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Lol first world problems. I survive fine with $48 per day. You don't need to get drinks and apps with every meal...
D2 I think it keeps it simple. Different people have different eating habits - per diems average that out and give the decision making back to the individual.
If it was expenses based the incentive structure there is to max it out
This is a hilarious post
I can't tell if this is satirical
No i think it’s a serious issue that we deal with at ACN. Ive yet to hear a single person in this thread (besides other acn 🐡) admit to having a lower daily per diem or lower daily expensible limit in major cities than we are forced to deal with and pay out of pocket to make up for
ACN folks - time to scoop up your friend. OP is embarrassing y'all
How are you a consultant
Referral most likely
I wanna know where OP is travelling because I only get 32 a day
hell no OP
PwC limits were $75/day in low dollar cities and $100/day in high dollar. That said we were billing actual not doing per diem
Thats totally reasonable imo
Rock some Natty lite bro
OP thinks it should be ILLEGAL to have client contracts that prevent alcohol expenses 🤣🤣🤣
lots of unfounded backlash against OP that is not grounded in reality - whether it’s $32, $36, or $50 per diem, those amounts are insufficient to cover what many business travelers would typically consume in a given day (regardless of per diem or actuals) - perhaps the OP did not lay out their case in the most eloquent manner, but their grievance is by no means meritless
M7 - I disagree that 50 per day is unreasonable on average. I manage fine in that (although I would not if I had 2 beers every night). I would find it harder in some cities but on average, no problem. 32, on the other hand, would be more challenging.
Per diem is not designed to pay for your entire trips meals. It is designed to help cover the difference in spend between what you are spending for food on the road and what you would otherwise spend eating at home, which would be covered by your salary. Considering they think you spend $50 MORE per day than you would cooking at home is pretty generous and is designed to help offset those meals out.
E.g. - make eggs at home for breakfast for ($4/ carton so 3 eggs = $1.33) vs buying a breakfast taco and cup of coffee for $7.
Government rates are a different story- they are congressionally set and are incredibly political. Young enlisted soldiers are given an actual meal allowance that they cannot use on TDY so their full expenses must be covered. I was in a unit that did a LOT of government travel and was the travel and government card manager (yay plus ones).
The government recommended rate is jus that, a recommendation. If you want to direct expense, go to a firm that does that. If you don’t want to travel, that’s out there too. I know lots of people who make money on the per diem system while eating healthy. My wife and I both swing through a Whole Foods and pick up some food (typically at least one dinner and 2 lunches).
Wow, just wow. Guess a lot of us need to join our homeless buddies rummaging through a garbage can and maybe, just maybe, we’ll find some leftover self respect there. Who’s coming with me? 😂
Shiet now I know I spend less on food and have much lower self respect than homeless people ... I thought a master degree and a H/S/W MBA meant something
There it is... my daily reminder of how much I dislike the people in the world like the OP. Even if there is a valid discussion about the $50 per diem, I can’t get past the dinkishness of the post. The rest of you all give me some hope. Here’s a toast from the beer I had with the dinner that is “beneath the dignity of my position.”
They were $50 ten years go, too! For some reason beyond me they are immune to inflation.
Lets see, maybe it’s because we’re being taken advantage of??
It’s only exploitative if you don’t have the option to leave. You do. You are not forced to stay there. You are not being exploited.
OP do not think it was your intention but indeed the original message reads as an entitlement. Honestly not here to bash just saying that the whole “$50 is not for a enough for a hotel meal, let alone...” I understand the intent to exaggerate but comes off bad. Just feedback. To your point, i do not think $50 a day is great and definitely could use maybe 10 more. Here it is my reasoning: 1) some people point out “that you do not spend that at home” i find this logic a bit odd. It is obvious we do not spend this at home (or at least I dont). I cook at home. I do not eat out. When in industry i used to packed my lunch except Fridays therefore my costs if I were local or If I could go home every night are less than $15 per day bc i would make everything. 2) some other ACN folks have mentioned that they bank the per diem. In my experience i have only made between 10 to 20 bucks because I try to eat very healthy and therefore maybe skip breakfast in order to safe money for lunch and dinner and fruit that i store in the hotel room. That is just me. I know people that eat mcds everyday and indeed save the per diem but They way I see it, the eventual Dr. bill will be much higher. Now if I had my way I would say that 65 per day would be perfect.
This has been great, been a rough day but reading all this really helped me keep going.
OP - sticking to your guns in this case is nothing to be proud of.
Apparently OP thinks there’s no way to buy dinner under $50 without going to Applebee’s lol.
You don’t have to go to a sit down restaurant for every meal and you are lucky that the clients dime is even paying for alcohol.
Literally try chipotle, sweetgreen, cava, or any of the other hundreds of fast casual places for dinner or lunch for $10 a meal. Would write more but based on your responses it seems like you’re just entitled and out of touch.
I don’t have per diem but have a $75 expense a day cap on low cost cities. I never cross $50 a day (free breakfast included). I eat super healthy and definitely pick options I wouldn’t pay for out of my own pocket.
Unpopular opinion, but a $50 limit is sometimes tough to meet. Some days I don’t have the option to pick meals that collectively cost under $50.
@OP Read the policy - per diem is for food and incidentals.
Also * herd mentality
Agreed, they should at least provide us with government recommended rates, especially since this is just billed back to the client.
Unsurprisingly though, this is also something we recommend our clients do as a cost cutting measure. 😂
Keep in mind, ACN pays $50 per diem only in the most expensive cities like DC/NYC. When I was in a southern Tier 2 city, I got $39/day. It was genuinely hard to eat well on that. The firm wants top talent but doesn’t compensate accordingly