Sounds like you can make a good living, just can't

• MTs/QAs/Editors - Survey
  • The pay doesn't match the knowledge level required! (s/m) - blahblahblahblahblah
    • AMEN - annoyed
    • 12+ hours a day, 30 yrs exp, and can't make ends meet? - curious
      • Rent where I live is apx. $1200-1250/mo, 1-bdrm. (sm) - blahblahblahblahblah
        • Sounds like you can make a good living, just can't - afford the life you want.
        • Geeeeeez. You should move, like today!! - Easier to live for less somewhere else!
      • Dependign where you are in the US, rent can be $1000 for a 2-bedroom apt or even a - ??
        • Yeah, but 100 lines/hour isn't even transcribing, more - more like just typing.
          • she - stephanie
        • You hit the nail on the head (sm) - blahblahblahblahblah
          • another Bay Area MT - stephanie
            • Ahhh... another Bay Area devotee! : ) (sm) - blahblahblahblahblah
              • Country clubs (SF Bay Area) are great but their dues are pricey - Ex-Cali MT
                • bay area MT - stephanie
  • What I look for.... - Happy
    • Working at home - Perks
  • here's my thoughts - (sm)
    • My thoughts - susie quintata
    • Your post is GREAT - Wendy
    • Very well written. I agree. I would emphasize that - Busy MT'ing
    • professionals? - MTbucket
      • Expectations - CoffeeCat
        • How you manage the 2 ?? - I wonder
          • I divide out my day - - CoffeeCat
        • Agreed. Also, editors often have quotas, too. nm - QA
      • Where do you get the idea that QA makes more? - MT
      • Sounds like somebody didn't score too well on their - Ouch!
        • You all automatically assume my quality is low...? that is silly. - MTbucket
          • this response is for most all posters on this subject... - MTbucket
            • I don't think anyone has attacked you. You are simply - seeing how out of sync your view is from other'
              • Not attacked? I completely disagree...and when is the last time - MTbucket
                • I work as support for MTs and am an MT myself. - I talk to them daily.
                  • looks to me most replies in this thread are from QA - MTbucket
                    • I don't care how you feel. You said everyone attacked you, tho. - They didn't. They just don't share your vie
                      • Whether you care or not is not my concern... - MTbucket
      • Burned out - You do sound
        • If I am burned out, it is by this attitude inside... - MTbucket
          • Editor attitude - CoffeeCat
          • What divide? - The divide?
          • Burn-out. You have burn-out. - nm
            • see below, and please leave me alone, if you have nothing - MTbucket
              • You're the one answering, honey. LOL - Take your own advice!
                • I am not your honey...please be more professional (nm) - MTbucket
                  • Just trying to make you feel a little more loved. LOL - You obviously feel excommunicated from the MT worl
      • Geez, it is not a business of humanity. It is transcribing. - (see inside)
        • Your attitude is exactly what I have an issue with... - MTbucket
          • No ma'am. QA is a measure to ensure - (sm)
            • haha, you are the one who sounds angry and bitter... - MTbucket
              • YOU aren't providing medical care, toots! - You are typing!
                • who am I to say you do not care about others... - MTbucket
                  • You certainly demonstrate all the things the - OP lists that won't work, don't you?
                    • And somehow its all QA's fault! Everything! - Ouch!
                      • Accountability - Im behind you on this one
      • You sound very disgruntled. Difficult to be objective - when you feel that way.
      • should be reports will not be verbatim... - MTbucket
    • Agree 100% - MTing
    • Experienced Professionals - Premium pay
    • Hooyah! well thought out reply and so VERY true! nm - ks
    • Very well put! - Survey
  • Who are you and what company are you with? nm - MT/QA

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I currently work for one of the larger MT companies that is mostly VR, platform isn't bad, but just not able to get my line count up.  I was curious if it just me or if there were MTs out there who were doing good on VR and glad they have made the switch.  Thanks. 

I have been an on-site MT for 15 years and have clinic-only experience in several specialties.  I am considering a change to working from home.  I am wondering if it is possible to work from home and still make good money.  Do you folks feel that you do just as well as you would working on-site? 

situation that is getting worse all the time with lost accounts and over hiring and not knowing yet what the pay scale will be.

And while you are at it, TT Management,

BITE ME!!!  You were fools to file this lawsuit.  $294.50 to lose all credibility in the MT World.  Sad, truly sad...

And many thought you were one of the good guys.

Just thought I would add my 2 cents worth.  It would be great to be paid 10-11-12-13 cents per line (as an employee not IC), but that is not a reality in this job market.  Yes, MTs will take jobs that pay 7 cents per line, but that MTSO is not necessarily underpaying or demeaning the MTs that work for them. 

Bottom line is that you have to do your homework because, yes, there are people who can make a living on 7 cents a line and will take those jobs.   It really depends on your skills and how dedicated you are to making your maximum possible lines per hour.  The MTSO that is offering only 7 cents a line but has easy dictators can actually pay you more per check if you type more lines per hour than an MTSO that is offering 10 cents a line but has horrible quality, ESL dictators, nasty QA, etc and you can barely type 100 lines an hour because of it. 

MY TIP:  When you interview, ask what the approximate minimum and maximum lines per hour that the other MTs that are doing EXACTLY the same accounts that you are going to be doing are achieving per hour/day/pay period.  If the recruiter/MTSO will not tell you that information, you probably don’t want to work there anyway so just terminate the interview before wasting any more of your time.  The slowest MTs are probably new and the ones achieving 200-250-300 lines per hour have been there a long time and know the account(s) forwards and backwards.  If you plan to make that MTSO a long-term employer, you will have a pretty good idea of what you can potentially achieve if you stay there long enough.  Don’t let them tell you the “average” of all the MTs that work for the company or what their perfect employee Suzie Q types.   We all know every account is different, so Suzie Q who just started last week and is already doing 150 lines per hour may have easier accounts than the one you are going to be working on, so that is not very representative of what your account(s) is really going to be like.  Ask specifically about the accounts you will be assigned to and don’t let them distract you.  Again, if they don’t want to tell you, terminate the interview. 

According to the US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, in 2004 !!!, the MEDIAN hourly earnings for a Medical Transcriptionist (probably  mostly hospital and office based) in May of 2004, was $13.64 an hour. 

Just for reference, it seems like most MTSOs have a 6000 lines per week minimum production standard which is about 150 line per hour (40 hour week) on average for full-time MTs.   

·        If you are being paid 7 cents per line, you are making a minimum of (150 x 0.07) = $10.50 per hour.

·        If you are being paid 8 cents per line, you are making a minimum of (150 x 0.08) = $12.00 per hour. 

·        If you are being paid 9 cents per line, you are making a minimum of (150 x 0.09) = $13.50 per hour. 

·        If you are being paid 10 cents per line, you are making a minimum of (150 x 0.10) = $15.00 per hour. 

If you are one of the highly trained experienced MT and type 200 lines per hour on average, you are even better off. 

·        If you are being paid 7 cents per line, you are making a minimum of (200 x 0.07) = $14.00 per hour.

·        If you are being paid 8 cents per line, you are making a minimum of (200 x 0.08) = $16.00 per hour. 

·        If you are being paid 9 cents per line, you are making a minimum of (200 x 0.09) = $18.00 per hour. 

·        If you are being paid 10 cents per line, you are making a minimum of (200 x 0.10) = $20.00 per hour. 

The median hourly earnings in 2004 was $13.64 per hour.  That was almost 4 years ago.  With a minimal 2% per year cost of living/inflation increase, by 2008 the median hourly earning should be about $14.76 per hour.       

2004 --------- $13.64

2005 x 2% = $13.91

2006 x 2% = $14.19

2007 x 2% = $14.47

2008 x 2% = $14.76

So, in my humble opinion, if you are an experienced MT with 5 or more years of experience, when you call that MTSO offering 7 cents per line the accounts you will be assigned to should be easy enough so that you can make an average of 210 lines per hour within a relatively short period of time.  If they say their experienced MTs are only doing 175 to 200 lines per hour on average, that MTSO is drastically underpaying their experienced MTs and it is time for you to move on.  If they say their MTs are averaging 250 to 300 lines per hour, then that MTSO may be worth looking into further, even if their starting wage is lower than what you originally thought you should be getting paid. 

I think if WE ALL start doing this, the MTSOs will start to figure out that we are not going to work for companies that underpay our skills and experience.  If enough experienced MTs hang up on these companies, eventually they will figure out that the recruiters/supervisors need to be more honest with us regarding their pay structure and the difficulty of their accounts. 

Some food for thought !! 

More information from the US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: 

Medical transcriptionists had median hourly earnings of $13.64 in May 2004. The middle 50 percent earned between $11.50 and $16.32. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $9.67, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $19.11. Median hourly earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of medical transcriptionists in May 2004 were:

If you want more information, check out the US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics web page for Medical Transcriptionist. 

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos271.htm

Why is it so hard to share their profits with the at-home MT's? ? ?   Give me MONEY for Christmas because so much has been taken throughout the year -- I won't it back -- or at least some of it !  I will buy my own gift or pay my light bill or buy my children/grandchildren a gift with it.

In general, the top echelon is getting so greedy at most MTSO's!   They would have nothing w/o the MT's constantly tapping those keyboards . . . and I mean it gets more and more difficult for us MT's as with each passing year to make a decent living . . . I dare say a living of any sort.  Only those MT's who have husbands to support them are happy with whatever few cents they are offered, because it is only play money for them anyway.  Hubby pays all the bills.   I guarantee you that if a poll were taken of the Happy MT's with their at-home job, it would either be hubby making living for them OR mommy not having to pay a babysitter to work outside the home.  Those in HR/management, with a little research, can easily see how our paychecks are dwindling month by month due to lower wages because ASR/VR is taking away the decent dictators and leaving only the horrible dictators (who take lots of time to transcribe a quality report), lack of cost-of-living raises, rising electricity bills at home that the MT has to pay, high-speed internet/phone bills higher and higher and loaded with taxes, rent/mortages/taxes/insurance continuously rising. 

The office staff don't have to think about those at-home costs, as theirs are paid by the MTSO during their working hours/shift, nor do they have to worry about the lack of raises, etc, because in-house employees get raises automatically with tenure or with a 6-month or annual review or at the discretion of management at any time.

Personally, my line count continues to decrease; I don't know what the reason is because in the past many years, I could transcribe 200-400 lines per hour, and I do good to transcribe 100 or 150 an hour with the horrible dictators sifted out by the VR machine Dictaphone ExText.  

Please don't yell at me -- because I am thankful for a paycheck -- but why is the burden put on my fingers to WORK HARDER AND HARDER to earn that paycheck.  Don't say try ASR/VR because it will double your income, because I have tried that and know better and have proven that theory to be wrong -- at least on Dictatphone ExSpeech you can't !

The other thief of a good line count/wage for the U.S. MT's is the majority of our work going offshore because it can get done CHEAPER !  Who is all that extra money saved by offshoring our work going to ??  Not the at-home MT.  That is exactly why I request MONEY for my Christmas gift from my employer, rather than some promo gift that is handed out to any and everyone.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL US MT's in the good 'ole USA !  ! !

if you are not used to working the night shift, you may have difficulty.  It always sounds good, like, I'll go to bed when I get home, but in reality, do you go to bed now when you're done working?  Probably not.  It may take you several hours to unwind, if you are like me, and by that time, you would have to be up with your daughter.  I have seen several people over the course of my MT career try to do nights when they are not night people and it always ended up badly.  Not to say it won't work for you, but just keep this in mind. 

Wal-Mart is starting to look better and better to me.  I have been an excellent Transcriptionist for over 25 years and had planned to retire as same.  The past couple of years has caused me to re-think the rest of my life.  I have gone from an average of $23.00 per hour to $16.00 per hour and it makes me nauseous.  The suits are getting the money that I am having to work even harder to get (for them). 

So, I'm thinking about going to Wal-Mart.  My mother will retire from them soon and she, believe it or not, has had a lot less stress than I have had in the past few years.  I think she makes about $14.00 per hour at this point.  I'm sure that starting out, you probably do not make that much, but I think that if I have to work for less money, I would rather it be for someone who didn't TAKE MY MONEY.   Anybody agree????