I-Like-To-Bike

I prefer to think about hypothetical jobs that REQUIRE me to eat free pizza and drink free beer all day and allow me to do it from home and force me to ride my bike while on the clock. I think those job REQUIREMENTS are as common as your hypothetical situation.

And yeah, I might consider a pay cut for such a job.

Scout!

I've never been ideological about shunning the automobile, so I court no danger of hypocrisy.

For me, a $20,000 per year difference in pay could persuade me to take up the car.

Roody

Bikes at Work says that the average person pays 17 per cent of his/her income for a car. So I'd need 17 percent more for the car job, just to cover expenses.

Then I'd add $10,000 for the inevitable hassles of working for somebody who thought he could tell me how to live my life.

zeppinger

I wonder were Bikes at work got their numbers? I read in "Living well without owning a car" that the average was closer to 1/3 of their income. I think that he got his numbers for AAA but I am not 100% sure.

wahoonc

The less you make the greater the percentage of your income a vehicle is going to suck down. My company figures a company truck is worth about $15k a year to the person the has it. They only charge for commuting miles per the IRS regulations. It is based on a percentage of lease value and varies based on the age of the vehicle and type.

Aaron

Lamplight

I actually left a higher paying job with better benefits just so I could bike to work. I haven't regretted it for one second since, though admittedly the differences weren't huge. But when you factor in the operating costs of the truck I sold and the fact that I'm no longer on blood pressure medicine, the difference is huge. That move was the best thing I've ever done for myself, and I'm not sure how much money it would take for me to reverse it. I know it would take a lot, perhaps at least twice as much.

Roody

Wow, you do put a high value on carfree but it seems reasonable to me.

Do you like your job? What was it that lowered your blood pressure--the job itself, or the fact that you could ride instead of dirive a car?

gerv 

I sometimes feel like. I think it's partly because you are used to more fresh air on a bike and the car seems stifling. Plus if you are the driver, you constantly have your right foot stuck out... an unnatural pose.


I think there is also a health issue around spending a lot of time in a car that you might want to add to the cost of the car. If you are commuting more than a half-hour a day, you are living an unhealthy lifestyle.

Lamplight

I think the less stressful commute along with the exercise is what lowered it. Maybe I do overvalue being car free a little, but I really really hate driving, so maybe not.

dynodonn 

I consider myself forturnate, I was able to get employment with higher paying salary and benefits that was 1/5 the commute distance of my previous employment. Since I've significantly scaled down my personal expenditures from my already thrifty ways, I can take considerably lower paying employment (should I lose my current employment) that's closer to home than look for higher income much further away that would possibly require driving a motor vehicle.

tieka

After reading some of the posts on this subject, I couldn't help but post my thoughts.

I would choose Job B no matter what. Like others have said, if the company promotes healthy and friendly living they are usually that way with other things.

Besides, if I didn't like Job A there would not enough money out there that would keep me there. Maybe that is why I am still unemployed right now

bragi

Oh come on, Roody; did you really expect anyone to choose A? Personally, I'd choose job A, move closer to that job, and ride my bike to work as before. Unless the job specifically required driving a car to accomplish the work, they'd never know the difference.

If I absolutely had to stick to your parameters, I'd pick B, of course. No one will work for an assh0le if they have a choice.

EnigManiac

In a heartbeat: B

Why? I believe car commuting detracts from quality of life: mine and others. Aside from the inevitable time it will take to inch along in bumper-to-bumper traffic, I would be in a cage and disengaged from my community, I'd be spewing pollution into the air---even with a hybrid---and I'd be stressed out. No thanks. Right now, I save more than $12g per year, I enjoy going to and coming home from work, am less stressed and can enjoy the sights, smells and sounds of my neighbourhood, because if I took a job that was within cycling distance it would, essentially be in my neighbourhood. I'd have the freedom to stop when and where I want without struggling to be in the right lane, searching for parking, worrying about feeding the meter once per hour. No thanks. I have a better attitude at work and am more productive because I ride to work. Slavery makes me grumpy, after all.

But if I was offered a dream job with an outrageous salary, as you suggest, what makes you think I;d remain in my house and commute by car? I'd move closer---the responsible thing to do---and ride to work.

mesasone

I would probably say 10k (5$/hr) if paid hourly, perhaps a bit more if it were a salaried position (thinking $12K). 15k would definitely do it.

It would also depend on the pay of job B. If we're talking about a position that paid 20k/year, it would be difficult to accept that position even if I had to shell out for a car to get to job A.

Rowan

There are jobs that require a vehicle to get to work, and don't require it to be used on the job.

Workers in industries such as agriculture, timber, and construction, are required to commute to and from worksites by car, but won't use them during the day as part of their employment.

Thing is, the worksites can change day by day, and the distances can vary by large amounts so bicycle commuting within the timeframes permitted becomes almost, if not, impossible.

Job ads for these industries often specify "must have own car, no transport supplied", even though that does not form a functioning part of the job description.

Obviously, I would take Job B with the proviso that the personalities within the organisation were such that we all could get along fine. That sometimes might be more difficult to achieve than on first glance at the philosophical niceties.

-----------------------------

When I did a small business management course about 10 years ago, the tutor used the business plan of a courier to show the pitfalls and expense of vehicle operation.

I can't remember the exact figures, but let's say out of a turnover of $30,000 a year, the vehicle consumed more of the money than the operator took as wages which were probably less than $10,000.

Fuel, servicing, repairs, replacements and contingencies, registration, insurance, garaging, parking, permits, other fees, and depreciation all took their slice before he did.

I think everyone concluded he needed to at least double the turnover to increase his wages, but that, of course, carried additional operating costs.

In the end, I think the turnover needed to get to around triple the original estimate to enable him to achieve the same level of comfortable living as in his current full-time job.

wahoonc

Exactly! I know of certain local party who is making "lots of money" delivering pizzas by car. But when it came time to buy new tires for his car, and pay for some repairs he didn't have any money Vehicles are expensive to own and maintain, unfortunately in our autocentric society it is difficult to get by without one. Different jobs and different parts of the country will affect this also. FWIW I maintain a fairly heavy truck at the request of my company, I am reimbursed for the cost, however I that may be coming to a screaming halt, they want to cut the compensation...I may be looking for a new job. I refuse to subsidize my company, that IS NOT the way it is supposed to work, but millions of workers do it every day.

Edit: However I do what I can to make myself as vehicle light as possible, when possible. This past year I was able to transfer over 3,000 miles to Amtrak vs driving. And at least some mileage to bicycle when I was close enough to stores and restaurants.

Aaron

Roody

I expected everybody to pick B, since you're allowed to specify the amunt of extra pay you'd need to take it. I assume that everybody has their price, and I was wondering what that price is.

Like I said, I'd need extra pay in the amount of all my car expenses, plus $10,000 a year.

Cosmoline

It's going to have to pay a LOT more to make up for the difference:

Cost of bicycle, customized off a used Hoss: $1,100
Cost of used Chevy S-10 that never worked: $19,500 (including financing)

Yearly maintenance on bicycle: $400
Yearly maintenance on S-10: $4,000+

Yearly insurance on bicycle: $0
Yearly insurance on S-10: $1,400

Yearly gasoline cost for bicycle: $0
Yearly gasoline cost for S-10: $2,000+

Not having to give rides to mouching goldbrickers: Priceless

Besides, what the hell kind of job requires you to have your own car? Pizza delivery?

wahoonc

Any job that you requires you to work multiple locations, ie; construction, logging, possibly agriculture and many others. When I worked as an Assistant Manager for a large chain drug store we quite often had to work at more than one store in the district. The store I was originally assigned to was about 7 miles from my house, the furthest was over 60 miles.

Aaron

Cosmoline

And you had to use your own vehicle, pay for gas, etc? That sucks.

wahoonc

IIRC we did get some money for mileage based on the distance from our "home" store to the other. However if they transferred you to a different store you were on your own. They did that to me and that was one of the reasons I quit working for them.

Aaron

Robert Foster

I believe many construction and trade jobs pretty much require a vehicle. Maybe that is what they charge so much for their work. Wouldn't it be easier to see how much the average car free person makes compared to the average car centric person? I believe the latest GDP per person in the US is $48k according to the CIA factbook. So what do we think the GDP of the average car free person might be? Obviously because of the number of working people with cars the the difference in pay can't be all that high to get someone to drive to work.

To me anything over 10k a year more than likely would get me to take job A. In real life it took another 10k to get me to move a second time and ended up 10k the third time. All in all it was worth 30k a year to have a car. But with the exception of my very last move it was always up. I only worked one year close to home but the job required a lot of driving.

Newspaperguy

I've worked my career as a writer and photographer for small newspapers and at every job, I'm required to have a reliable car. I consider this a fair request since I have to cover stories and pictures all around town and beyond. In the places where I've lived, if I have to reach a fire or an accident within minutes, a car is almost always the fastest transportation available.

I'm paid a mileage allowance to cover fuel and vehicle maintenance.

If I could find similar work that didn't need a car, I'd consider it strongly. However, as long as I work for small newspapers, I'll need to have a car at work.

gerv 

I worked for a small city newspaper in the 1970s and I remember the ace reporter didn't have a car. He used to walk everywhere and when it was too far, the paper paid for taxis. Somehow, I don't think that would fly these days, unless he was on the "green" beat.

wahoonc

I bet the numbers might be skewed. I have friends that live in NYC that make 4-5 times what I do and don't own cars. The area I live in a car is almost a prerequisite, and the average income per year is around $25,000 (I make a fair bit more than that). Jobs come and go, and unless you want to move every few years to follow the job market, you have to drive. In the past 25 years I have had to change jobs 4 times due to companies shutting down, laying off or going bankrupt. Current job requires I maintain a vehicle but I am reimbursed for it...at the moment. My commute has varied from 4 miles to the current 46 miles

Aaron