Middle America Worker's Story

[GoGogebic]

There is a man from the Rockford Area and for the sake of this story I will call him Mike. Mike spent approximately 20 years working at a factory making parts for appliances. He worked his way up the ladder and was eventually named the Lead Guy. Mike was wise with his money and did an excellent job supporting his family. His sacrifices gave his children many of the things he never had, but after nearly two decades the company he worked for was sold. Almost all the operations were moved to a town over 80 miles north. Fortunately, unlike many people hurt my the 2009 downturn he still had a job, but now it was a 1hr and 45 min drive away. With the unemployment in Rockford hovering around 19% at the time of his company's sale, he didn't have much of a choice.He had to take the job just to survive.

While the drive time affected his family life, the cost of driving hurt just as badly. It cost Mike about $30 dollars a day to drive to work, and while his pay was decent the $6260.80 a year was crippling. This battle between work and family thankfully came to an end after a 1 1/2 years. Mike recently accepted a great job a few minutes from home and His life has returned to some sort of normalcy.

Mike's story is typical of thousands of people around this country, but there seems to be even more individuals who's extreme commuting battle is just starting and isn't ending for the foreseeable future. The missed family time experienced by people like Mike is extremely stressful, but the financial burden can be even more stressful. Especially since many times these people, due to spouse layoffs, are already the sole bread winner . What these people need is the piece of mind that comes from the financial freedom brought by efficient transportation. In some areas this comes in the form of public transportation or ride-sharing, but for many of us this can only come in the form of a cheap, reliable, fuel efficient vehicle. These days car companies boast of 40 mpg, but the 1995 Honda Civic VX got over 50 mpg. So that being said 40 mpg isn't really that impressive. What is needed is a vehicle that returns the cost of driving to the days of 1 dollar gas. Do you agree? If so what are your suggestions? I know I have one.

[Frank Lee]

No, I don't really agree. What's needed is for people to not rack up 40,000 mind-numbing miles/year.

The difference between 40 and 50 mpg for such a person is 200 gallons/year, or 3.8 g/week, or .76g/day, depending on how you want to look at it. "Mike" could have gotten a clue much sooner though, and not commuted in a 20 mpg rig.

[BHarvey]

Ending speculation would drop the price of fuel, or it seems like it would.

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

No, I don't really agree. What's needed is for people to not rack up 40,000 mind-numbing miles/year....

I think the issue is the miles this guy had to do to get to work. I don't know for sure, none of us do, but he probably couldn't afford to move and would have issues selling his house anyway if the area was in decline. Its a common problem.

A few months ago I had to listen to a World Wildlife Lunatic on the radio involved in a listener phone-in debate about high fuel costs and poor, rural communities. A lady called from Stornaway - which is an island off the west coast of Scotland. Because of job availability she had to work in the only main town there is there. But because of low pay and housing cost she had to live away from the town. No public transport available at her hours so she has no choice but to drive.

WWF luny solution ? Move and get another job.

Of course he lives in West London where public transport is so frequent that you would not need to have a car, and where jobs are plentiful and very well paid.

Unfortunately for us most of the UK is run from West London, which is why they don't understand why the rest of us don't conform to their views on life.

The car based issue seems to be a lack of interest in high FE cars any more, at least ones that most folks can afford.

[Frank Lee]

"Mike" was on the road 3 1/2 hours every day. As a "lead" he likely was the first one on site and possibly the last one to go. Say he only had to put in 8 hrs/day, from 8-5 (I never had a paid lunch hour); he'd probably have to leave the house about 6 a.m. and get home 6:45-7 p.m. only to grab some supper and collapse in front of the T.V.... right? Who's going to run around with the family unit after a full day of work AND almost four hours of mind-numbing driving? I'd suggest finding another way. There must have been several co-workers in the same bind- rideshare? Would there be a cheap sleeping room available near the work site for use during the weekdays? Change jobs- he did, but did he start looking right away or drone away at the old job for 1 year 5 months before deciding enough was enough?

[GoGogebic]

Actually Mike started work at 5am and worked to 4pm 4days a week. It's hard to get rid of a car when you owe more than its worth (which is pretty much anybody who buys a new or used car at a dealership). My point isn't that we all should start driving 3hrs a day to work. It is that sometime we have no choice.

I know as Americans we all have many more choices than most people in this world, but the number of choices varies greatly on the line of work your in. Now of course a bartender can find a job anywhere, but in manufacturing there isn't a factory on every corner. Just think of construction workers, they rarely work in the same spot for more than a few months. Are they suppose to move to every job site?

The more things I go through in life the more I am able to emphasize with others. It is always easy to be critical of others until the same thing happens to you. I have no desire to judge anyone. What if Mike had roots in the community? Some people like where they live too much to move. I know that if I lost my job I would be alright. Because since its happen once I now plan for it. Industries like manufacturing, construction, sales, technical services,etc. are cyclical and require flexibility. So even if I was working from home I would still want the piece of mind that a 100mpg+ plus vehicle brings.

GoGogebic

[mwebb]

Originally Posted by BHarvey

Ending speculation would drop the price of fuel, or it seems like it would.

yes it would
didja know that the "big banking speculators" make as much as the large oil companies on the oil sales ?
media is screaming about how the big oil companies are screwing the consumers , yet their profit margins are under 5% because of all they must pay to bring the product to market .

big banking keeps all the profits from the speculation , they have no overhead , no refinery , no exploration , no delivery trucks , no pumps .

why is/are the media and jaw wagging government puddingheads ignoring the real problem ?

Big Banking , the unseen enemy http://www.youtube.com/user/theamericandreamfilm
they are at war with us , and we just give them all of our wealth ...
what is wrong with this picture ?

[Frank Lee]

Like I said, at least "Mike" could have commuted in something that got better than 20 mpg; that doesn't cost anything, it PAYS.

[cleanspeed1]

Originally Posted by mwebb

yes it would
didja know that the "big banking speculators" make as much as the large oil companies on the oil sales ?
media is screaming about how the big oil companies are screwing the consumers , yet their profit margins are under 5% because of all they must pay to bring the product to market .

big banking keeps all the profits from the speculation , they have no overhead , no refinery , no exploration , no delivery trucks , no pumps .

why is/are the media and jaw wagging government puddingheads ignoring the real problem ?

Big Banking , the unseen enemy http://www.youtube.com/user/theamericandreamfilm
they are at war with us , and we just give them all of our wealth ...
what is wrong with this picture ?

Because the Gubernment, media and other critical elements of our society is owned by them and they are not going to go piss off their masters as long as the money is still flowing to them.

[jakobnev]

It's hard to get rid of a car when you owe more than its worth

Nobodies fault but his own..