Leaving Early May Cost You Time

markmcb writes "OmniNerd has an interesting traffic article demonstrating how leaving early for work may cost you time. Brandon Hansen uses a year's worth of data collected on his urban drive to and from work along with statistical analysis to show the effects of varying departure times and considering external factors like nearby school districts' schedules. In the end, a minor shift in his departure time results in saving driving hours equivalent to over a third of the vacation time given annually by his employer."

Comments

Leaving Differently

[foundme]

It doesn't really matter if you leave work earlier or later, as long as you leave slightly different from the rest of the pack, the road will most likely be empty.

However, your employer will always notice if you leave early, so the idea situation is to leave late.

Re:Leaving Differently

[Anonymous Coward]

The ideal time to leave is two minutes after your employer. They won't know whether you're working twenty minutes late or three hours late.

unfortunately

[Quick Sick Nick]

Unfortunately, he did not take into account the time it took to do this analysis, and now he has even less free time.

Who would have thought

[Anonymous Coward]

That avoiding rush hour traffic could save you time? I appluad this excellent study, and I hope this team continues their fantastic work!

not driving at all better

[stoolpigeon]

i'm moving to a new job next month. one of the primary considerations i put into housing, was to be as close as possible to work. commuting sucks. we are moving into a smaller place but i figure i could get as much as an hour or two a day more in time with my family. (and the smaller housing is forcing us to get rid of a bunch of junk and simplify)
 
with the price of fuel and maintenance, and time with kids that wont be kids long, it was worth it to really make an effort.

Doing the math...

[Rahga]

"... In the end, a minor shift in his departure time results in saving driving hours equivalent to over a third of the vacation time given annually by his employer."

In France, this means you would gain 2 additional months of free time. ;)

Re:Doing the math...

[Dion]

Uh, no. Sorry, but the US has the most productive people in the world, along with highest per-capita income among comparable countries (certain middle eastern countries have a higher per-capita for obvious reasons). I don't feel like looking up the stats.

I'd like to see your "Uh, no. Sorry", and raise you with a "nuh uh": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_ GDP_(nominal)_per_capita As you can see we (Denmark) is ranked slightly above the US and we *have* over 5 weeks of mandatory hollidays each year, free healthcare (my granny just had a double bypass within hours of feeling ill, total cost: 0) and free education. While you are at it, examine this list, we are at a respectable 25'th place and solidly in the black, see if you can figure out who the deadbeat who is an order of magniture worse than the second worst is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_ current_account_balance The US economy, civil rights and customer rights are in the crapper and your current administration is not helping matters.

Re:Doing the math...

[Khomar]

With every passing decade, capitalism looks more and more like slavery, and I NEVER thought I would say that.

We are not slaves to capitalism. We are slaves to greed. We are one of the most overworked nations in the world. It is not so much that our employers or our government are demanding this from us. It is that we demand it from ourselves. We want that new boat. We want that bigger house. We want that bigger/better car -- and it better be new! We want that new entertainment center. We want that new computer/flat panel monitor/video card. We want the lifestyle we see our parents having, but instead of working and saving for it over a lifetime, we want it now. We are so driven by our desire for more stuff that we have become enslaved to it -- even to the point of racking up personal debt we can never hope to pay off. It drives every moment of everyday of our lives.

As we scurry around trying to get more stuff, we are missing the very moments and those important relationships that make life on this planet have any meaning. When was the last time you invited someone over for dinner just to hang out? When was the last time you were invited for dinner? When was the last time you visited your neighbor? When was the last time you actually sat down and did nothing but watch a sunrise? Or looked at the stars?

Purhaps this is the inevitable result of capitalism. It relies upon our own greed to drive us to work and succeed, but it also gives us the freedom to make our lives the way we want to. But when one is given greater freedom, one is given greater responsibility. No one is forcing us to work overtime (you have the freedom to pursue another job/career). No one is forcing us to go into debt so we have to work more(you can always say no to that new luxury). While there are exceptions to this (victims of disasters, diseases, etc.), I think most of us would agree that we have placed a lot of our burdens upon ourselves. We don't really need a newer car. We don't really need a bigger house. We don't really need and 60 inch DLP HDTV flat panel television set. We don't really need a new computer (let's face it, a Pentium III will still run most of today's software and it would be better to spend quality time with family and friends than another few hours playing the latest FPS). We buy these things not because we need them, but because we want them. And we overwork ourselves to get them or to pay off the debt we accrued while buying them.

We are the ones who allowed "the system" to destroy us. We are the ones who fell hook-line-and-sinker for the marketing pitches and hype -- who believed in our hearts that newer is always better. We are the ones who felt that we just had to keep with the Joneses or we would -- what? Have less stuff? We have no one to blame but ourselves.

Re:What rush hour?

[Gojira Shipi-Taro]

I just wish that coming in earlier meant leaving earlier.

That's the entire reason (sleepcycle not withstanding) that I prefer the "later" strategy. A co-worker of mine gets in early (because he gets up early due to his wife's work schedule) He constantly bemoans the fact that he doesn't get recognition for the extra time, and has to stay to normal end-of-work because no managers are there nearly so early.

As the "doctor" says... "well stop doing that then..."

I don't consider it a time savings if my employer is the sole benificiary... I'd rather spend a few hours doing things around the house and go in AFTER rush hour if I got up that early anyhow. That way my saved time is MINE.

leaving *really* early for work.

[porky_pig_jr]

I have a funny recollection about one programmer I've worked with. He's just got hired. He asked to allow him to arrive to work *really* early so to beat the traffic, and got ok. So he was coming to work around 7 am. The rest of the bunch was showing up sometime between 9 and 10. From 7 to 9 am the guy was practically doing nothing, and I mean nothing: reading newspapers and playing Solitair on PC (that was the time before the company got connected to Internet). Of course he was always promptly leaving at 3 pm. So not only he's managed to beat the traffic but had about 2 hours at work doing nothing. He was so successful in that that eventually he became a consultant (in the same company). No kidding.

cycling

[wall0159]

the *real* solution is not to drive at all. I know this will make me sound like an unpatriotic communist, but (disclaimer - I live in a relatively small Australian city of about 1 million poeple) I can definitely commute much faster in rush hour traffic than I can in a car. I get to work in about 1/2 the time of driving, and about 1/3 the time of public transport. Cycling's very cheap, and it turns an otherwise stressful time into a pleasant experience. And it gives exercise!! What a deal!! :-)

The other plus, is that finding parking for a bicycle is always easy. No more hunting/paying for car parking. My fiance and I both cycle, and this means that we only run one car. A big economic saving. I highly recommend it.

Re:80 hours vacation?

[Mr Z]

Google for distribution of wealth and you'll get tons of links, such as this one, which includes such nifty statistics for the US as:

• The wealthiest 5% of households hold nearly 60% of all the wealth.
• Wealth disparity has increased over the last 20 years.
• The bottom 60% of households hold 4.2% of the wealth despite earning 26.8% of the income.

Careening back on topic... for what it's worth, I tend to telecommute in the morning and show up after lunch. I then drive home after the dinner rush--around 7PM. That usually works out pretty well.

--Joe

Re:What rush hour?

[kabz]

Yeah, I like to come in for 7am. Unbelievable how much better it is to have a quiet work environment for a couple of hours before everyone else appears around 9am.

I hate cubes.