What's it like to have a short range traveling job?

May 22, 2007 11:46 AM

What's it like to have a short range traveling job?

A friend of mine is currently in the running for a job as roaming tech support. The job is 90% travel around a 150 mile radius in the Northeast, but would return him home pretty much every day. The job pays more, and there are some perks he thinks are nice (reimbursement for most day to day stuff, mileage, laptop, Blackberry, general feeling of "I have a neat job"). He thinks he'd like the job, but wants to know about potential pitfalls that he might be overlooking.

Since I know of no one personally who is in this particular employment setup, I turn to you, O Hive Mind, to share any relevant experiences and useful advice.

posted by gnomeloaf to Work & Money (10 answers total)

My husband worked in a similar fashion for awhile. The thing to look out for are if you are on-call beyond the typical daytime hours. There were a few times he had to leave home and drive 2 hours to go push a button on a machine or whatever because he was dealing with hospitals where the equipment had to be back up and running as soon as possible.

Similarly, you may not get home at the same hour every day if you're coming from that furthest stop, so it may cut into your evening hours.

Reimbursement is good. There will be a lot of wear and tear on the car.
posted by stefnet at 11:55 AM on May 22, 2007

Reimbursement for mileage? Sounds like he would be using his own vehicle. Obviously, there would be more wear and tear on his car. Less obviously, if his auto insurer finds out he is using his personal car for this his rates will take a huge, huge leap. If there is a claim against the insurance, and the insurer finds out after the fact, there will be trouble.

If he wants to stay on the up and up, make sure the mileage will cover the gas, tires, increased maintenance, and the increased insurance rates. If calling the insurance company to check on the rates, he should be sure to first state that it is for a job under consideration, and be very clear that he does not have the job now. It might be better to call a company other than his current one to check on the rates.
posted by yohko at 12:00 PM on May 22, 2007

I do a lot of traveling. I get a rental every time. I rarely take an overnight. It is not bad. Books on tape help a lot. I wouldn't do the traveling thing in my own car for obvious reasons. I think the current reimbursement for mileage is .41, which is NOT enough to cover wear and tear plus gas.
posted by BrodieShadeTree at 2:11 PM on May 22, 2007

Um, if he's just driving the car to the various jobs, that's not commercial use, although if he's transporting goods that will be used in the course of that work, it's more of a gray area.
posted by wierdo at 3:56 PM on May 22, 2007

Suggest he get a copy of the company's expense policy before accepting the job -- there can be nasty restrictions(e.g., mileage only reimbursed past an 25-mile radius from home). Also, it would help to present some sticky scenarios (customer 150 miles from home wants you back the next day, customer demands you arrive at a site three hours away at 8AM, customer needs support on major holiday, etc.) to see the options the employer would consider acceptable. It's terrible when you drive an extra 300 miles because the company won't pay for a hotel, or you get up at 3:30 because nobody will tell the customer "no" when it comes to scheduling.

My experience has been that every employer thinks it treats its travelling employees well, but there is a HUGE variation in policies and level of respect for the sacrifices a traveller is making. You don't want to end up where you'll be treated like a mobile doormat.
posted by backupjesus at 4:13 PM on May 22, 2007

I do a lot of driving for my work, although I often don't get to come home every day. The main issue for me is that my car isn't as comfortable as I'd like. For everyday driving it's fine but with longer days I've noticed that the steering wheel is slightly offset, and it's totally screwing up my shoulder. Because it's my car it's my fault (plus I'm a student rather than a real employee), so I don't really have any options besides dealing with the soreness. I don't really like driving in general anyway, sitting in one position for long periods of time makes me stiff and grumpy.

Some people can drive all day everyday and be totally fine, some of us find it gets painful and tiresome. So my advice to your friend would be to make sure his car is nice to drive in and won't cause any long term problems and that he really will be happy being stuck in his car a lot.

There are a lot of benefits to working in different places, I really like having happy, nice colleagues spread over various organisations. The variety is fun.
posted by shelleycat at 4:23 PM on May 22, 2007

I worked a job that required a good deal of medium-range travel (think New Orleans, LA to Jacksonville, FL three or four times a month). I was out of town about 75% of the time and drove a company vehicle.

The things I found hardest to deal with were 1) The food. Road food sucks, and even when you can get better food it costs you. 2) Long drive times. I experienced only a little stiffness in my back after 10-12 hour drives, but my ass was numb half the time and I was bored out of my skull. BrodieShadeTree's right - books on tape help alot. 3) Social damage/neglect. After quitting the job I fond that the social ties I had neglected while being out of town so much had eroded alot more than I had anticipated. Seriously, I was surprised at how far a little (involuntary) neglect went.

The things I enjoyed the most about such frequent travel were 1) The food. Though it cost me a bundle, I'd try to stop at local places whenever I could. Sally's Seafood in Morgan City, LA serves up 8 lbs. of boiled crawfish at a time, dumped on your table right in front of you. I never would have tasted the sweet nectar of the Cajun kitchen if I had not had that job. 2) Long drive times. I listened to some books I might otherwise not have, and did a good deal of serious introspection only because I had nothing to do but sit and stare out the front window for hours on end. 3) The pictures. I'm a very ametuer shutter bug. I got mad photos.

I guess I'd most worry about the wear and tear on his car. Other than that, tell him to take a camera.
posted by Pecinpah at 8:22 PM on May 22, 2007

I spent about a year in this kind of arrangement, only my work involved leading on-site deployment teams as well as followup tech support. I'll second and third what everyone's already said. Be prepared for some early mornings and late nights, particularly if you're on-call. If your company is un-shitty, you will be able to push for hotels when appropriate. Chances are your company will be shitty sometimes and un-shitty others, so be prepared for some long redundant travel some days.

You will probably have milage reimbursed at a rate that puts you well below the break-even point. Be sure to get the details of the milage reimbursement, as well as any impact on your insurance, etc and factor this into your cost-benefit analysis. If the job pays well and involves interesting work, it may be worth it. If not, it may not be worth it.
posted by Alterscape at 8:22 PM on May 22, 2007

Another downside: Your car trunk and back seat ends up stuffed with junk.
posted by smackfu at 6:05 AM on May 23, 2007

Yea, take a cmera. This is where I drive. Beautiful. The most remote place is the lower 48.
posted by BrodieShadeTree at 8:01 AM on May 23, 2007