Spin off on being poor/frugal

[auralia]

My DH is TDY right now at a location that has a chow hall... if there is a chow hall you get less money. He still gets 36$ per day for food/incidentals and meals at the chow hall are 2.75 breakfast and 4.75 for lunch and dinner so if he just at there he would only be spending 13 ish per day and yet the goverment still gives him 36$ because they acknowledge you don't always want the ick at the chow hall and that even a fast food meal is 7$ should your employees have to eat nothing but fast food when they are away working for you? also... can you realistically afford an increase in per diem without having to let anyone go?

 

[crashbb]

Our per diem is given per meal (not that you have to spend it on that meal, but it is broken down by which meals you claim).

Breakfast = $12
Lunch = $14
Dinner = $31

So, for a full day it is $57.

If I don't leave until 10am (and that means leaving my house), I can't claim breakfast on the first day. If I get back before 5pm (and that means to my house), I can't claim dinner on the last day. If there is a meal provided (i.e. a conference gala), I cannot claim the meal that it covers.

 

[ekmom]

Thankfully I don't travel for work any more but I did a few times at my last job a long time ago. Back in the early 80s they were allowing $25 a day and even then that was a bit of a stretch if you were going to a big city.

 

[AndreaDM]

Neither DH or I have a set limit. I don't travel that often and when I do, it's usually for seminars or meetings that have meals included. DH has a company card and just puts his meals on that, drinks included. Occasionally I travel with him (Atlantic City last month) and his boss always tells him to just put my meals on the card as well. It's a nice little perk that helps to make up for the insane amount of hours he works.

 

[ekatiel]

DH gets receipts reimbursed up to $75/day. $25 is ridiculously low. --Katie

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

When I worked 6 years ago, the per diem given when traveling was 50.00 a day for meals. If you were going somewhere like NYC or LA, they usually gave more because it cost more to eat out there according to the CFO - it was 75.00 a day at that time.

I did the expense reports and even 50.00 a day didn't cover some of the guys meals - there were some big eaters at the company.

 

[shamrock30]

My husband had to travel to NYC a lot of the time until recently. He wasn't given a set limit, but was asked to keep expenses low so he generally turned in receipts in the $35-$45 a day for food. He didn't eat in restaurants at all. He ate takeaway in the hotel room. Breakfast would not have been included in the hotel price, but he got it due to his "elite" status in the hotel's rewards program so he put in for the gratuity. (He had the status before the business travel started.) I think $25 a day is very low. I think averaging $40 a day in NYC was low too, because eating in a hotel room that has no table every night isn't that convenient.

 

[crashbb]

I should add - we don't submit receipts. We just claim which meals we had to buy and, based on the numbers I posted, we get that amount. So, if you eat cheaply, you can pocket difference. It all tends to work out, since there are trips where you end up having to spend more sicne it is an expensive city (we don't get a city-specific per-diem).

 

[VAfamily1998]

Curious question for those that think $25 is plenty...do you travel frequently for work? Is eating nothing but bread and water for breakfast, stiffing Applebee's waitresses their tips, etc. typical for you several days (or weeks) each month?

If you are an employer and you give your employees about $25, how are your employees? Are they hard working, trustworthy, quality employees? Do you have a high turnover rate?

 

[MineMail]

To answer the OP, the $25 is a little low. Our per diem is higher, but there's a $25 cap on any one meal. I think that's reasonable for a single traveler.

As a PP mentioned it is meant to offset costs not completely cover all.

When I traveled often, that was the company policy. The per diem varied based on where you were traveling to - big cities were typically more expensive for food than other places. The hotel usually includes breakfast, salad or sandwich/soup for lunch ($6-8) and dinner would vary. Since I was working, I often ordered in, which would be around $6-10, or I'd go out to a diner or restaurant for $20. On average, I would spend around $35/day. I usually travel alone, though, so it's not like I'm hanging out in the restaurant. I'm perfectly happy picking up a chicken pot pie and bringing it back to the hotel to eat while I catch up on my personal life.

If you were at home, you'd be spending an unreimbusable amount per day. This is on top of that amount. The per diem isn't your spending limit, it reflects how much of the bill you could expense. You want a $50 steak, no one's stopping you, but the company would only foot the bill for $25 of it, lol.

Just to throw fuel on the fire, one company that I worked for had a "no alcoholic beverages" policy. If you bought it, it was your money paying for it - you couldn't expense it unless you had a client or vendor with you. Then, you could expense the whole bill as "entertainment."

The US Per Diem Rates are listed here : www.gsa.gov/portal/category/21287

Honestly, I love traveling by myself. I don't have to cook or serve meals, worry about what others want to eat, I can watch whatever I want on TV, go visit friends or work out whenever I like. I think of solo traveling as a retreat from my everyday life. I know how tight money is for my employer, so I don't abuse the system.


Off-topic:
??? Being reimbursed for missing kids' activities ??? That's not the intent of a per diem at all, as any regular business traveler will tell you. Most people who travel regularly are well-paid for it in their compensation. If you don't want to travel, don't take the job. To be resentful and expect to be compensated is a recipe for unhappiness.

 

[MineMail]

I should add - we don't submit receipts. We just claim which meals we had to buy and, based on the numbers I posted, we get that amount. So, if you eat cheaply, you can pocket difference. It all tends to work out, since there are trips where you end up having to spend more sicne it is an expensive city (we don't get a city-specific per-diem).

As long as it all works out, that's fine. I know plenty of consultants who claim to be spending their entire per diem, every day and suddenly, when the company wises up and requires receipts, they can suddenly live within the budget, lol.

Same thing for taxi and car service. I once submitted my expense report showing that I took mass transit to the airport and my co-travelers were pissed, because they were going to submit a phony receipt and split the cash between them. (I wonder if they were going to offer me a share of the bogus reimbursement? Probably not.)

 

[VAfamily1998]

Off-topic:
??? Being reimbursed for missing kids' activities ??? That's not the intent of a per diem at all, as any regular business traveler will tell you. Most people who travel regularly are well-paid for it in their compensation. If you don't want to travel, don't take the job.

Not always that simple.
My Dh is active duty military. In the earlier years of our marriage he taveled a lot--long term deployments for 6 months+ to foreign countries.
But in more recent years, he has had a different billet and has done a different type of travel. For several years, he would go away anywhere from 2-3 times each month, with each trip lasting anywhere from a couple days to a couple weeks.
Military members don't have the option to just "not take the job", and I guess whether or not they are "well paid for it in their compensation" is subjective. His co-workers that had similar travel schedules as he ranged anywhere from an E6-O5.

They did, however, receive the per diem rate that has been linked in previous posts by other posters--which I think is usually a fair rate.

 

[Patience]

$25 is low. My husband gets $36 per diem for food when he travels. Now, I have to say that my husband is: a. frugal, b. not a foodie and, c. not terribly interested in eating in restaurants because he eats very little to no unrefined carbs. He has been known to take whole wheat bread and a jar of natural peanut butter with him and eat sandwiches for breakfast and lunch so that he can pocket the unused per diem (he does not have to turn in receipts, he is given $36 as a food allowance for each day he travels). As long as his tummy is full and he is not eating unrefined carbs, he is good to go.

I have mentioned this before but my husband is one reason why I was thrilled with the DDP (upgraded from free dining) on vacation last month. I didn't have to deal with him having a stroke every time a bill was handed to him and we all ordered whatever we wanted. If we wouldn't have had the DDP, he would have been trying to make sure that we all ordered the cheapest thing on the menu and that we were all eating peanut butter sandwiches on whole wheat at least once a day.

 

[VAfamily1998]

. double post!

 

[Pigeon]

Off-topic:
??? Being reimbursed for missing kids' activities ??? That's not the intent of a per diem at all, as any regular business traveler will tell you. Most people who travel regularly are well-paid for it in their compensation. If you don't want to travel, don't take the job. To be resentful and expect to be compensated is a recipe for unhappiness.

I don't think the pp meant that getting decent meals paid for was any sort of compensation for missing your children's activities.

I understand completely what they were saying. I have to travel sometimes for work. I don't enjoy it and would much rather be with my family. I'm not bitter about it, and I knew what I was getting into when I took the job. But traveling is a sacrifice and not a pleasure.

Eating in a restaurant in no way replaces family time. But, the idea of being expected to subsidize the organization's cost for travel is sort of adding insult to injury.

 

[tlbwriter]

I don't think the pp meant that getting decent meals paid for was any sort of compensation for missing your children's activities.

I understand completely what they were saying. I have to travel sometimes for work. I don't enjoy it and would much rather be with my family. I'm not bitter about it, and I knew what I was getting into when I took the job. But traveling is a sacrifice and not a pleasure.

Eating in a restaurant in no way replaces family time. But, the idea of being expected to subsidize the organization's cost for travel is sort of adding insult to injury.

Yes, this. When you're taking people away from their homes and families, it seems petty to insist that you will not pay them enough to easily get a decent meal where they are. It's basically saying "You can't stay home tonight, but I expect you to eat as if you were, even though you don't have your kitchen there with you."

 

[tlbwriter]

I don't think the pp meant that getting decent meals paid for was any sort of compensation for missing your children's activities.

I understand completely what they were saying. I have to travel sometimes for work. I don't enjoy it and would much rather be with my family. I'm not bitter about it, and I knew what I was getting into when I took the job. But traveling is a sacrifice and not a pleasure.

Eating in a restaurant in no way replaces family time. But, the idea of being expected to subsidize the organization's cost for travel is sort of adding insult to injury.

Yes, this. When you're taking people away from their homes and families, it seems petty to insist that you will not pay them enough to easily get a decent meal where they are. It's basically saying "You can't stay home tonight, but I expect you to eat as if you were, even though you don't have your kitchen there with you."

 

[MineMail]

Not always that simple. My Dh is active duty military. <snip> Military members don't have the option to just "not take the job", and I guess whether or not they are "well paid for it in their compensation" is subjective. His co-workers that had similar travel schedules as he ranged anywhere from an E6-O5.

My thanks to your husband, but there was no need to bring him into this conversation other than to say that the Government, known to be a little tight-fisted, pays more per diem than the OP. Military Duty is a completely different ball game from the OP's situation, where at-will employees chose to take jobs that required travel.

don't think the pp meant that getting decent meals paid for was any sort of compensation for missing your children's activities.

Actually, the post I read is on the second page.

Eating in a restaurant in no way replaces family time. But, the idea of being expected to subsidize the organization's cost for travel is sort of adding insult to injury.

I agree that it doesn't replace family time, but if you feel injured by having to travel for your career, I don't think pricey meals are going to help much.

 

[MineMail]

Yes, this. When you're taking people away from their homes and families, it seems petty to insist that you will not pay them enough to easily get a decent meal where they are. It's basically saying "You can't stay home tonight, but I expect you to eat as if you were, even though you don't have your kitchen there with you."

Huh? You absolutely can get a healthy, decent meal in pretty much any town when you travel, unless you work for the slavedriver who insisted we had to fly cross-country and be at the client by mid-morning, so the company saved the cost of one hotel night. Too bad the flights were often delayed or cancelled, so we rarely made it there before lunchtime and he had to credit the client a half-day. We billed him for the overpriced airport breakfasts and lunches, along with long-distance phone charges and exorbitant internet access during the delays. Would have been less expensive to pay for the hotel room.

If you choose a job requiring travel, assume that there will be times that you'll be away from your home and family.

It's basically saying "You can't stay home tonight, but I expect you to eat as if you were, even though you don't have your kitchen there with you."

No, it's "If you were home, you'd spend some amount. Here's a budget of $-- to spend over that amount, to compensate you for the inconvenience."

I once drove four states away for a business trip, through pouring rain. I left in the evening, after having had to work later than planned at the office. When I got to the town, the only thing open was McDonald's and an overpriced restaurant. I chose the overpriced restaurant, which was more than $25 for the meal. (Food was great, though.) I submitted my expense report/receipts with a note, explaining the situation. It was authorized the same day and given back to me with the comment of "We know you're honest about travel expenses. No problem, but don't make a habit of it."


Per diem is NOT a way to make money off business trips. People who think that way are the ones who ruin it for everyone in the company.
That's why there are limits / caps, why companies start requiring receipts, and why some people lose their jobs.

 

[VAfamily1998]

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