Peak Car?...interesting article

[GoCubsGo]

Thought this was interesting.  Peak oil, now Peak Car

http://money.msn.com/now/post.aspx?post=f7ceb6eb-ee90-4887-9913-d2de7dad1d01

[plantingourpennies]

In my industry, technology is a big driver of this. My work, like that of many, is location independent thanks to e-mail, skype, e-signatures, etc.

If I can do the work from my home, why tolerate the commute?

Best,
Mr. Pop

[DocCyane]

We walk to our errands when possible and have started ordering more items online. It's cheaper, faster, and I don't spend a nickel in gas. Let them bring it to me.

[grantmeaname]

OSU just leased all its parking facilities and rights of operation for 99 years for an absolutely obscene amount of money (25% increase in the endowment as fast as you can snap your fingers).

We leased parking operations to a parking company (duh!), so I'd bet they have very smart people who think way down the road about things like this, but the optimist in me can't help but think: that's a forty year lease followed by 59 years of derisive hindsight, as cars are obsolete and the rest of the city has moved on. Wouldn't it be nice if they paid for a 99 year lease that was obsolete before it was halfway over?

[Rangifer]

Did they pay the full amount up front?

[GuitarStv]

If I can do the work from my home, why tolerate the commute?

Because management doesn't believe that people will work if they're not sitting in an office?

Seriously.  I'm a software engineer.  95% of my job could be done from home.  We've been talking about a work from home policy for ages.  Management has been fighting it the whole time.  Last year we finally got a work from home policy:

If:
- You get your manager's approval
- You get your project manager's approval
- You get your director of engineering's approval
- You submit a form in writing more than 10 days in advance
- You are one of the lucky few in the building with a laptop
- You are willing to forgo any overtime (company won't pay OT if you're not on the premises)

Then you can take a maximum of one day a week to a maximum of three weeks a month to work from home.

[Jack]

Since when did software engineers get overtime?!

[GuitarStv]

Since when did software engineers get overtime?!

I don't work for others for free.  My skills are valuable, my time is precious, and my personal life is worth a lot.  If it's expected that I work for free, then I find a new job.

[Lina]

I read a similar article in Sweden that talked about the problems in the car industry due to change in young peoples driving habits. The article talked about how people in cities prefer to buy access to car pools and rent cars when they need them instead of buying a car. And many young people in the cities don't even have a driving license.

I am 31 and I actually sold my car last summer because I hated the cost of the car. I had it for 2,5 years and realised pretty soon that I used it mostly for going swimming and grocery shopping and also for a couple longer trips to relatives. I bought a bike that takes me to the store and pool. If I need to visit relatives I fly or rent a car. Before selling my car I calculated that I could use taxi almost every day for the same cost or rent a car every weekend for less than the car cost. Couple a weeks ago when I needed to stock my fridge and pantry I walked to the store, did my shopping and tock the taxi home. Worked fine.

Sometimes I really miss my car but as I don't really miss the bills associated I can live without it.

[dragoncar]

Since when did software engineers get overtime?!

I don't work for others for free.  My skills are valuable, my time is precious, and my personal life is worth a lot.  If it's expected that I work for free, then I find a new job.

LOL, it's not working for free if they pay you a salary.  That said, in answer to Jack's question, consultants, contractors, and government employees tend to get overtime.

[Jack]

Since when did software engineers get overtime?!

I don't work for others for free.  My skills are valuable, my time is precious, and my personal life is worth a lot.  If it's expected that I work for free, then I find a new job.

You misunderstand: I'm not surprised that you refuse to work for free; I'm surprised that you have the opportunity to get paid hourly as a software engineer rather than being salaried (at what sounds like a regular W-2 job, not a consulting gig).

I don't work for free either. But as a salaried employee, that means I don't work overtime at all (or have the opportunity to earn extra pay, short of moonlighting somewhere else).

LOL, it's not working for free if they pay you a salary.  That said, in answer to Jack's question, consultants, contractors, and government employees tend to get overtime.

Maybe I need to get me one of them government jobs...

[Jamesqf]

I don't work for others for free.  My skills are valuable, my time is precious, and my personal life is worth a lot.  If it's expected that I work for free, then I find a new job.

You know, you can make exactly the same argument about commuting to work.  You may be getting paid for the hours you spend in the office, but you are giving your employer the maybe two hours hours per working day that you spend commuting.

[GuitarStv]

I'm salaried, but my employment contract specifies an eight hour day.  Unpaid overtime is working for free.  It would be nice to be able to kick off early now and again, and stay later when needed . . . flexibility is always good to have, but that's not how our company is structured.  Most of the salaried engineers I know are under the same type of pay structure as I am.

You know, you can make exactly the same argument about commuting to work.  You may be getting paid for the hours you spend in the office, but you are giving your employer the maybe two hours hours per working day that you spend commuting.

I do make the same argument, it's one of the reasons I'd like to be able to telecommute!  That said, what kind of crazed person would spend two hours a day commuting?  I'm about a 20 minute drive from work.  A little under an hour when biking.

[Jack]

I don't work for others for free.  My skills are valuable, my time is precious, and my personal life is worth a lot.  If it's expected that I work for free, then I find a new job.

You know, you can make exactly the same argument about commuting to work.  You may be getting paid for the hours you spend in the office, but you are giving your employer the maybe two hours hours per working day that you spend commuting.

The way I think of it is that those extra hours are "built in" to your hourly rate when you initially accept the position. It only counts as "overtime" commuting, in my opinion, if your work location changes (for the worse).

That actually happened to me: my commute changed from 3 miles each way to 30 miles each way. I'm working on negotiating a raise because of it.

I'm salaried, but my employment contract specifies an eight hour day.  Unpaid overtime is working for free.  It would be nice to be able to kick off early now and again, and stay later when needed . . . flexibility is always good to have, but that's not how our company is structured.  Most of the salaried engineers I know are under the same type of pay structure as I am.

My hours don't add up to an 8 hour day, but they always add up to a 40-hour week. In fact, it's usually 10 hours/day for 4 days -- which was also a concession I won when my commute increased.

Telecommuting would be even better, of course (to bring the thread back on topic!), but my boss['s boss] still has hang-ups about that.

[strider3700]

My programmers are 100% hourly,  but told no more then 80 hours/pay period.  Overtime doesn't exist if you have to work more then the 80 hours you're taking time off the next week to compensate. 

We work 99% from home and hours are very flexible.  I have one guy that starts at 6am,  another that I almost never see before 3pm although he's almost always working at 1am...   

It's a bunch of extra work to manage and it has me answered questions all times of the day.   Turning things off and not being available becomes very important.

[GuitarStv]

The way I think of it is that those extra hours are "built in" to your hourly rate when you initially accept the position. It only counts as "overtime" commuting, in my opinion, if your work location changes (for the worse).

That actually happened to me: my commute changed from 3 miles each way to 30 miles each way. I'm working on negotiating a raise because of it.

When our company changed locations, it made my commute go from 35 minutes of driving (barely doable) to 1.5 hours each way (utter crazy).  They ended up paying for moving fees, the land transfer tax if you purchased a new house, and some other stuff as an incentive to keep people from jumping ship.  New house, and 20 odd minute commute is much better!

[Jack]

The way I think of it is that those extra hours are "built in" to your hourly rate when you initially accept the position. It only counts as "overtime" commuting, in my opinion, if your work location changes (for the worse).

That actually happened to me: my commute changed from 3 miles each way to 30 miles each way. I'm working on negotiating a raise because of it.

When our company changed locations, it made my commute go from 35 minutes of driving (barely doable) to 1.5 hours each way (utter crazy).  They ended up paying for moving fees, the land transfer tax if you purchased a new house, and some other stuff as an incentive to keep people from jumping ship.  New house, and 20 odd minute commute is much better!

In my case, the company didn't move; I just went from working full-time at a client site to working in the main office. My 30-mile commute is also nearly all freeway and a "reverse commute" (I live in the city and commute to the suburbs) so it's "only" 30-40 minutes. Nevertheless, unless I can transition to telecommuting this is likely not a long-term position for me.