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Man Commutes 1,000 Miles To Work 31

Posted by samzenpus from the hope-your-mpg-is-good dept.
At the end of every week Michael Hanley leaves his job in Kansas and starts his 530 mile trip back to his home in Wisconsin. After the local GM plant closed down, his family couldn't afford to go without his $28 an hour job or his health insurance. Now Hanley drives over 1,000 miles round-trip weekly with his brother and two brothers-in-law who find themselves in the same situation. "I like to say I gave up an eight-minute commute for an eight-hour commute," he says.

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Man Commutes 1,000 Miles To Work

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  • I work near Washington, DC, and I know of several people that commute all the way to Central Pennsylvania or even New Jersey every weekend. Sure, it's not quite 1,000 miles, but it's a pretty far "commute" nonetheless.

    Personally, I'd hate being away from my family for that long, but I suppose you have to do what you have to do.

    • I'm near DC as well, and it seems to be most people have crazy-long commutes. I know a fair number who commute from PA to south Baltimore suburbs daily.

      Of course, I'm one to talk. The current plan after I get married has me living in Northern VA and commuting around DC *shudder* to the Baltimore area...

  • He could probably get a small fast airplane for about $20,000 to cut his commute time two thirds. If he resold it after he got another job or moved, it might only cost him a few thousand.

    • If he couldn't afford to live without his $28/hr job, I doubt he can afford to buy a $20k airplane anytime soon.
    • title is misleading. FTFA [yahoo.com]:

      "But this is just temporary. The Morrisons decided they don't want to live this way; they plan to sell their Wisconsin house and Sarah and their youngest son, Austin, will move when the school year ends."

      So one job ended, he got another job, and he's been driving back and forth until the school yr ends and then they'll move. Yes he's driving 1,000 miles, but it's just until end of school year, and he already has an apartment at the new place. Who has this not happened to e

  • Morrison will have 30 years at GM and can retire with a full pension. He'll be 49 then.

    That's why manufacturing jobs are disappearing in the US: BigCo's like Ford & GM will have to pay him a full pension for 25 years, which just about doubles their costs.

    • Can anyone explain the pension system used in USA?

      Where I live, the pension fund is independent of other companies.

      It is simply a fond(There are a few different, but still..) where you pay x% of your income each month, and then when you retire you get the moeny back with interest. Either as a lump sum, og as a amount each month.

      So the more you pay, the more you get back and there is really no way to loose the pension. (That is: Unless the entire pension fund crashes, but pension funds are so large and thei

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Nutria ( 679911 )

        It is simply a fond(There are a few different, but still..) where you pay x% of your income each month, and then when you retire you get the moeny back with interest. Either as a lump sum, og as a amount each month.

        That's called a Defined Contribution Plan. That's what's common now.

        The unions, back when American Manufacturing was flush with cash, negotiated Defined Benefit Plans. Most (all?) government unions (being able to suckle from our tax dollar teat) have similar plans.

    • The greatest difference in cost of doing business in the US vs overseas isn't actually labor related expense...it's environmental compliance. What's really dragging us down is all this brerathable air and drinkable water. Ditch that crap and we'll get past the Chinese in NO TIME BABY! WOOO!

      Or we could do both. Scrip debt and asbestos/mercury poisoning for EVERYBODY! WOOO AGAIN SUCKAS!!!!

  • Slight maths error. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by RockDoctor ( 15477 ) on Wednesday February 24, 2010 @07:03AM (#31257860) Journal

    At the end of every week Michael Hanley leaves his job in Kansas and starts his 530 mile trip back to his home in Wisconsin. After the local GM plant closed down, his family couldn't afford to go without his $28 an hour job or his health insurance. Now Hanley drives over 1,000 miles round-trip weekly with his brother and two brothers-in-law who find themselves in the same situation. "I like to say I gave up an eight-minute commute for an eight-hour commute," he says

    Most people think that a commute is a daily thing (not me BTW ; my commute is variable, monthly or several-monthly), so let's put it on a daily basis :
    530miles each way, once per week is 1060miles/week. Between 3 people, that's 353.3 miles per person per week.
    Assuming 5 working days per week (hah!), that's 71 miles per day. Equivalent to a 35.5 mile round trip each day.
    For the average Brit, that would mean someone getting into Leeds from Huddersfield, or Rochdale, or Sheffield.

    • That sounds better, but you're still in the car for that amount of time, whether you're driving or not...
    • with the way you describe things, you sound like my accountant!

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by baegucb ( 18706 )

      I live in Janesville. They work a 4 day work week. But there is no real other industry since GM closed. Fortunately, I work in IT a half hour drive from Janesville, in Madison, Wi.

  • I can understand this person's situation. I started a new job almost 2 years ago, I was driving approximately 550 to 635 miles per week (not including around town driving), now this mileage could vary depending on driving conditions since the weather(I live in Upstate New York) could actually affect the route I would have to take. I've thankfully got friends that let me stay at their home during the week which brings my commute down to about 140 miles per week(again, weather permitting). Unfortunately, I

  • There are about 10k workers who "commute" 6000km (3800 miles) between work and home [www.cbc.ca]. But since it isn't daily, the line between commute and working away becomes blurred. (These long "commutes" are done by plane about every other weekend.)
  • It is fairly normal from what I gather for Mine workers to be flown from all corners of the country on the mining company's expense to and from the site. Though of course it is normal for these workers to do VERY long shifts and something like a 3 weeks on 3 days off schedule. Expenses incurred attracting skilled workers are probably a non-issue for a large mining company.

  • Seriously. Not news--not even idle worthy, people have been doing this in Canada for years. I know people who commute from Trois-Rivieres(QC), to London(On) and Windsor(On) every week.

    Back about 10 years ago, a buddy of mine commuted from Hamilton(On) to Winnipeg(MB), every week for over 4 years.

  • All of us know (and some are) high-paid consultants who fly to work in some distant city on Monday, work from noon Monday to Thursday and fly back on Friday. This is a little bit different. It shows how messed up the economy is though, and this is a great example.

    Put yourself in this guy's shoes. If you graduate high school and don't want to or can't spend the time and money on college, the best thing to do is get a nice safe manufacturing job. He has union protection, what he thought was a guaranteed job,

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