point.

[user removed]

I always kept my commutes short. With the spare time I had, I rebuilt cars, which meant it cost me nothing to drive. Instead I actually made money by rebuilding cars and I am counting all of the costs of driving. I made about $2500 gross per car.

Then I took the extra time and sold my shop and built a house. Made $100 an hour on that proposition so my spare time was precious at $100 an hour. In many cases my commutes would not use up the time it takes for a string of ads to run on TV. When I first bought my shop I lived in the building, with no heat or air, no hot water. I had to commute to the health club for a shower before 9 PM when my day was over. It started at sunrise, getting the waste oil heater working for the day.

Figure 30 years, 200 days a year, 2 hours a day, for those who spend that much time getting to work. Thats 12,000 hours folks, and if it means nothing to you, I just can't follow that logic for the life of me.

In that same time at $100 an hour I have made some serious money, and it provides me with retirement security today and for the rest of my life. About 1200 of those hours built the house we are living in today. It asseses at $320k today and it cost me my sweat equity in this house and the materials cost me the sweat equity in the last one I built. That doesn't include the 200 or so cars I rebuilt, many of those done while I was working full time, with time I could have otherwise wasted riding to work.

regards
Mech

[steffen707]

Interesting article. I hate commuting but love road trips. Driving every day for work is a hassle, whereas road trips are fun and entertaining. I like to see new things not the same boring trip over and over again.

I'm lucky as i can be to work 3 miles away in 5 minutes from my house if i take the highway or 10 minutes if I take the 25mph road there.

I was looking at getting a job in a city 25 miles away and I would need to get paid a lot more. That's about 1 hour a day, 5 days a week or 250 hours a year gone, wasted to sitting in my car. I could be sleeping, spending time with my wife or kids. That's 12.5% of a full time job spent driving and wasting gas. Even the most efficient car isn't going to make up for my time lost, because though i make $24 an hour, my time off is worth far more than that to me. The cost of gas is only a small amount of the total cost to my life to commute.

I feel bad for people with 1-2 hour commutes each day, what a pain.

[user removed]

I used to commute from Tysons Corner to downtown Arlington (DC area) when I worked at a Benz dealership in the early 1980s. I drove to work on route 123 (Chain Bridge Road) which was 35 MPH with perfectly timed lights, and managed to average 45 MPG in my 1984 CRX 1.5. It was fun watching the crawling traffic on the Interstate while I cruised along at 35 MPH in 5th gear.

regards
Mech

[Tango Charlie]

I have a 28 mile, 40-50 minute commute.
I cleared it with the boss to work four 10-hour days. Saves me 56 miles and gives me a three day weekend every week.

If I were to calculate the cost of my commute, I'd have to factor in the price of Skittles. Gotta stay awake somehow...

[sundogjax]

IAD (It all depends):

Job -
First - What does your close job (CJ) pay vs. your far job (FJ)?
Second - Quality (intrinsic rewards) of CJ compared to FJ?
Third - What long term career benefits (networking) CJ vs FJ?

If the jobs are functionally similar as described above - CJ beats FJ.
If not - on to the next analysis level.

Vehicle
First - What is you capital cost for the commute vehicle (CV)?
Second - What are the operating costs for CV (Maint, Ins, fuel, etc)?
Third - Added = commute cost CJ/FJ per unit (days, weeks, miles, etc)?

CJ costs will likely be lower than FJ costs, but not always so. If you have a FJ and a low cost commuter vehicle, it may cost less than a CJ with a high cost vehicle and urban parking charges. Not likely, but possible.

If the jobs are not similar - commute costs may effect your decision. BTW my 2001 ZX3 cost $3K (56K miles) and costs @ $.16/mile to drive. How you buy, what you buy, how you insure, how you drive, age and sagacity all effect your cost... Agree, average cost is > $.55/mile, but that's why they call it average ($.55 is the current Gov mileage rate). MN Driver nailed it in the thread above.

Drive
First - How much time does your CJ/FJ commute require?
Second - How much stress does your CJ/FJ commute impose?
Third - Potential uses for CJ/FJ time differential? (same or different?)

Slowmover has reviewed this above. I leave at 0445, get to the gym at 0525 (33 miles on empty interstate) and get to my desk at 0650. I leave work for the 33 mile return trip @ 1530 - way ahead of the stupid traffic. Listen to WSJ in the AM and Glenn Beck in the PM - would be doing exactly the same either at work or at home. Refreshed, composed and ready for the next item at the end of each leg.

I have biked to work (San Diego, New Orleans, Tampa Bahrain), flown to work (29 yr USN Pilot, worldwide), walked to work (New York City, Newport, Norfolk, Bahrain, USS Enterprise, USS Underwood and many other ships), and driven to work (Jacksonville, San Diego, Miami).
Short is usually better... but IAD.

[eco_generator]

Originally Posted by sundogjax

IAD (It all depends)

Exactly. It was a nice article, but it's pretty dogmatic in most parts of it. But he is trying to get a point across to hard-headed people in "typical" situations. So I understand why he says things the way he does, I just don't take it personal because he is not talking to me per-se.


The principal that applies across the board is reduce consumption. With money matters you have 2 options... make more or spend less. A happier life tends to come from spending less and having your priorities straight.

And on a side note, I love his skewed perception from white/wealth privilege. Go tell a kid from the hood or trailer park, just go find a job that allows you to contribute the max to your 401k (which is now $17k/year) righhhht... . It's not impossible, but some people will never realistically have a chance to have that much disposable income and might be doing good to make that much. Not to mention what they would do with the funds chosen in that 401k and what happens with the next major market hiccup.

[D.O.G.]

Originally Posted by sundogjax

IAD (It all depends):

Job -
First - What does your close job (CJ) pay vs. your far job (FJ)?
.

I had a "close" job a few years back. 20 min drive, but they paid peanuts, because they were nearly the only option for work in the area.
I left there for a job with a 60 min drive (in the opposite direction), at double the pay and no weekend work.

Was the extra drive worth it? You Bet!

[sundogjax]

I am not a blog poster by nature, and I am defintrly not trying to pick a fight, but, can't resist a comment on this note by Eco-Gen -

"And on a side note, I love his skewed perception from white/wealth privilege. Go tell a kid from the hood or trailer park, just go find a job that allows you to contribute the max to your 401k (which is now $17k/year) righhhht... . It's not impossible, but some people will never realistically have a chance to have that much disposable income and might be doing good to make that much. Not to mention what they would do with the funds chosen in that 401k and what happens with the next major market hiccup. "

Your situatuion in life is a compendium of the decisions you make ( BTW -
I lived in a trailer park for years).

If you chose "rocks & 40's", you get one result. If you chose self-improvement, morality, education and hard work - viola!
You get another result.

The tenants of western civilization (rule of law, private property, religious freedom, moral code, etc) were developed by thousands of years of hard won experience. (See - Roots of American Order by Russell Kirk)

All people in this country (for now at least) have a realistic chance for
$17K/yr of disposale income... the real question is about how it is disposed.

As an example - observe the behavior, and sucess, of many of our minority immigrants. Everyone has the same opportunity - just not the same result.

Finally - a comment on the reduction in comsumption concept. I fully agree that reduced consumption is a worthwile goal, when applied commensurate to the task.
Moving your household goods cross-country with 55/MPG efficiency would not be very effective. Possible perhaps, but not really optimal. On the other hand, moving myself to work at 35mpg is very effective, and reasonably efficient.

Once again... it all depends.