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News for Seattle, Washington
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So now Mike, a sheet metal contractor, has enlisted in a growing movement to change the way America does business. Whenever possible he and his men work four-day weeks – 10 hour shifts – as a way to cut costs, reduce pollution and congestion.
“It would be astronomical what states, the federal government and the nation and the world could save on energy consumption, pollution traffic congestion and everything else,” he said. The idea isn’t new one. The oil crisis of the 1970s prompted some employers to switch to a four-day work week, but the idea never took hold nationally. These days, though, energy and congestion issues may give the concept more traction. Several petition drives for a shortened work week are now circulating on the Internet.
A handful of cities in Nevada, California and Arizona are experimenting with the idea. Working four days instead of five would mean 20 percent fewer trips to and from work, reducing oil consumption by an estimated 40 percent. That’s about 65 million fewer gallons of gas used per day, not to mention more time with family, and for Mike Cummings, a bit more hope for the future.
Seems like a relatively easy solution. I switched to a 4 day work week about a year ago, between the fuel savings and the improvement in my attitude overall, its been nothing but positive. I highly recommend it.
This is a great idea as a health care worker I work 3 twelve hour days per week with full benefits. I have never enjoyed my time more.
Have been on a 4-day week since last Summer…longer days but, the 3 day weekends are great…can’t afford to drive anywhere now but still, the worst day off is still better than the best day at work.
I’ve been on a 4-day work week for a while. I mean I still go into work 5 days. I just stopped doing any work on fridays.
Everyone in my office now works 4 days at home (using the Interwebitubes) and we meet 1 day a week at the office.
Eventually we’ll eliminate the office, use off-site servers and just meet once a week at Starbucks.
That’s how I can still afford to drive my V8 Mustang GT.
I’d love to do 4 10 hour days…3 days off would be perfect. However, so many labor laws are in the way, and employers would hate it I’m sure.
What about people who work 10-hour days already? Or more? Do they get to work four 18-hour days?
Sounds like a good solution for the sheetrock guys, or workers at the Ford plant, but not a practical solution for many others.
Not much could for a workplace that provides services to other workplaces that don’t have 4 day work weeks.
#5 What labor law do youthink get’s in the way of 4 x 10 hour days?
Why should we compromise. This nation was built on the ability to move freely within the borders. If the settlers had compromised then maybe the U.S. would still be East of the Rockies. Our economy is based on this principle of free trade between States and the ability to do business via travel to new markets. Demand should drive price competitiveness, however OPEC’s constricting policy is a punishment and buffer against U.S. presence in the Middle East. This equals the American Middle Class and Poor being punched in the pocketbook at every fill up. Our economy is at war – they have brought the war to U.S. soil via the attrition of hard working Americans.
As for peak oil – the news I have read is that that there are vast untapped amounts of oil yet to be realized. With a volume of 1,097,509,500,000,000,000,000 cubic meters, we have only perhaps realized .005% of the Earths oil potential.
As for the environment… the greedy oil companies and auto manufacturer’s know that exhaust systems exist that can “scrub” diesel and gas emissions down to near zero. I don’t want to destroy the atmosphere anymore than anyone else and there are ways so we don’t have to. The oil and car manufacturer’s should subsidize funding to retrofit every car and truck within 4 years – America should lead the world not follow in this attitude.
If you want to look at the wrong path to take look at China and the mess they are spewing into the skies at least we have environmentally considerate policies and regulation – But more needs to be done.
Honest Americans deserve the right to life, liberty and happiness – none of which we are going to have if the core of our economy is gutted. We must urge our representatives at every level of government to ask questions and demand core answers from oil companies, refiners and OPEC.
My children need assurance that the American Dream is still going to be there, just as they need to breathe clean air – we have to strike a balance, logic demands it.
What about some flex time and flex schedules? And perhaps some places that allow you to work from home?
Aren’t we all connected already?
If you’re just filing TPS Reports, then do that from the comfort of your double recliner. If you’ve got to save lives, then get a room at the hospital and do a week on and a week off.
Lucky I get paid to blog.
Jeff
http://www.thingstoworryabout.com
It would give us much more time with our families for touring & trips to the beach.
RBG
the problem here is a basic change in society is in order, that’s why people can’t even wrap their heads around the concept beyond an elementary level.
>>the news I have read is that that there are
>>vast untapped amounts of oil yet to be
>>realized.
Link?
13, people like this don’t rely on quaint things like “facts”
#8 you’re a nut
My wife’s a nurse.
She does 2 16-hr shifts, and 1 8-hr shift a week. Four days off a week, I’m envious.
#8 You need to read http://theoildrum.com and http://lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/
All of the misinformation in that post has been disproven. We are at the limits of what we can suck from the ground, it matters not how much is left. Demand continues to grow faster than supply, and supply has been stagnant for three years now, in a couple of years it will start declining.
Its a fact of geology, not a conspiracy of oil companies or OPEC. We can only pull so much out so fast due to EROI (energy returned over invested)
To ease the cost of fuel, shorten the work week!
I used to work a job that had a rotating 12-hour shift, which averaged 42 hours per week, but I wouldn’t recommend it. 12-hour shifts are brutal if you have outside interests. It would be better if the government created incentives for businesses to offer a voluntary 4-day workweek having 8-hour workdays and also a voluntary 5-day workweek with 6-hour workdays. There shouldn’t be a loss of productivity because there are now fewer jobs than workers to fill those positions.
Yeah I’m nuts…
http://www.populistamerica.com/peak_oil_true_or_false
http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,600125803,00.html
http://europe.theoildrum.com/node/2480
- There’s three for you.
It’s easy to call names… As a parent and father I like to take the higher ground.
I remember my employer implementing similar programs for a while 10 years ago. 4-10 is really easy to do, we also had a weird one where you would work 8 9-hour days and would tale the ninth day off (no one really like it). But flex scheduling is a great idea, I wish my employer would reconsider it again.
I have a job that is a prefect fit for tele-commuting (database & misc tech support) so of course I have to come into the office everyday. [sigh]