With oil prices climbing, cost of automobile ownership increasing, and work place stress on the rise, maybe it is time to revisit the idea of a "4 Day Work Week" which was last proposed during the energy crisis in the 1970s.
With oil prices climbing, cost of automobile ownership increasing, and work place stress on the rise, maybe it is time to revisit the idea of a "4 Day Work Week" which was last proposed during the energy crisis in the 1970s. Whether a business staggers the extra day off between employees on different days or just chooses to shut down one day more per week, the resulting oil savings alone would have a significant impact at the price we pay at the pump. This is just considering the oil saved nation wide by decreasing our weekly commutes to work by one day. One estimate calculated that the savings would be over 8 million barrels of oil saved per day.
Not only would we save at the pump, but we would also save in the store. The goods we buy must be transported and fuel costs for transportation add to the cost of the product. Some will quickly point out that the cost would be only a couple of pennies. Yes, that is true. But, multiply that couple of pennies by the number of individual items that you purchase per year and the savings are worthy of us taking note. How often does your shopping cart at the grocery store qualify for the 15 items or less lane? I often go way over the 15 item limit. Even at just 15 items, I would save 30 cents. That is like being able to use one extra coupon per visit.
So, maybe it is time that we all begin to think about this "not so new" concept and decide if it is worth pursuing. Aaron Newton compiled a list of 16 Reasons that the 4 day work week is a good idea. I have only briefly discussed one of them. To see the full details and the other 15 reasons, go to TheOilDrum.com.
