Not to take job as it's 1 hour commute ?

[pollyputaket]

Basically I've been looking for a job for a while now and the only job I've been offered is 1 hour commute.
It's a 5 min walk from my house to train station
Then 50 min train journey
Plus 5 min walk from train station to office.
£11 train per day travel
So that is £55 on fares per week
Aibu not to take it for this reason ?
What would you do?

It depends on the train. I commute an hour with the tube but luckily I am start of the line and get a seat 99% of the time. So I can read and it's fine. 2 stops down the line and zero chance of a seat and it's rammed (okay this is pre-covid) and unpleasant, you found listen to music but it's not pleasant.

I’ve commuted longer for less in the past. Any work experience is valuable if your CV lacks it - it’s a stepping stone to open up more opportunities in the future.

It’s not a dilemma! £300 - £400 better off is definitely worth it let alone the boost to your self esteem/work skills,etc. NMW or not, having a job makes you way more attractive to future employers compared to the millions who don’t. What does it show? Grit & work ethic!

[quote pollyputaket]@JorisBonson I say "wasted money "as my last job was walking distance so my travel costs were 0
£200 travel on a min wage job seems like a lot of money wasted (because previously on similar wage my travel was 0) [/quote]
OP this may have good reasoning if you were still in the job with no commute. However the job market for you is difficult at the moment (I don’t mean the general problems as your first post said you have been searching and this is the only job that you have been offered.)

*The OP doesn't live in London. She lives in a small city an hour away from Newcastle, probably somewhere like Middlesborough.

In Middlesborough, you can buy a terraced house for under £50k. Even single people on NMW can get a mortgage for that.

Obviously if the OP is currently unemployed, she should take this job. But there aren't many people in northern cities who commute an hour to NMW jobs, because it's likely they can get a similar job with a much shorter commute.*

Sorry I missed that info.
I guess I've only lived in London and the home counties and with the exception of teachers and GPs, most people I know do similar commutes.

It's just the massive chunk (for me ) of money wasted on travel.

It's not wasted. By taking the job you are profiting by at least £282-£160 = £122 a month (£222 if you walk). OK it's not a huge amount and you might get a better offer from another employer but you have been looking for a long time and this is a bird in the hand. Unless the commute is going to make your illness worse? Or unless your benefits will be cut in some other way when you start work?

Second, because this could be a small step towards getting a better job. You have to start somewhere and it would be a bigger waste if you never get to take the first step.

Depends where you live. No one commutes for an hour where I live. Half hour max. So I’d feel annoyed with that.

But I would do it temp for 6 months to then wfh.

I would like to be able to walk to work but I live too far away from where the jobs are. I did have a job locally once and the people there were so awful. now i get on the bus and listen to an audible. It's fine! I kind of like being on the bus! (oooh the glamour)

[quote pollyputaket]@JorisBonson I say "wasted money "as my last job was walking distance so my travel costs were 0
£200 travel on a min wage job seems like a lot of money wasted (because previously on similar wage my travel was 0) [/quote]
You'll probably find that there's a travel card offered by your work once you start. So my leapcard would cost me 40 euro a week but only 29 is deducted from my wages every week because work take the deduction before tax (?) so it ends up being less than you'd pay.

Take the job and you'll probably be offered this. It's very standard. I worked in the UK years ago and had the same deal.

What happens to your current benefits if you turn it down though?

I was scared to take that leap from benefits to working as well though. It is a big leap because you feel like you have to know that it will work out. And there are no guarantees, so it is scary.

I think there's probably 1000s applying for 1 customer service based role so things aren't difficult.
I will 99% take the job and keep applying in the mean time etc
I want to return back to work and just start living again ,it's good to meet new people too and hopefully make some friends.
The thought of having a good reason to get up every day makes me smile.
I hate having to rely on benefits..

@Bluesheep8 nothing I'm currently on sickness benefits so no pressure to look for work.
I had a Assesment and have been placed in the support group of Esa till next year but I want to be back to work ASAP.

But there aren't many people in northern cities who commute an hour to NMW jobs, because it's likely they can get a similar job with a much shorter commute.

The OP says she's been looking for a job for while and this is the only offer - so local NMW jobs can't be that thick on the ground.

Depends on what the job is and how well paid it is, also how much you need a job. A one hour commute on public transport is pretty standard for many people living in outer London and not working in their immediate area.

What is academy

Just see it as a stop gap if it helps. There's no such thing as a permanent job anyway.

@Porridgeoat academy is what they call the training when they get you up to speed with products etc

That sounds an easy commute - why wouldn't you take it?

I had an awful commute once, but I did it for 2 1/2 years and it enabled me to get a better aid, more convenient job.

It was a 15 minute hilly walk to a semi rural bus stop, wait between 0 and 20 minutes for the irregular bus to turn up, 1 hour on said jolting, uncomfortable bus, stopping at every single stop to let 1 passenger on and off, and 10 minutes walk at the other end. Awful in cold weather. Or I could drive in, but parking was about £25 per day!

Im some countries, your commuting to work expenses are completey tax deductible. It always strikes me as unfair that that isn't the case in Britain.

^You'll probably find that there's a travel card offered by your work once you start. So my leapcard would cost me 40 euro a week but only 29 is deducted from my wages every week because work take the deduction before tax (?) so it ends up being less than you'd pay.

Take the job and you'll probably be offered this. It's very standard. I worked in the UK years ago and had the same deal^

Not standard at all in the UK. Commuting is not tax deductable and loans to help with commuting costs are almost unheard of outside London.

I think you get it in some public sector jobs but I've not heard of it in private

An all zone metro ticket is £80 for the month op? Surely this would cover you from Sunderland to Four Lane Ends? How are you figuring £200? An annual all zone metro ticket is about £800 I think.

@LBunz sorry I did my working out wrong.
It's four lane ends the metro stops but the business park is 5 mins away by car (by map I thought walk but it meant drive )
So from four lane ends I would need a Uber there and back which adds the cost or I get off at longbenton and walk which just leaves the metro cost

I bloody hate commuting, so I wouldn't! I jacked in a job in the West End because of the commute, and I only lived in Croydon at the time. The vile crowded, smelly trains, being crammed in like cattle with your face in someone's stinky armpit, getting groped by perves etc was my idea of hell.

I don't know what trains are like outside the SE, but in the 18 months when my late DP was commuting from Sussex to London, there was never a week when there wasn't a serious delay on at least one leg of the journey, and several weeks when it was irevoccably fucked the majority of the time. Bad weather, signal failures, jumpers, train breakdowns, broken level crossings, floods, cattle on the line - every week there was something, often several different events.

His 70 minute train journey home should have got him to our local station just after 7, but it wasn't unusual for it to be well past 9pm. And there were quite a few occasions when the trains terminated early and I had to do a 24 mile round trip to pick him up. I had to pick him up from East Croydon once, and brought 2 strangers back to Sussex as well.

If you have decent trains where you live, it might be ok. My friend is in a village in the West Midlands, and she has a far better service into Birmingham than we have into London from our commuter town.

Seriously..take the job its not a dreadful commute and its a lot better than where you are currently..

Its much easier to get a better job when you've got a job...

Give it 6 months then maybe wfh will be an option or look for a better job...
Can you move closer??