8-9 cpl is an insult wage, even for employees.
Posted By: Would never accept it as an IC, - on 2009-08-21
In Reply to: 8-9 cpl for online MTSOs and - whatever your rate for your own private accts
because once you factor in your overhead, time spent dealing on the phone with clients, keeping books, etc., if you charge 8-9 cpl as an IC, you're working for just a couple of Rupees.
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Minimum wage only applies to employees.
nm
Minimum wage laws are for employees only, not independent contractors
Would you pay your plumber or pool cleaner (examples of other IC jobs) more because the minimum wage increased?
taking a low wage does not lower the pay for a field. The fact that they are offering stated wage
means that is the market. You don't see ads for McDonald's for $36/hour and you don't see ads for A.G. Edwards for $20,000/yr. If they didn't think they could fill a job for $14, they wouldn't post it. Notice MT jobs are now posting at 5, 6 and 6.5. So guess what editors are going to make?
I think it's an insult!
.
3 cents is an insult. nm
nm
Why do you insult me with that comment?
 youre funny, if you only knew..................
huge insult!!
I agree! This is such a huge insult to our profession. I started out with Focus on Edit Script at .04 cpl also, and would recommend them to get a start. The are other companies who pay a little more, but .04 is usually the norm. Please, do not go any lower than this. Focus is always hiring, as many people do start there and move on, but I still work for them part time and have never had a problem with them, despite the negatives I have read.
Sue
You certainly took every opportunity to insult everyone you could. nm
x
The entire ad is an insult - nm
x
Not that the amount isn't an insult or anything, but
the fact that you got anything more at ALL is pretty unusual, with the current state of affairs in MT. Wages have been steadily declining over the past 10-15 years, and many of us have been getting even further pay cuts recently.
I hear ya on the amount, though. .09 cpl might have been good in 1980, but this is 2009. Although lately, it feels more like 1930.
The biggest insult is...
when the MTSOs hire new, or just not very good, MTs for your account that have absolutely no clue what they are doing and produce horrible quality reports. I wake up in the morning and go to work to see that almost all of the reports for my usual dictators have already been done, with all of them having been sent to QA with no less than 10 blanks in each report! I do not see how this is productive for anyone--not QA, not the dictators, and certainly not for me, the loyal MT who has taken the time to learn these docs and stay with this idiotic company for years. I could have done all of those reports (reports that used to be mine) with no blanks..GRRR...
Having multiple PT jobs may be an option for some, but there are those of out there that need benefits for our families. I would love to just stick it to the MTSOs and leave them high and dry with their new overhires that can't even do the job, but I don't have that option until I can find a new full-time gig with bennies...something that I have been looking for now for quite a while but haven't been able to find.
Wow, you're just looking to insult somebody, aren't you?
Just because I didn't like Medware compared to my present company means I'm easily distracted and have problems? Nice attitude you've got there. If people don't like what you like, they've got problems or are unhappy. OK, whatever.... Different strokes for different folks. Did you ever think that maybe we worked on different accounts so I really was inundated with useless emails from them? Did you ever stop to think that people don't all experience the same things from the same company? How would you know? But thank you for being so judgmental and superior to everyone who doesn't like Medware. Honestly, did you start this thread deliberately to pick an argument with anyone who dares to disagree with you? Sure sounds like it. By the way, my company doesn't offshore. They rock better!!!
the thing is, SOMEONE will work for that much, which is an insult to us all!
nm
Is that a gross line? Anything else is an insult!
Do the math. Could you not make more transcribing? I was paid $20 an hour and 4 cents a gross line at one point. Even that was lower than what I could make doing MT!
Adding insult to injury
My coffee cup came apart in the dishwater today.
For IC status, that's an insult. Can you give us a company name?
x
7 cpl is an insult - no matter what hours you work.
.
You try to insult, I pseudocuss. Tomayto/tomahto n/m
4
I've always thought verbatim is not only an insult to the doctor, but also to our profession. sm
We are supposed to medical language specialists with an excellent grasp of proper grammar and command of the English language. What do I know? I've only been doing MT for 25+ years. It completely befuddles me to be asked to type verbatim because I have probably typed for 2 doctors out of 100s who can form a proper sentence! Just my take on the verbatim thing.
Oh for sure employees, but not too often for statutory employees. Sorry for confusion.
x
Attn: Any Transcend employees or former employees
I have been offered a job with Transcend, but I am not completely sure about it yet and I need some input from you guys. I have read positives and negatives regarding this company but alot of it was pretty old information. Can anyone give me some recent feedback on them? Thanks very much!!!
Min. wage
That isn't even minimum wage in San Francisco, where it's something like $9.25+ per hr.
Min wage in NY
In NY minimum wage is now $7.15, so that is not min wage here either.
Min wage
I thought I had read something recently that stated Nuance/Focus was developing some software that would completely do away with transcriptionists in the next few years. I worked for Focus 5 years ago and they were a terrible company then to work for, I see they have just kept getting worse. You are entitled to minimum wage if you are an employee. If your line count does not come to that contact your local DOL and apply for unemployment benefits. if you don't you are hurting yourselves and other MTs who come after you.
I believe that would come to a little over minimum wage...
Not good at all! 
Minimum wage at best, probably not that!
I would not take any QA/editing position unless it is a set hourly rate. Again, I have said it before, do not sell your fellow QA/editors down the drain like AAMT has sold us. Hourly is the only way!
don't accept the wage, but I would!!!!
nm
Medware Wage
The most you can expect to make at Medware is 0.08 a line. Medware has some extremely difficult accounts with a lot of ESL doctors. It is very hard to make a good line count. Additionally, Medware watches how many minutes you work during the day. You must work a full 8-hour shift. If you have problems and need to call your supervisor, need to email your supervisor, create samples or go over files from the editors, have a problem with pay or vacation time or anything similiar, you will do it on your time. You have to put in your 8 hours TYPING, nothing else counts.
Is this a fair wage?
I'm a new graduate and I got an offer for 0.75 cpl. Any input would be appreciated.
QA Wage question
If getting paid hourly for QA, let's say $10.00 an hour, do you get paid for every hour whether there's anything to QA or not?
if you are still working there for that particular wage...sm
you are settling. 12 hour days x 6 days per week? You are definitely selling yourself short if you accept this. I was only trying to be honest based on the information you chose to share. I don't want others to think this is the norm in this industry because it most certainly is not. Again, I am basing my comments solely on the information you provided, which in fact saddened me as an MT who has been in this profession for many years. I apologize if you see this as an insult, but I was just overwhelmed by your breakdown of pay. To me this is completely unacceptable. Good luck to you.
They have to pay minimum wage s/m
They have to pay for minimum wage if you do not reach that on your line counts.
GOOD WAGE
If you find anyone that pays 10 cpl to start, let me know!!!
I took me 4 months to find a job as an IC where I would make 10 cpl after 90 days!! and that is maintaining minimum line count of 1000 lines the whole time...
Minimum Wage
You have hit on a point that the service owners did not plan for. Pursue this with the DOL office in your state:
USMLSU Initiative
Washington, DC
ONLINE, REAL-TIME CONFERENCE CALLS/MEETINGS BEING SCHEDULED FOR THE FIRST WEEK OF 2009 !
Respect, reasonable compensation, and humane treatment for all U.S.A. Medical Transcriptionists
a wage one can live on is no more
I don't know about you, but when I see 7 and 8 cents being offered for independent contractor work, I scream a little scream inside me and then implode for a few seconds, and then I move on as that is too insulting for words. How can a person take out their own taxes with such low pay? It's really not worth it, when you do the math, figuring out 25 to 33 percent is delegated to tax.
If a person does 6000 lines for a 40-hour week and takes out 28% taxes, this leaves them with $8.65 an hour for their effort. My 18-year-old son, whose part-time job while he is in school is sweeping the floors at movie theatres in between shows, makes $7.00 an hour. I am a grown woman with 18+ years of MT experience and would make only $1.65 an hour more than my son if I had this job.
How's that for a come-down?  
VR or not, need to pay MINIMUM WAGE--sm
Not just my 2 cents' worth -- that's the LAW in all 50 US states. At 3-4 cents a line, this is hardly possible, especially at the start, to make at least a minimum wage that any 16-year-old kid makes delivering groceries. Add to that all the UNPAID work we are required to do for the privilege of being fleeced by the MTSOs, CCs, researching doctors, endless demographic work having nothing to do with transcription... 
Minimum wage
You cannot by law make less than minimum wage. If you are making less than minimum wage I would tell the company, they have to make up the difference. If they don't then you should call the labor board.
Living Wage
I don't know exactly what I would call a living wage for a weekly amount. I can tell you that for my family of 5, the GOVERNMENT says that if I make less than approximately $40,000, that I qualify for various forms of government aid due to low-income status.
$40K divided by 52 weeks per year works out to about 1700 lines per day at 9 cpl.
If you're only making 5 cpl (case in point: That recent ad on the Jobs Bank!), then you would need to type 3076 lines per day in order to keep a family of five above the cut-off for food stamps and free lunches!
I think a living wage is
1 thousand dollars a week.
somebody will do it; hence the wage stays low nm
What is their hourly wage?
I also did not know that they had editing. QA position?
They are offering this same wage to QA people
with megayears of experience. That is my point!
And industry would pay the lowest wage possible
if people are willing to take it! People have to be pretty desperate or just not too bright to even agree to do this kind of work for low pay.
$8.75/hr nice hourly wage?
Yes, that is good for someone who is new to the biz, but if it takes 8 hours to review 2000 lines, that is only $8.75/hr. I don't think that is a nice hourly wage for experienced MTs. Many times the Editor may have no control over the TAT and oops! there goes that bonus. Quarterly bonuses cannot be counted upon as they are just that...bonuses.
Thanks for clarifying.
Wage earners usually get COL raises.
Every wage-paid position I have had was set on an annual increase with the rest of the company. Even at 3%, it was still a raise.
Production, however, does not increase. It is not the same pay structure and, in my opinion, should not.
You cannot have your cake and eat it, too.
You wanted production, so you can (in effect) control your income by how savvy you are, so you got it. If you want to make more money, increase those skills you feel are so valuable that you don't want to work for a set wage.
Otherwise, go to a wage and relax a bit, know that you're going to draw a certain amount of money (might even still get incentive for production, too), and get annual raises and actual holiday pay, etc.
Mark my words down: You will never get annual raises on production pay. Never. And you shouldn't. You are wanting what will never happen and, instead of looking for ways to actually help yourself, are frittering away your time and energy and frustrating everyone else in the process for nothing.
Yes, jobs may be there but is the wage decent?
That's the all important question we need to ask and know, along with what's going on at any of those companies. So many jobs available and we have to wonder why..., with so many of us looking every day.
JUST GIVE US A DECENT WAGE AND KEEP...sm
the token Christmas cards, e-cards, or whatever.
I discussed an hourly QA wage with them sm
a few years ago and when they sent the paperwork, they had substituted a RATE PER LINE for QA. I called and told them they had made a mistake, they said that they had decided they would only pay by line. I think they figured I wouldn't read the paperwork and just sign it.
Actually, a lot of careers have had wage cuts
Anything that can be offshored to India for under a penny on the dollar has seen their wages cut. Do we remember what happened not too long ago to all the software engineers that used to make really good money? They're probably making half of what they made 10 years ago. The few customer support people that remain stateside probably make at least $2 an hour less than they made 10 years ago. Heck, even the radiologists that used to make great night, weekend, and holiday pay took a beating when they discovered they could offshore that, too.
So the pain is spread around, but it doesn't make it less painful. They have to find a way to bring American jobs back to America. It doesn't do much good for the so-called global workforce to lower the price of a plasma TV if I can't even afford to buy Wonder Bread.
Good weekly wage
I would have to say an AVERAGE of around $700 a week GROSS. I know some make more and some make less, but personally I would consider that to be a fair average. It also would depend on the type of account.
If you cannot make minimum wage with this, then
get another profession. I make over $20 per hour. You are a poor excuse for a Transcriptionist if not able to do. End of message and end of talking about something apparently not everyone is able to do.
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