this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2026
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me_irl

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[–] Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world 15 points 4 days ago (3 children)

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.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 10 points 4 days ago

I do it easier:

  1. If they mandate in-office time at all, find the office.
  2. Hit those rent sites to show the rent of a modest 2bd apartment within 10min walk of that (the walk score distance-map was so great for that)
  3. Banks say that should never be more than 25% of your base salary
  4. If that's not the base salary for a starting position with minimal expectations, then the company isnt paying enough.

Add a shitload more if America because #mercenaryHealthcare

[–] mirshafie@europe.pub 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

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.

[–] Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That's this section right here

But factoring commute, that's 40hrs + 10min a day travel time = 41hrs, 40min.

I count any time I spend getting to this job and back as unpaid labor and thus it counts against the total pay.

[–] mirshafie@europe.pub 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

What I'm saying is it's more than money. It's time with your friends/family, it's time cooking/eating healthy rather than fast food, it's time in the gym or whatever.

[–] Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

None of those things are respected in American society. Your time only has a calculable value when you're generating profit for a pedophile.

[–] mirshafie@europe.pub 1 points 2 hours ago

Well I'm European so

[–] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago

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.