Rising fuel costs and personal mileage

[news4u2day]

All my guys have take home cars. Most (9) are 06 and 07 Explorers that get 13-15 mpg and the rest are Escapes that don't get much better. Everyone uses the vehicles for personal use and now that fuel is over $3.00, they are using the take home car more for personal reasons. This has become a "hot button" with the business manager when they saw one of my photogs with a bike carrier on his unmarked vehicle at one of the local parks! Personal mileage for the most part has never been enforced, going one on one with someone who abused the privilege. Until the last three years, we did not even keep up with the fuel charges we made. Now, I will be required to draft a comprehensive policy on the issue. The other related problem is driving family members in company vehicles. They have been allowed to take family members to school, games, etc. Several of the photogs have child car seats in the vehicle. That one is easy by banning all passengers except station employees. But I am looking for feedback on the personal mileage. I don't have a problem if they stop at the grocery store or gym on their way home but where do you draw the line? Does anyone have a written policy already in place? One of the other stations in town made all their photogs sign agreements that they only drive company vehicles to and from work. Also where does tax libility for the personal mileage fall. I prefer to have the cars out in the coverage area rather than parked downtown when their is breaking news. But I can not win the battle with the bean counters unless I get cooperation from the photos.

 

[lake4]

First off I'm not a staff guy and the very thought of being one always gave me hives for reasons similar to this one. What the hell is the purpose of having a take home vehicle in the first place if it's not to have your gear and your photographer together 24/7 where they can respond to your stations needs ? So you want to regulate personal mileage from business ? You want your photog's take home car with his gear to be parked in his driveway miles away from wherever he might be on personal time ? Thats simply ignorant and unrealistic. So he leaves the gear and car at home, drives to wherever in his personal car and spot news happens where he is or near him. Now what ? Why have take home vehicles in the first place if you don't want your photographers to be able to respond to news 24/7/365 ? Makes no sense. Thank Jesus I never went to a staff position and had to put up with this type of stupidity.

 

[svp]

news4u2day,

I am a staff photog with a take home vehicle and gear. I too have been concerned with the rising gas prices and thought we would have lost the take home vehicles before now but the Chief ensures us we will never lose them. I agree with lake4, what's the point of having a take home vehicle if it can't be used for personal use? What good does it do me or the station if I'm driving to the mall and drive up on a house engulfed in fire if I'm in my personal vehicle? There seems to be only two options here. 1. Photogs continue to take vehicles and gear home and use those vehicles for their personal use, enabling them to respond immediately to breaking news in their area, or 2. You park the cars and nobody has a take home car or gear! Go ahead, park the cars, be last to respond to breaking news, and slip in the ratings and I bet the bean counters won't argue with you again. Another station here in town is going to take away vehicles from their photogs because of gas prices and I'm looking forward to it. They are pretty good about being first on the scene and live with breaking news but that's going to change. As a result, they're sure to fall in the ratings which is good for the rest of us.

 

[shade]

svp,

I'm a chief in a southeast market and a huge fan of take home cars, but my photogs are not allowed to use them for personal reasons. They are though, allowed to take the kids to school in the am on the way to work etc, justifiable situations that I can back up in case of an ax etc u get the pix. As for your example of going to the mall and drive up on a fire, if there had been no fire where would you have left the camera while in the mall? drag it with you inside? or in the lockbox in the parking lot, see where I'm getting at. As for no one takes the cars home and miss breaking news, well reality is that the bean counters really could give a rats ass about breaking news they would recomend hiring a stringer service and save the balance on extra insurance charged for the take home rider in the policy. there is no hard and easy answer to the situation, suggestion is to stay under the radar dont overuse the vehicle until the fuel situation is over and/or the bean counter gets use to the shock of the price of gas.

 

[micaelb]

Make it worthwhile

We can't always make it happen but if we can shoot a weather shot a couple days a week on the way in and or drive directly to a story once in a while it can make a difference, it can prove that it makes sense to take a car home in addition to the "fast response to spot news" argument.
As far as personal use, there is always one guy who is "on call" and no matter where he is or what he's doing on his off hours he's expected to have his gear and car and be ready respond.
Make sure your ND knows when you do make the take home car work in your favor, spot news or otherwise.
I'm not sure why we keep buying gas hogs either. We just added 2 Explorers and didn't even look at any other option. It seems buying a more economical car would save make sense when it's time to replace a vehicle.
We don't want to see cars with logos parked outside bars but if the logo is out and about at other places isn't that a good thing?

 

[Jonathan]

Yeah, I won't name names but I once saw a marked news car parked outside a strip club in Atlanta. Maybe they were doing a story.

 

[Necktie Boy]

I thought the deal was if you took a car home, you would be available for spot news or whatever?

 

[lake4]

Having to drive a "marked" news car is the ultimate insult to anyones common sense. Leave it to local tv to think this is a good idea to make your photographer and his gear a neon target for the scumbags of this world. Anyone dumb enough to drive one is likely dumb enough to park it at a strip club. Maybe he was lost and asking for directions ? : )

 

[ftbal02freak]

I have a take home car and love it. Of course the main reason i'm able to save gas in my personal car. Most of the shooters at my shop have take home cars. But there are a couple of them that don't answer their phones not willing to work extra hours if needed. So I think to myself why do they still have take home cars, I still don't know. So myself and another photog are the ones that do most of the OT while everyone else goes party.

 

[micaelb]

Thanks lake4, I'm dumb because I drive a car with a logo?
I'm not sure why you dislike the thought of being a staff photog so much. It seems to me to be there are some really good places to work and some that aren't very good. I feel fortunate to be working at a good place now in a city I like with family all around. I'm proud to be a part of the staff I work with and I'm proud of the work we do.
I'm sure you were trying to be funny when you wrote that and I'm really not so sensitive that I'm hurt by what you think of staff photogs. And, there are times I would rather not have a big logo on my car except when I fill it with fuel and pay for it with my company card.
As to the fuel cost issue, my car is a flexfuel vehicle and I buy E85 when I can. It's 60 cents a gallon cheaper then regular right now.

 

[news4u2day]

Thanks for the feedback. First off, it's the company car, as long as they pay for it and pay me to drive it, they can put anything they want to on the side of it. If your company freely allows you to drive the company vehicle for personal use, then they also have the right to show that as income on your W-2. Then the IRS taxes you for the benefit. This can be done without any logging of miles, they use a standard IRS formula that states the percentage of miles driven annually for personal use. Have you ever thought that you made more money when you look at your W-2 than you got? So that's OK with you to pay the taxes, does that give you unlimited use on a vehicle? I terminated a photog when we determined he used his company vehicle on vacation. I had a photog in an accident recently with his 10 month old child in a car seat in the vehicle. As stated before, had a photog at a park with a bike carrier on his Explorer. I have talked with other chiefs and more stations than less have dropped the hammer on personal use. I think the 24-7-365 availablility is not a good reason for the personal mileage. Think about it; if you are "at the mall' or "at your son's ballgame" are your really available if needed. We have an on call system in place that allows the person on call to know that and be ready to go. However the on call system creates the "I'm not on call" response when there is breaking news close to a photogs home. Common sense would go a long way here to keep the vehicles with the photogs and the trust doing so stays intact.

 

[TexasDave]

I would think about a "mileage cap" policy, if not just for the beancounters. It is a tough call on company cars. When I was chief, I had a car and used it for work and personal use. So here's my suggestion...come up with a rough number (say 250 miles a week - just throwing that number out there) that can be used for personal use - not including to and from work driving. That way the number-crunchers can say there is a policy in place, and it somewhat limits the use of driving.

If the shooters are using the cars to drive around town, go shopping, pick up groceries - it shouldn't be a big deal. We did have to fire someone who decided to leave the state in a marked company car - that was unacceptable. If you and your staff could come up with a rough mileage number - that might work for now.

Those who get really upset with that may indicate they are abusing their privilidges.

If you want to go extreme - put in GPS for tracking. I am against this, for the record, but you'll get an idea of who's doing what. I believe a company car is a privlidge and shouldn't be abused. It's fine with me if they use it for personal errands, just not abused.

 

[Mr MoOz]

Food for thought, you may want to talk with your PIOs at the FD and PD, see what they use to cap personal use. They are in similar situation.

I think the real core issue is, what is the relationship 'tween management and employee in expectations with this take home car. Why is it given, what is expected, where can you use it, when is it not to be used? The more confusion there is, the more room for misuse.

I think what you can do is make the rules far more specific as to when and where you can use the car outside of work. Then if you are found to break them, then act hard and quick. I wouldn't go chasing anyone down to find out what they are doing.

Limit take-home to those who are on call. On call means that you answer in 10 minutes via phone. If you have something planned that night, the obligation will be to call the desk ahead of it to advise the non-availability.

You will need to clarify "what if's?" Such as, DUI, Accident, Family injury in the car, theft of equipment, so on... and what happens then.

I have seen other companies state that a company car used improperly during personal time, that is involved in an accident will be charged to that driver. Thats harsh, especially if you lose a family member in that accident and then having to pay full fare for the ax. Not something I would even recommend. But folks taking cars home need to know that accounting sees these ideas used elsewhere. They see numbers not the personal issues, the more perceived abuse, the harder the personal restrictions.

As an employee you only see a car as a cool bene, as management it is more of a liability than an asset.

You are in a tough spot. Your job is to take care of your crew, but also take care of what management wants. What ever is created as a policy, make sure it is station wide. Don't let sales, etc get differing rules. That will only build resentment.

If after all this management says that the car is part of the job package, thus lower pay than comp.; you need to make allowances for those who do not want a car as payment when hired.

Just some random thoughts.

 

[Goon]

I guess eventually some stations will ultimately downgrade from SUVs to wagons. I'm suprised most places still use SUVs especially with all the city driving in bigger markets. A couple months ago the New York Times had an article about how on average station wagons actually have more cargo room than SUVs. As for your current situation I can see the dilema.

Maybe you could track all the times when an off duty photog stumbled onto breaking news in his news vehicle or when you scooped the competition b/c the photog didn't have to come all the way in to work to get his gear and then take that data and show management how it will hurt the end product.

 

[BNVN]

Um, yeah... Anybody thought of just recording the millage and just doing millage logs? After all, their corporate cars and you can just require millage logs each week for the bean counters. Then it is really easy to just say that the insurance company only permits station employees in the cars. That way if they have a problem, tell them to talk to the insurnace company.

I know as a freelancer, my insurance company says I can use my personal car to get to the shoots but I can not have ANYTHING on the side of the car for advertisement or company name. Then it is not a personal car but a company car.

But I feel your pain on the fuel costs. What used to cost me $30 just three years ago now costs $60-$70 to fill up.

 

[shootercub]

If you require photogs to take home cars every night, then trucks are not a privilage!!!

Stop screwing the the guys who actually MAKE TELEVISION.

Tell the beancounters to maybe not pay the meatheads $120k to screw up the scripts.

 

[tvguide]

I worked for a station that has a written vehicle policy and all photogs were required to read and sign it. It stated simply that the vehicle was to be used for station business, but you were permitted to use it to run errands on your way to and from work. I thought that was fair. Last year, when gas prices went up, corporate did an audit of gas credit card use. 2 photogs were found to have used the cards on days they didn't work. Either they were using the company cars for personal use or they were filling the tanks of their personal cars with the station credit cards. They were individually called in and asked to explain. They couldn't and were both fired. I think local management wanted to take into account their years of unblemished work and dedication. Perhaps suspend them as a warning to others. Corporate saw them as thieves. Both had to pull their kids out of school, sell their homes and leave town in order to find work in their chosen profession. It ain't worth it. If your station has a policy, follow it to the letter.

 

[A Step Above Productions]

The last station I was at (I freelance now) had take hone cars for the chief, on-call photog and all bureau phtogs (I was in a bureau and had a take home car). I was only able to drive to and from work. I could stop and pick up groceries if need be but that was it. My wife and son could not ride in the car. I didn't have a problem with this. I didn't want to drive their car on my off time.

The best thing about having a take home car was I was on-call and was able to get to breaking news ASAP. If I was out and no home someone else was called, but most of the breaking news was at 2am and I was home and went to the breaking news.

My wife's car was never used (My car was newer so she drove that) so we sold it.

I saved over $400.00 a month by having a take home car - and I never abused it. It wasn't worth it the chance of lossing it.

You do the math $400.00 x 12 = $4,800.00 x 5 years = $24,000.00.

Once you do the math you will never abuse it.

 

[leftcoastphotog]

my NBC memories

I worked for an O&O and we had our take home rights ( very liberal) taken away from us. they offered compensation we negotiated and received a (taxed) settlement. afterwards our take home cars were strictly for news (as HUH mentioned). But the big difference was we went to a credit card or fuel card system that required you to put in the last 4 digits of your ssn and then the mileage this prevented missuse.
However I am still a little peaved at the fact that you ( management) want to park your fire trucks at my home but we cant use them. I also lived 2 miles from the station so the commute benefit wasn't much for me.
I think the fuel card may be a good option for you.
good luck,
Lcp

 

[Freddie Mercury]

Having to drive a "marked" news car is the ultimate insult to anyones common sense. Leave it to local tv to think this is a good idea to make your photographer and his gear a neon target for the scumbags of this world. Anyone dumb enough to drive one is likely dumb enough to park it at a strip club. Maybe he was lost and asking for directions ? : )

I believe you are an expert when it comes to insults, alright. You don't happen to post as Mighty Dickerson as well, do you? You have the same level of thoughtful insight.