Refused life hack

Life Hacking
1

Hey everybody,
I just wanted to share a life hack that i decided to not exploit:
I own mid-size a motorbike. some years ago i calculated what its use costs me. i calculated some 8.xx rp./km for gasoline, and crediting insurance, tax, replacement parts and repairs i can’t do myself, i would end up at far below 20rp/km. Then, on a single occasion i went on a “business” trip that resulted in a refund for the drive of 60rp/km by my employer, which is a standard number for these matters in switzerland.

that is 200% margin! doing 60km per hour overland, this would boost my salary by CHF 24/ hour. Tax free!

I decided then to not exploit this further for different reasons.
what do you think? DO you have other stories like this?

1 Like
2

Hey @nugget,

Thanks for sharing this life hack refusal.
Before telling you what I think, I’d ask you why did you do so? I’ve my answers but they’re nothing before you share you thinking process.

I can’t think of such a story but will get back to you in case it pops up!

3

well, it obviously conflicted with my sense of ethics, which is a very personal thing. using vs. abusing. second, there turned out to be only few opportunities, totalling in some CHF 200 over a couple of years according to my calculation above. and last but not least, that money comes from the stash that in the end pays me and my PhD project, so i would kind of burn my own funds :wink:

now it’s your turn!

4

Hey _MP,

so what is in your mind? I am curious!

5

Hey @nugget,

Sorry for the late reply, being quite busy these last weeks…
I would have ended up to a nogo too because of:

  • Ecological non-sense: why take a motorbike when you can take public transportation which I supposed would be reimbursed too by your company
  • Time usage non-sense: take the bus/train, and make profits out of this time by working from your computer — or reading, or anything worth to do during a commute
  • Economical ethic non-sense: as you said, you would try to make money from your own company by using unfair tricks

If motorbike would be the only way, and you happen to like it, then it would be a different story.

I re-read your initial message, which led me to think you had other means of transportation than motorbike, correct?

6

Hey _MP,
i agree on all the three points :slight_smile: but there is a tricky aspect:
since i own a GA (i paid myself) I will not get any refund for a train ride. This actually leads to another interesting topic of work travel expenses…

I re-read your initial message, which led me to think you had other means of transportation than motorbike, correct?

yes, the train.

7

That’s stupid for train…
In my company I’m lucky we can report these expenses, on a trust basis. What would be the world without it else.

What you could try to do: ask your company to switch to SBB Business app. Then you buy all tickets via this means, and make a checkpoint with them at the end of the year. Ideally you would have numbers proving they can pay you a GA — or at least give you a yearly allowance based on this trial.

I’m sure there exist some GPS tracking tool that’s independent enough to be seen as a proof by a company.

In the end I think it all depend how they are eager to collaborate. And be fair. And not stupid :wink:

8

thats all good reasoning.
in my case it does not apply since the cumulative sum would have benn maybe CHF 300, nobody is going to change stuff for such peanuts^^

9

That’s a pity. In all the companies I worked until now in ch they reimbursed me half tax costs plus any half tax train ticket I “virtually buy” (since I have a GA) if I have to travel for work.
I thought it was standard in CH