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Comment by nickstewart | Hacker News Reader

Why is the author including the commute and taxes in the final figure? I mean doesn't the apply to pretty much everyone?

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When you take a side job, you want to know the actual amount of money you're going to make, right?

The amount before taxes and commute are in the article too, if that's what you're interested in.

That’s the whole point: the cost of commuting to the job plus taxes plus mandatory meal credit makes the entire job barely profitable. On top of that you’re always just one car breakdown away, or one illness away, or one gas price increase away from going broke.

Yes, and they are fixed regardless of your wage. As a FAANG employee, they are negligible in the grand scheme of things; but as a minimum wage worker, they will meaningfully eat into your earned income.

If we’re going to include taxes in the figure, we should include the Earned Income Tax Credit and other transfer programs, too.

The question asked in the article is: is it worth taking this as a side job? If you include the EITC you'd have to factor in the income limits associated with the credit, i.e., that earning more money could actually cost you by making you ineligible. So that's probably more confusing than it's worth.

They are pointing out that the wage is so low it's net zero and any money made is from tips

They’re also adding in a one time cost for shoes in their calculations on 8.5 (IIRC) shifts to come up with their low number. Shoes which should last a few hundred shifts minimum. And are tax deductible if you itemize.

Also the food credit is only a loss if you don’t use it, it’s a net gain if you get the maximum amount of food because I highly doubt it’s capped at $3.whatever.

Bad math is just bad math.

They apply everywhere, but for a job to be economically useful to its occupant it has to be a net gain in wealth.

Yah but you choose a job and its commute time etc. Those are individual choices that arent the responsibility of a commuter. Its like saying i make 100k in new york but i commute to new york by airplane and thus k only make 2k a year

If you write an article about jobs on New York I would also like you to include a realistic commute expensive.

Do you not want the article to mention tax and commute at all?

For most, not owning a car is a choice that can not reasonably be taken.

I think it's fair to do this. If the employer takes the perspective of a business (providing a good or service, their labor, in exchange for cash, or a paycheck) it's part of the cost of doing business and can be seen as a fixed cost.

To final number helps explain why there is a labor shortage in that field.

I'm not from that country and the total number helped me to understand the situations better.

If you don't commute, you really can't do a job as a server, can you?

Why not?

Most restaurants do not offer sleeping accommodations.

Yeah true.

If you live a few minutes walk from work I did not think of it as a commute. But you are right, technically it still is. My bad.

I assume you move next to your office every time you get a new job?

No, what makes you think that?

Don't give them any ideas.

I'm not sure how you'd serve customers from the comfort of your home

I know people living in the same house as the restaurant they work at.

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