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?

@RainingBatsAndFrogs yeah it will be my first job since.

I love how all these people are saying that no-one outside of London does this commute.

I commute for 1 hour to Newcastle as do a lot of my colleagues, friends and family.

If you're out of work now then surely you'll be better off and have some experience when you look for other jobs.

The thing is though, you won't get a better paying job without experience. So yes, you might need to do a commute for a NMW job now, but if you use that experience to apply for something with better pay/closer in the future, then you'll benefit from it in the long run. Any job is better than no job if you eventually want to move up in your career.

@KenAdams I have over 10 years experience in admin /customer service

So pointing out that you would rather sit on benefits than actually accept the only job you've been offered is "dropping poison"

Aye right.

Personally I've never had a commute less than an hour. I'm London based though so that's pretty standard. I think being in work helps to find other jobs too though so I'd say worth it, even if for the short term.

@ArnoJambonsBike well considering I've said I'm applying for lots of customer service jobs and have another interview coming up ..how is that wanting to sit on benefits ?
I'm assuming anyone happy on benefits wouldn't be applying for jobs would they ?

[quote pollyputaket]@MinesAPintOfTea no I don't want to move as my family live in Sunderland and also the hassle of looking for new house /moving etc etc
I think that would be more stress than just a bit of a commute
Also I love my house and it's so close to my city centre and everything on my door step [/quote]
Fair enough. It’s just an option to consider.

For comparison, I did (pre covid) have an hour commute to another northern city. It’s not that rare.

To me it would be too long a commute, but it depends if you have young children, what the working hours are etc? Before I had kids I used to commute 1 hour 20 minutes each way to work.

I do get where you are coming from OP. I live and work in London with a 15 minute work commute (driving). When I lost my licence I had to get a bus then a train and then a walk which took 45 minutes and cost loads more ! Seemed crazy to me.

But you really need to take this job. A job is more than just money, it's self reliance, self esteem building and a stepping stone to something better. Good luck.

Refusing to take a job because you have to commute is wanting to sit on benefits IMO. You've said earlier that you thought it was working from home, but now you have to actually go to work, you'd rather take tax payers money than have to pay in to the system yourself because the difference between working and not working is approx £240.

@ArnoJambonsBike no it's nothing to do with not working from home.
It's the fact it's over a hour there and back and finishing possibly hours 11pm where I would need to pay for a taxi to get me to the station to catch the last train.
All of that hits into any wages

Oh so it won't really be a train ride is a metro ride I wouldn't move to Sunderland either however no idea how it would cost you 55 a week there are travel passes that cover most of the North east on all transport one is about £7 that covers buses trains and metros and ferries

7 quid a day that is

@pollyputaket, with all due respect, I think you're looking for a good reason not to take this job as you've lost your confidence. Its not surprising given all you've been through. But imagine how amazing you'll feel when you've started working , figured out all the travel arrangements and have a bit more cash in your pocket.

I hope you go for it, I really do

Take it and thank your lucky stars you have a job. Can’t see the problem as the journey is straight forward.

I would not pay £55 a week to commute to a minimum wage job. That's a day's wages.

It won't cost anything like £55 a week though, weekly and monthly tickets will cut the cost a lot.

I understand your thinking but I don’t think it’s acceptable to not work because you’d only be better off by £240 a month . You’d be better off by your current benefit income and the £240 .
Not earning your own money means you’re taking it from someone else .

@Disfordarkchocolate it's £78.30 for a 4 week pass
If I was going to get the Uber from station to business park it adds on another £120 a month

@MaudHatter my point was it seemed like a lot for a small wage and 10 hour /11 hour min wage job

I assume those happy on benefits are applying for jobs because they’re being made to apply for jobs. Those who don’t want to work will be thinking like you and looking for the cons instead of the pros .

It is a lot of you can’t get a weekly pass cheaper . What’s the alternative though ?